Sandro Scandolo was recently appointed senior staff member at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, where his research encompasses simulations of high-pressure phase transitions in covalent, molecular and metallic systems in addition to surface science, polymers and nonlinear optics. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa in 1993. He then moved to the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, where he became assistant professor in 1998 and associate professor in 2002. He spent a two-year sabbatical leave (2000–02) at the Princeton Materials Institute, Princeton University. Address for Scandolo: Abdus Salam ICTP, Strada Costiera 11, I-34014 Trieste, Italy. Internet: scandolo@ictp.trieste.it