Page - 26 - in options, Volume summer 2019

Three researchers from the 2018 Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) have been recognized for their exceptional papers. Matthew Cooper from the University of Maryland, USA, won the IIASA Peccei Award for his study on the effect of climate change on children, and Jiamin Ou from the University of East Anglia, UK, received the IIASA Mikhalevich Award for her study titled, China’s Export Industries and their Contributions to Ground-level Ozone Pollution. The Peccei award is named in honor of IIASA alumnus Aurelio Peccei and recognizes policy-related research, while the Mikhalevich award, named after IIASA alumnus Vladimir S. Mikhalevich, acknowledges mathematically and methodologically oriented research. Their papers were selected by a committee comprised of one member from every IIASA research program based on their outstanding quality, originality, and relevance. Both Cooper and Ou have received funding to continue their research projects at IIASA and they will return to the institute for an additional three months. “Participating in the YSSP turned out to be a great experience, both personally and professionally,” says Cooper. “I am very grateful to have another summer at IIASA coming up thanks to the Peccei Award. I can’t think of a better research institute to conduct systemic, global research.” Fellow YSSP participant Davit Stepanyan from the Humboldt University in Berlin received an honorable mention from the committee for his study titled, Application of Gaussian Quadratures in the Global Biosphere Management Model (GLOBIOM) as an efficient approach to uncertainty analysis. Matthew Cooper © M.Cooper Jiamin Ou © J. Ou Davit Stepanyan © D. Stepanyan www.iiasa.ac.at/yssp/awards Awards for Young Scientists Summer Program participants Written by: Bettina Greenwell The first half of 2019 has been a busy time at IIASA and we have made significant progress in terms of implementing some of the recommendations made by the 2018 Task Force. As per the Task Force’s recommendation about the appointment of a Deputy Director General for Science, we are currently in the midst of recruiting an outstanding candidate to build further on IIASA's legacy of scientific excellence and extend our global footprint. The Task Force further recommended that a Chief Operations Officer be appointed to provide administrative and operational leadership and facilitate the delivery of world-class research. Jan Marco Müller has been appointed to this position in an acting capacity and will be responsible for the overall coordination of support services. As we approach the end of the period covered by the IIASA Strategic Plan 2011-2020, work has also started on formulating a new strategy to guide the institute over the course of the next decade. The process kicked off early in 2019 with the help of a newly assigned strategy working group comprising representatives of various IIASA research programs and professional services departments, chaired by Mauricio Lopes, former President of Embrapa, Brazil, and presently a guest scholar at IIASA. In addition, the Human Resources Department are running a campaign to establish and clearly outline IIASA’s core values and to develop the core elements of a Human Resource strategy. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the successes achieved thus far and I am confident that IIASA’s best years still lie ahead. Message from the director IIASA CORNER ALBERT VAN JAARSVELD www.iiasa.ac.at26 Options Summer 2019