Michael Cooper
Founder of Emergence
Michael Cooper is an evaluation expert that has led numerous evaluations and provided technical expertise in the area of data-driven decision-making for leading international development stakeholders that include the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. State Department, Department of Defense, the United Nations and various NGOs. After leaving the government as an Associate Director for Policy and Evaluation, Michael started Emergence. His latest work focuses on how to best integrate technology into evaluation, adaptive management, and performance optimization with a focus on blockchain and data science applications.
His research with the Pulte Institute seeks to identify policies, principles, and practices for optimal utilization of data science results in decision-making within international development. This research uses the lessons learned from "data-driven decision-making" practices, relevant data science applications, and the barriers that actors are facing in utilizing the results of these applications in various levels of decision-making. The research is meant to be actionable by stakeholders who are serving in an advisory capacity for the research to ensure that the research results can be tested within their own operations to provide feedback on their value.