What is Evolving Strategies?

Evolving Strategies is a behavioral science and clinical data science firm. We use experiments and artificial intelligence to modify (not just predict) human behavior — we get more people to do what you need them to do.

About Us

Adam Schaeffer

Adam Schaeffer is the founder of Evolving Strategies. He’s consumed by an itch to understand what makes people tick and why they think and do the things that they do.

He considers himself akin to a research biologist who happens to have the great privilege of studying the behavior of the most complex and fascinating animal on the planet: Homo sapiens.

He’s spent the last ten years running sophisticated experiments in the field and in the “lab” to maximize the impact of advertising and optimize messaging tactics.

Adam received his PhD from the University of Virginia in political psychology and behavior. His dissertation assessed how different combinations of school choice policies and messages can expand and mobilize elite and mass support. He received his MA in Social Science from the University of Chicago, where his thesis integrated aspects of evolutionary theory and psychology with political theory and strategy.

His academic research and teaching centered around social psychology and human behavior, and this emphasis continues to animate his applied research.

Alexander Oliver

Alex is director of experimental research at Evolving Strategies. He tends to be a bit preoccupied — his colleagues might say borderline obsessed — with precision and details: from the exotic ink in his fountain pen to managing public opinion during wars and natural disasters. Over the last seven years in both academic and private sector contexts, he’s executed survey and field experiments to gain global strategic insights about how people think and act during crises—from political campaigns to combat missions abroad—and how to respond to them.

Alex co-authored the definitive review article on the politics of disaster relief for the forthcoming Emerging Trends project, which New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin has called “an indispensable reference work for the 21st century” and the director of the Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science Gary King has called an “unconventional guide to the future.” He’s held faculty positions at Brandeis University and Boston University where he taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in the use of force abroad, public opinion, voter behavior, congressional behavior, and campaign strategy.

His research has been presented at both national and international conferences. Alex received his MA in economics from Tufts University, where he received the department’s most prestigious endowed scholarship, and his BA in mathematics and economics from Merrimack College. He received his PhD from Boston University in quantitative methods and public opinion.

The ES Network

Evolving Strategies taps a broad network of academics with a range of specialized skills and domain expertise across disciplines such as political science, psychology, economics, marketing, statistics and computer science.

Every project is unique, and we bring the best set of people and skills together for each engagement.
Contact us: [email protected] | 703-373-7384

Evolving Strategies

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703-373-7384