In 1999 a Cooperative Research Program was initiated between the Center for Advanced
Friction Studies of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and the Central Analytical Laboratories of
the Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic. The U.S. National Science Foundation and the
Czech Academy of Sciences provided funding for the program. This collaboration grew out of contacts
made between administrators of the two universities and a memorandum of understanding signed in 1991.
Various activities and conferences were organized, and contacts between researchers were established.
Important to this program was the international conference "Carbon and Carbonaceous Composite
Materials" funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the two respective universities. The strong
association formed between the conference initiator and the local coordinator resulted in an expansion of
their respective research interests and the development of the present cooperative program. In addition to
the background and organizational details of the program, the paper also discusses the delineation of
responsibility, and provides details on the experiences gained from the international cooperation. An
important aspect is the exchanges of individual researchers and research assistants between the two
institutions, as is faculty advisement of students. Another unique factor crucial to the success of the
program is the training on the use of facilities not common to both institutions. This is critical to the
development of a closely-knit, joint research program. The visiting faculty also offers seminars dealing
with additional areas of research. The present paper also summarizes the most significant research
findings emanating from the cooperation, as well as future plans and recommendations for strengthening
similar future international cooperative activities in research and education.