Armen Der Kiureghian ( hy, Արմէն Տէր-Կիւրեղեան, October 4, 1947), is an Iranian-born Armenian-American academic, one of the founders of the American University of Armenia, where he served as the president from 2014 to 2019. He is the Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of California. Der Kiureghian was elected a member of the US National Academy of Engineering 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.

Biography

Der Kiureghian was born in Isfahan in the family of prominent Armenian painter

Sumbat Der Kiureghian Sumbat Der Kiureghian (Armenian: Սմբատ Տէր-Կիւրեղեան; October 19, 1913 – June 9, 1999) was a 20th-century Iranian–Armenian watercolor artist. Biography Sumbat Der Kiureghian was born on October 19, 1913, in New Julfa (th ...

. He received his BS and MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran, and his PhD in Structural Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1975. In 1978 he joined the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley, where in 1978–1981 he was as 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''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

(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 ( hy, Սպիտակի երկրաշարժ, ), occurred on December 7 at with a surface wave magnitude of 6.8 and a maximum MSK intensity of X (''Devastating''). The shock occurre ...

of 1988 in Armenia, Der Kiureghian played a leading role in establishing the American University of Armenia in Yerevan as an affiliate of the University of California. He served as the founding Dean of the College of Engineering (1991–2007) and as Interim Provost (2011–2012) of AUA concurrently 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 founding member of the Board of Trustees of AUA. He served as interim president of the university since the departure of President Bruce Boghosian in July 2014. In January, Dr. Armen 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 31 May ...

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

earthquake engineering Earthquake engineering is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering that designs and analyzes structures, such as buildings and bridges, with earthquakes in mind. Its overall goal is to make such structures more resistant to earthquakes. An earth ...

. He has pioneered methods for safety and reliability assessment of complex structures and for stochastic seismic analysis of buildings, bridges, and critical equipment. He has more than 300 publications, including more than 110 in archival journals and book chapters. Armen Der Kiureghian (3)

Armen Der Kiureghian is a member of a number of societies and associations including: * Elected Member of the

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

* Elected Foreign Member of the National Academy of Engineering of Armenia, 1994 * Elected Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, 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 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006 * Distinguished Alumnus, Faculty of Engineering, Tehran University, Iran, 2004 * Fulbright Distinguished Professor, University of Lubljana, Slovenia, 1989 * Mitsubishi Chair Visiting Professor, Tokyo University, 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, 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 man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

s and

still life A still life (plural: 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, 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