Mississippi State, Czech academy and university sign agreement

Vice President for Research Ralph Powe, left, looks over the cooperative agreement with Frantisek Neuman, center, and Dr. John Graek of the Mathematics and Statistics Department. Neuman is director of the Brno Branch of the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences.

According to Dr. John Graef of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Mississippi State signed the agreement with Masaryk University and the Brno Branch of the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

"The agreement is actually a framework under which we can agree to help each other with projects," Graef said.

According to terms of the agreement, Masaryk University and Mississippi State will make joint efforts to attract financial support from international, national and local agencies for their projects. The agreement will be in force for three years and subject to automatic renewal.

Currently, some students in the Czech Republic are working on a graduate project comparing the educational systems between the Eastern European republic and the United States.

"In order to help them with their research, we've exchanged copies of each others' course syllabi and exams while they're working on the long-range project. There's a spirit of cooperation there," Graef said.

Future endeavors could call for an exchange of faculty or students among the three institutions. In fact, invitations have already gone out to Graef and Mississippi State Vice President for Research Ralph Powe to visit the Czech Republic this fall.

Graef is scheduled to visit the Academy of Sciences in October for a series of lectures and discussions on differential equations. Powe will represent Mississippi State at Masaryk University's 75th anniversary celebration in November.