The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria, is an international research institution supported by National Member Organizations in 15 countries, including the United States, Russia, Eastern and Western European nations, Japan, and Canada. The focus of its research is on complex, policy-relevant problems that transcend the interests of single countries. The U.S. National Committee for IIASA, comprised of distinguished scientists and policy experts, has been important to the implementation of a December 1989 Presidential determination that IIASA's research directions should be redirected towards issues of concern to the United States, with a specific emphasis on global change research. In particular, the Committee was instrumental in helping to develop a 10-year strategic plan which was officially adopted by the IIASA Council in June 1991. This grant will permit the Committee to continue and intensify its activities by: (1) providing support for its Executive Directorate, housed at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts; (2) funding domestic travel for members to participate in meetings of the committee; (3) funding foreign travel to permit qualified U.S. scientists to make short-term visits to IIASA as a means for addressing an objective of the committee to intensify involvement of the U.S. scientific community in IIASA's work; and (4) supporting the participation of up to eight outstanding advanced U.S. graduate students in IIASA's Young Scientist Program during the summer of 1992.
