Mihai Surdu teaches physics at the Mihai Viteazul National College (high school) in Bucharest, Romania. During September and October 2005, he visited Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts, on an on-going exchange program. Romania, and highly rated schools like Mihai Viteazul, are known inter-nationally for excelling in the teaching of the sciences. The two schools are sharing classroom know-how in the sciences (Romania teachers in the US) and the liberal arts (American teachers in Romania).

Born in Bucharest, married and with a daughter in 10th grade at Mihai Viteazul, Prof. Surdu has taught since 1992 and for five years at Mihai Viteazul. “The biggest difference I noticed immediately at Lawrence is that class sizes are much smaller. This allows much more time for each student to do laboratory experiments,” he remarked. “In Bucharest, our classes are much bigger, maybe 25-30 students, and even if the laboratory equipment is the same, we don’t have enough room or time for individual student experiments.”

SEE: One of his recent students Alex Petrescu