The presidents of six leading research universities in the United States will visit Iranian universities next month as a delegation organized by the Association of American Universities, the group announced this afternoon.

The association’s president, Robert M. Berdahl, said the trip resulted from an invitation by the president of Iran’s top scientific university, the Sharif University of Technology, in Tehran. The delegation will also visit Tehran University and other institutions.

Members of the delegation, three from private institutions and three from public ones, are: Jared L. Cohon, of Carnegie Mellon University; David J. Skorton, of Cornell University; David W. Leebron, of Rice University; Larry N. Vanderhoef, of the University of California at Davis; J. Bernard Machen, of the University of Florida; and C.D. Mote Jr., of the University of Maryland at College Park.

The presidents, some of whom were invited because their institutions have engaged in previous exchanges with Iran, will meet with higher-education officials, faculty members in science and engineering, and students. —Andrew Mytelka