UAHuntsville signs agreement with German university, space agency

(From release) Officials at The University of Alabama in Huntsville have taken steps to build a stronger working relationship with a leading German university and that country’s space agency.

President David Williams and University of Rostock Rector  Dr. Wolfgang Schareck have signed an agreement establishing cooperative interaction in the areas of science, education and culture.

“This agreement will provide numerous opportunities and benefits to our faculty and students,” said Dr. Williams. “Interaction with the University of Rostock will inspire the research and educational strengths of both institutions, and we look forward to the innovative results that will arise in the future from this venture.”

Disciplines where major development activity is expected includes collaborative research programs and projects, comprehensive study abroad programs, faculty and student exchanges and possibly shared doctoral programs. Initially, cooperative pursuits will be focused on engineering, modeling and simulation, space and atmospheric physics and system studies.

The University of Rostock was founded in 1419 and is the oldest and largest university in continental northern Europe. The university has a worldwide collaboration with 50 universities, and nine in the United States with the addition of UAHuntsville.

Rector Wolfgang Schareck said this agreement with UAHuntsville “strengthens our transatlantic axis significantly,” adding  “the expansion of international programs is an important matter for the University of Rostock in the coming years.”

Meanwhile, university officials are pursuing research and educational opportunities with the German space agency, DLR. Officials with that agency visited Huntsville last December to participate in the “Sustainable Space Policy Workshop” organized by UAHuntsville King-McDonald Eminent Scholar Mike Griffin.

Since that time, DLR and UAHuntsville have been involved in several projects and collaborations, including a partnership in a joint command technology demonstration for High-North/Arctic domain awareness, a research project on the recent Iceland volcanic eruption, as well as collaboration on NASA’s SERVIR environmental and sustainability research program in Central America.