On March 4, 2010, President Mote and NASA-Goddard Director Rob Strain signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote collaboration between NASA-Goddard and the University of Maryland. A Space Act Agreement between the two institutions was signed by Dean Steve Halperin and Dr. Nick White of NASA-Goddard. The Agreement launches the Joint Space-Science Institute (JSI), a partnership between the Departments of Astronomy and Physics and NASA-Goddard, with Chris Reynolds (Astronomy) as Director.