PRESS RELEASE

February 10, 2005

American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576

Contact: Gohar Momjian
E-mail: gohar@auac.net

University of Tehran Honors AUA Dean of Engineering Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian

Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian was selected as a distinguished alumnus of the
Faculty of Engineering of Tehran University, Iran in December 2004. In a
ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Faculty of Engineering, the
University recognized one alumnus from all fields of engineering per year of
the Faculty’s existence for their scholarly and professional contributions
to engineering. It may be of interest to note that among 70 honorees there
were 4 Armenians. Der Kiureghian received both his B.Sc. in Civil
Engineering and his M.Sc. in Structural Engineering from Tehran University.
He holds a Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign.

After the devastating Spitak earthquake of 1988 in Armenia, Dr. Armen Der
Kiureghian was instrumental in establishing the American University of
Armenia in Yerevan as an affiliate of the University of California.
Concurrently with his position as Taisei Professor of Civil Engineering at
UC Berkeley, Dr. Der Kiureghian has served as the founding Dean of
Engineering since 1991 and directed the Engineering Research Center of AUA
until 2004. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the American
University of Armenia Corporation.

AUA’s College of Engineering offers two degree programs: a Master of
Engineering in Industrial Engineering and Systems Management and a Master of
Science in Computer and Information Science. Under Dr. Armen Der
Kiureghian’s leadership, AUA hosted the 8th World Seminar on Seismic
Isolation in October 2003, whereby over 100 academic and field specialists
from 23 countries of the world came to exchange and disseminate information
on new technologies in anti-seismic systems; AUA convened opening ceremonies
of the Solar Photovoltaic Power Station in May 2004, demonstrating new solar
technologies on generating electricity and heating & cooling power in
Armenia; and most recently in Fall 2004 AUA provided a distance learning
course on Software Architecture, from Yerevan via the Internet, to students
at the San Francisco State University.

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The American University of Armenia is registered as a non-profit educational
organization in both Armenia and the United States and is affiliated with
the Regents of the University of California. Receiving major support from
the AGBU, AUA offers instruction leading to the Masters Degree in eight
graduate programs. For more information about AUA, visit

Photo: Armen Der Kiureghian

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress