Washington, D.C. – The Hungarian American Coalition received a grant from the Charles Simonyi Fund for the Arts and Sciences to extend the operation of the Charles Simonyi Research Scholarship Fund until 2008.

The research scholarship fund was established in 2000 with the donation of 25 million forints by Dr. Charles Simonyi. In 2002 Dr. Simonyi made a further donation to the Hungarian American Coalition’s Research Scholarship Fund to extend the program through 2005.

The current grant will cover an annual 3 million forints each to three prominent researchers, over a 3-year period. The grant will be awarded by a Scholarship Committee constituted by seven members upon the recommendation of the Minister of Education and the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). The awards will be presented at a formal ceremony, where the grantees will give a short presentation about their scientific achievements and activities.

The Grant Agreement was signed in Budapest by Dr. Miklós Réthelyi, Chairman of the Board of the Zoltán Magyary Higher Educational Public Foundation; Dr. Bálint Magyar, Minister of Education, Szilveszter E. Vizi, President of MTA, and Zsolt Szekeres, Coalition Treasurer.