Armen Der Kiureghian (, born October 4, 1947) is an Iranian-born

Armenian-American Armenian Americans () are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in Russia. The first major wave of Armenian immig ...

academic, one of the founders of the

American University of Armenia The American University of Armenia (AUA) (, ՀԱՀ; ''Hayastani amerikyan hamalsaran'', ''HAH'') is a private, independent university in Yerevan, Armenia that is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and Un ...

, where he served as the president from 2014 to 2019. He is the professor of civil engineering at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

. Der Kiureghian was elected a member of the US

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 2011 for contributions to risk and reliability and earthquake engineering to advance the practice of civil and structural engineering. He is also a Foreign Member of the

National Academy of Sciences of Armenia The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) (, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri azgayin akademia'') is the Armenian national academy, functioning as the primary body that conducts research and coordinates activ ...

Biography

Der Kiureghian was born in Isfahan in the family of a prominent Armenian painter Sumbat Der Kiureghian. He received his BS and MS in civil engineering from the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, and his PhD in

structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of human-made Structure#Load-bearing, structures. Structural engineers also ...

from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

in 1975. In 1978 he joined the faculty at the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

, where in 1978–1981 he was as an assistant professor and continued to be an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

(1981–1985), professor (1985), vice chair (1990–1993) and chair (1997–2001) of the structural engineering, mechanics and materials program and as vice-chair for instruction in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Since July 1999, he has held the Taisei Chair in Civil Engineering in the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley. After the

Spitak earthquake The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake (), occurred on December 7 at with a surface-wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X (''Devastating''). The shock occurred in the northern region of Armenia (then ...

of 1988 in Armenia, Der Kiureghian played a leading role in establishing the

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

as an affiliate of the University of California. He served concurrently as the founding dean of the College of Engineering (1991–2007) and as interim provost (2011–2012) of AUA with his position at Berkeley. He has also served as the founding director of the Engineering Research Center of AUA (1991–2004), a has been a founding member of the board of trustees of AUA. He served as interim university president since President Bruce Boghosian's departure in July 2014. In January, Der Kiureghian has accepted the position of president of AUA. In May 2019, he passed the baton to Dr.

Karin Markides Karin Markides, born 1951, is a Swedish professor in analytical chemistry and President and CEO of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology from 1 June 2023. She was the president of American University of Armenia from 1 July 2019 to 2 December ...

. Armen Der Kiureghian's teaching and research interests are in the areas of structural reliability,

risk analysis In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environ ...

, random vibrations and earthquake engineering. He has pioneered methods for the safety and reliability assessment of complex structures and for stochastic seismic analysis of buildings, bridges, and critical equipment. He has over 300 publications, including 110 in archival journals and book chapters. Armen Der Kiureghian is a member of several societies and associations, including: * Elected Member of the

US National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the N ...

* Elected Foreign Member of the National Academy of Engineering of Armenia, 1994 * Elected Foreign Member of the

, 1998 * Alfred M. Freudenthal Medal from the Engineering Mechanics Division of ASCE * George Winter Medal from the Structural Engineering Institute of ASCE * Distinguished Alumnus of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at

, 2006 * Distinguished Alumnus, Faculty of Engineering, Tehran University, Iran, 2004 * Fulbright Distinguished Professor, University of Lubljana,

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, 1989 * Mitsubishi Chair Visiting Professor,

Tokyo University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

, Japan, 1989

Awards

* Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize, ASCE, 1989 * CERRA Award, Civil Engineering Risk and Reliability Association, 1999 * Movses Khorenatsi Medal,

Government of Armenia The Government of the Republic of Armenia () or the executive branch of the Armenian government is an executive council of government ministers in Armenia. It is one of the three main governmental branches of Armenia and is headed by the Pr ...

, 2001 * Alfred M. Freudenthal Medal, Engineering Mechanics Division, ASCE, 2006 * Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award, Goe-Institute, ASCE, 2006 * 2007 Best Paper Award, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE, 2008 * Distinguished Research Award, International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability, 2013 * George Winter Medal, Structural Engineering Institute, ASCE, 2014

Personal life

Der Kiureghian has two children, Naira and Sebouh. He has been married to Nelly Ouzounian since 1983.

Painting as a hobby

Der Kiureghian's main hobby is painting watercolors which he learned from his father, Sumbat, who was a professional artist and watercolorist. He paints

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

s and

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

Books

* Der Kiureghian, A. (2009). The life and art of Sumbat. ADK & Associates Publishers, San Francisco, CA. 172 pages.

References

External links

Official page

Armen Der Kiureghian, University of California, Berkeley, Publications

Armen Der Kiureghian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Der Kiureghian, Armen 1947 births Living people Scientists from Isfahan American educational theorists American people of Armenian descent Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Iranian people of Armenian descent Iranian emigrants to the United States University of Tehran alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Grainger College of Engineering alumni