United States of America

Research collaborations in 2013 between IIASA and the US were highly productive. Highlights included global model comparisons in the areas of energy and agriculture, innovative studies of aging, and input to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report.

Map of USA

Map of USA

Activities between IIASA and the US have been highly productive ever since the US National Academy of Sciences jointly established the Institute in 1972. Interactions intensified during 2013 through over 50 partners in government and academia ranging from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to Stanford University. Noteworthy research included the first large-scale modeling comparison addressing the implications of delayed action on climate change and an innovative study that showed the Americans aged 73.4 years in 2007 were equivalent to 65 year olds in 1965 in terms of remaining life expectancy, health and cognitive function. Eleven US doctoral students took part in the 2013 Young Scientists Summer Program and three PhD recipients from the US were IIASA postdoctoral fellows.  

USA


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Advances in mathematical statistics

Driven by the demand from modeling applications, the Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program has been developing several different approaches to gaining information from data using mathematical statistics. more

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Air pollution and health

In the area of air pollution and health, the Energy (ENE) Program intensified collaboration with the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program at IIASA, the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy (part of the European Commission), and Columbia University in the USA to explore the health benefits of climate and pollution control scenarios. more

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Energy security

Research on energy security by the Energy Program (ENE) centers around applying the formal conceptual framework for evaluating energy security in long-term energy scenarios. The framework was established by ENE researcher Jessica Jewell in collaboration with colleagues from the Central European University (CEU, Hungary). more

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Formation of social networks

The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program in 2013 studied communication, friendship, or trade networks, known as multiplex networks, which form the structural backbone of human societies. more

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Gridded crop modeling

Progress with EPIC crop modeling in 2013 allowed the Agro-Economic Systems (AES) group to join the international Ag-GRID initiative which aims to improve global gridded crop modeling. more

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Intercomparison EMF27

EMF27 was one of two international model inter-comparison projects that were successfully completed in 2013.  more

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International model intercomparison project, AMPERE

Within the framework of the AMPERE project, ENE in 2013 led the multi-model comparison effort involving international partners from Asia, the United States and Europe to evaluate the impact of near-term climate policies. more

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Optimal economic growth

The Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) researchers in 2013 worked on developing new economic growth models capable of generating “green growth” and sustainable development solutions. more

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Outreach and dissemination

There was substantial outreach activity by the Transitions to New Technologies (TNT) Program in 2013 with respect to summarizing and disseminating previous multi-year research projects and assessment activities plus the editing of a book, three special journal issues, and publication of 40 articles and book chapters. more

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Projections of religious beliefs and values

In work on religious beliefs and values in 2013, Age and Cohort Change (ACC), headed by Vegard Skirbekk, worked on projections of beliefs and values over the life course that are related to demographic behavior. more

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Resilience of social systems

Similarly to ecosystems, social systems – from firms to countries – are becoming more and more subject to various stressors whose effects penetrate throughout the system by means of social ties and economic links. The external disturbances here may be of political, economic, financial and even environmental nature. more

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Sustainable Forest Management - Certification

The Policy Science Interface (PSI) group of the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program worked with ESM's Earth Observation Systems (EOS) to develop a new methodology to support assessment of, and decision making for, future forest management certification. more

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Uncertainty in environmental services

Total uncertainty in greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions changes over time due to “learning” and the structural change in the GHG emitters. Understanding uncertainty over time is important to improve setting emission targets in the future and was key to the Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program's work in 2013. more

North America


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Education and environmental vulnerability

As part of a larger project, Forecasting Societies’ Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change, a Special Feature entitled Education and Differential Vulnerability to Natural Disasters was published in the journal, Ecology & Society. more

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Energy security

Research on energy security by the Energy Program (ENE) centers around applying the formal conceptual framework for evaluating energy security in long-term energy scenarios. The framework was established by ENE researcher Jessica Jewell in collaboration with colleagues from the Central European University (CEU, Hungary). more

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International model intercomparison project, AMPERE

Within the framework of the AMPERE project, ENE in 2013 led the multi-model comparison effort involving international partners from Asia, the United States and Europe to evaluate the impact of near-term climate policies. more

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International model intercomparison projects

The Energy (ENE) Program has been at the forefront of several research efforts for the wider science community. These include the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) and two international model inter-comparison projects that were successfully completed in 2013 (EMF27 and AMPERE).  more

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Uncertainty in environmental services

Total uncertainty in greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions changes over time due to “learning” and the structural change in the GHG emitters. Understanding uncertainty over time is important to improve setting emission targets in the future and was key to the Advanced Systems Analysis (ASA) Program's work in 2013. more

USA


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Decent living energy

Narasimha D. Rao discusses his two postdoctoral studies on i) quantifying the energy requirements for a given universal set of living standards in three developing countries and ii) using an integrated approach to explain income inequality.  more

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Evolution of mediated cooperative interactions

Melissa Whitaker, University of California, Davis, outlines the results of her YSSP project in which she modeled the effects of interaction asymmetries in order to explore the role of functional diversity on interaction dynamics. more

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Land classification and governance

Carl Salk is working with the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program to develop statistical tools for comparing land classification error rates on maps with different cover categories and with the Risk Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program on protocol development for adaptive governance arrangements for tropical forest ecosystems. more

North America


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Decent living energy

Narasimha D. Rao discusses his two postdoctoral studies on i) quantifying the energy requirements for a given universal set of living standards in three developing countries and ii) using an integrated approach to explain income inequality.  more

teaserimage

Evolution of mediated cooperative interactions

Melissa Whitaker, University of California, Davis, outlines the results of her YSSP project in which she modeled the effects of interaction asymmetries in order to explore the role of functional diversity on interaction dynamics. more

teaserimage

Land classification and governance

Carl Salk is working with the Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program to develop statistical tools for comparing land classification error rates on maps with different cover categories and with the Risk Policy and Vulnerability (RPV) Program on protocol development for adaptive governance arrangements for tropical forest ecosystems. more


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Last edited: 09 September 2014

National Member Organization

NMO DETAILS

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS)

Michael Clegg

Professor Emeritus, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS)

Ester Sztein

INFO SHEET ON IIASA ACTIVITIES WITH THE US

2013 Events in US

GEA West Coast Launch Conference

21 May 2013 - 22 May 2013

Further information

External contracts

Events

Staff

Visitors

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
Schlossplatz 1, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Phone: (+43 2236) 807 0 Fax:(+43 2236) 71 313