keynote speaker Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian, President of American University of Armenia (AUA)

the event Began with speaker president of AUA Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian, see the video, what is the Pillars, the pillars are the generosity of the Armenian of Diaspora investing in the future and realizing the dreams of Armenian student. To become one of the pillars Pledge, $50,000 payable in 5 years, $10,000 year., Today American university of Armenian have 100 Pillars and continues to expand,
AUA is the only U.S. accredited university in all of Caucasus, AUA has been able to remain ahead of the curve in forging a new path for education in Armenia because of its supporters and its close affiliation with the University of California. At the end, Dr. Kris Mirzayan and Mrs. Pamella Mirzayan were awarded a plaque in Honor of Their Dedication to AUA’s Students, whom Dr. Kris Mirzayan calls” These Students are The Future of Armenia ”

Biography

Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian received his B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran, and his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1975. After three years at the University of Southern California, he joined the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley, where he has served as Assistant Professor (1978-81), Associate Professor (1981-85), Professor (1985- ), Vice Chair (1990-93) and Chair (1997-2001) of the Structural Engineering, Mechanics and Materials Program and as Vice Chair for Instruction (2007-2009) in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering.

After the devastating Spitak earthquake of 1988 in Armenia, he was instrumental in establishing the American University of Armenia in Yerevan as an affiliate of the University of California. He has served as the founding Dean of Engineering (1991-2007), the Director of Engineering Research Center (1991-2004), and as Interim Provost (2011-2012) of AUA concurrently with his position at Berkeley. He continues to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American University of Armenia Corporation.

Der Kiureghian’s teaching and research interests are in the areas of structural reliability, risk analysis, random vibrations and earthquake engineering. He has pioneered methods for safety and reliability assessment of complex structures, for risk analysis and decision making, and for stochastic seismic analysis of buildings, bridges and critical equipment. He has more than 300 publications, including 110 in archival journals.

Education

Ph.D. – Civil Engineering, University of Illinois, 1975
B.S./M.S. – Civil Engineering, Tehran University, 1971

A special thank you to the event hosts, Dr. Kris Mirzayan and Mrs. Pamela Ascher Mirzayan, who have invested in AUA both with their resources and their time. During the Fall 2017 semester, the couple relocated to Armenia so Kris could teach business-related courses to AUA students, where he saw first-hand the potential of the academics and the need for ongoing support.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles and Peggy Barsam, who further contributed to the university by purchasing a painting by Arev Petrosyan – the Yerevan-based artist has pledged to donate half the proceeds from each artwork sold to benefit AUA’s “Yes, Armenian Women Can!” campaign, which supports female students studying technology, science and engineering at the university. Arev’s contributions are ongoing and additional paintings are available for purchase at http://yawc.aua.am/.

Please visit http://100pillars.aua.am/ to learn more about the 100 Pillars of AUA program. If you have any questions, please call the Development Office at (510) 925-4282 or email [email protected].