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INSTITUTE NEWS Message from the director IIASA CORNER Four researchers from the 2019 Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP) have been recognized for their exceptional papers. Felicia Chiang from the University of California, Irvine, USA, won the IIASA Peccei Award for her analysis titled, Concurrent temperature and precipitation shifts in historical and historical natural-only model simulations. She will be returning to IIASA to continue work on her study. Nicolas Choquette-Levy from Princeton University, USA, received the IIASA Mikhalevich Award for his study on the impact of risk sharing mechanisms on smallholder farmer climate adaptation strategies. 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. The winning papers were selected by a committee comprised of one member from each IIASA program based on their outstanding quality, originality, and relevance. Fellow YSSP participants Roope Kaaronen from the University of Helsinki, Finland, and Rory Gibb from the University College London, UK, received honorable mentions from the committee for their work. Kaaronen analyzed the cultural evolution of sustainable behaviors, and Gibb’s study focused on interacting effects of land use, climate, and socioeconomic change on Lassa fever in West Africa. “A lot of global change models have been developed at IIASA, so participating in the YSSP has been a great opportunity to work with experienced scientists on simulations of the global environment, and getting to know them personally,” says Gibb. We are living through challenging times. In a few months, the coronavirus infected millions of people globally. Many governments restricted travel and around a third of the world was under some form of lockdown. Schools were closed, factories shut, events cancelled. Unimaginable scenes of deserted streets in big cities became a reality in this globalized world. The coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis, but it has shown us that it is possible to make drastic, ad-hoc changes and economic sacrifices to save lives. Governments, scientists, and the public have to work together to eradicate the virus. The IIASA remit is exactly that: Help governments and stakeholders around the world to produce effective, science-based policies that enable them to face global problems. I am particularly proud of the institute’s contribution to important and time-sensitive coronavirus-related research: The website covid19.iiasa.ac.at brings together all our researchers’ work on the subject, including blogs and publications. This also shows that despite the strange reality we found ourselves in, the institute continued to move forward. Following the Austrian governments’ guidance, which implied that social distancing is of the utmost importance, the IIASA premises in Laxenburg were closed, but the institute remained operational via remote working. With the support of our Information and Communications Technologies Department, there were virtual executive, science leadership, and operations committee meetings, as well as numerous science engagements and staff consultations. However, not just work-related meetings took place online. The IIASA community set up internal groups on WhatsApp and other platforms to exchange information and provide each other with mutual support. The first half of 2020 has been a test for us all, but I am happy that the IIASA family has responded in an exemplary fashion. Awards for aspiring young scientists By Bettina Greenwell ALBERT VAN JAARSVELD Further info: www.iiasa.ac.at/yssp/awards 2019 YSSP participants 26 Options www.iiasa.ac.atSummer 2020