Adam Olsen, Ph.D.

Adam Olsen, Ph.D. joined CNA’s Center for Naval Analyses in 2009. Since then, he has worked on a variety of topics for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Army including: integration of explosive ordnance disposal and technical surveillance capabilities by special forces; response of aircraft carriers to global crises; improvised explosive devices; operational and exercise assessments; and chemical and biological warfare.

Olsen deployed to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan for seven months (2010-11), where he analyzed operational data to understand how insurgent networks employ improvised explosive devices (IEDs). His work helped our forces plan operations, revise tactics, and allocate counter-IED resources. In 2012, Olsen returned to CNA’s field program at Naval Air Station China Lake (CA), where he supports a squadron that tests and evaluates new aircraft systems.

Before joining CNA, Olsen was a polymer scientist at Arkema Inc. (2006–09) and a chemist at Lucent Technologies’ Bell Laboratories (1999 – 2000). In both positions, he developed new materials for optical data storage.

Olsen earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Brown University in 1999 and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Caltech in 2006. As a graduate student, he developed new instrumentation to study the early stages of crystallization in polymers.