India today signed an memorandum of understanding with the University of California to facilitate research activities. India and the University of California committed to spend some $10 million annually in joint research in areas including biomedicine, molecular biology, drug design, nanotechnology as well as other high tech areas, according to news reports.

The agreement was signed by V. S. Ramamurthy of India's Department of Science and Technology and by Gretchen Kalonji, director of international strategy development at the University of California System, according to a news report.

Kalonji, formerly professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, was named to her post with the University of California in 2005 with the mission of "creating the first coordinated and comprehensive international strategy in UC history," according to a university website.

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