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50 Global Armenians: Armen Zakarian
December 13, 2014 13:16
exclusive
Armen Zakarian
Mediamax continues its "50 Global Armenians" special project and
presents its next hero Armen Zakarian, Professor and Chair of
Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department at the
University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Armen Zakarian is an engineering scientist born in Yerevan in 1966. He
attended Nikol Aghbalian School No.19 and then continued his education
in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the State Engineering
University of Armenia (SEUA) (formerly Yerevan Polytechnic Institute).
After receiving his undergraduate diploma in mechanical engineering,
Zakarian continued his graduate education in the United States. He
received Master's degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from
University of Southern California, Los Angeles in 1993 and Ph.D.
degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Iowa, Iowa
City in 1997.
Since 1997, Armen Zakarian has been a faculty member in the Department
of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at the University
of Michigan-Dearborn. Since 2009 he is a professor and chair of the
department.
During his time at University of Michigan Dearborn, Armen Zakarian was
involved in large-scale engineering projects with various US
corporations, including Ford Motor Company, General Motors and
Chrysler. His research was also sponsored by the US Army and US Navy.
Armen Zakarian is an author of numerous scientific publications in the
areas of intelligent design and manufacturing. He supported more than
dozen students from Armenia for their graduate studies at University
of Michigan Dearborn who are currently pursuing successful
professional careers with various major US corporations.
I was born in Yerevan in 1966 and lived there till the age of 24. My
father, Vanik Zakaryan, is a mathematician and a member of National
Academy of Sciences of Armenia and my mother, Rita is a chemist. I
attended the Krupskaya School (presently, Nikol Aghbalian School No.19 -
Mediamax) that was considered one of the best at the time. After
graduating from the school in 1983 I was admitted to Civil Engineering
Department of the Yerevan Polytechnic Institute. Two years later I was
drafted into military service and served two years in Gyumri. Then I
continued my education at SEUA but changed my area of specialization
to mechanical engineering.
I completed my undergraduate studies in 1990 when country was going
through major transformations and engineering job prospects in Armenia
were not that great. During that time the establishment of the
American University of Armenia (AUA) was underway in Armenia. As part
of this effort the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) was
sponsoring eleven to twelve selected students to continue their
master's education in two University of California, Berkeley and
University of Southern California (USC). I was one of the students
selected for this program to study industrial and systems engineering
at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and I left for
the US in 1991.
Those were interesting years. There was no Internet back then and we
knew very little, if anything, about US education system. Everything
was new and different and we had to learn the language and the system
on a fly. I remember upon arrival to USC we were asked to take the GRE
exam within couple of days and none of us knew what the GRE exam was
about. I have to emphasize the tremendous help and guidance we
received from Dr. Mihran Agbabian, our guardian at USC and the first
President of AUA and at the time also chair of Civil Engineering
Department at USC. I stayed in Los Angeles until December of 1993.
During the summer of 1992 I returned to Armenia and worked at AUA as a
teaching assistant for Dr. Shmuel S. Oren, professor at UC Berkeley
who was teaching operations research class at AUA to first year
industrial engineering master's students.
Armen Zakarian
Photo: A. Zakarian's archive
After obtaining my Master's Degree from USC in 1993 I had to decide
about my future career path. At the time I already developed some
strong interest towards engineering research and after considering all
options, I decided to pursue doctoral study in industrial engineering.
I submitted applications to a number of universities in 1993 and
received admission to several of them. I decided to continue my
education at the University of Iowa in Iowa City as Industrial
Engineering department there offered me a full scholarship and I was
also offered to work with one of the most renowned professors.
Beyond doubt, Iowa City was very different from Los Angeles. Iowa is a
small Midwestern state located in Central United States, often
referred to as "American Heartland". Iowa City is a small university
town that had cold winters and freezing rains. While studying in Iowa,
in the summer of 1994 I again returned to Armenia and taught an
Engineering Probability and Statistics course at AUA. In 1997, I
successfully defended my doctoral thesis and shortly after received a
job offer from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. I joined the
university in September of 1997.
The University of Michigan is one of the most distinguished
universities in the world. It boasts of one of the largest health care
complexes in the world and has largest research expenditure for any
university in the US. The University of Michigan-Dearborn is one of
the three campuses of the University of Michigan and located in the
city of Dearborn. It attracts around 9,000 students, of which 350
study at Armen Zakarian's department.
The work at University of Michigan Dearborn marked new and very
interesting stage in my career. Many of my research projects were with
large companies including General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and AT&T. The
fact that many of these projects were not just theoretical in nature
but involved working with people and applications of algorithms for
solving real world large scale engineering problems made my work even
more interesting. These research activities provided me with an
opportunity to bring 12-13 students from Armenia to US and fully
support them for their graduated studies at University of Michigan
Dearborn. Most of the students had applied mathematics background from
SEUA and YSU.
Armen Zakarian with his family
Photo: A. Zakarian's archive.
The overwhelming majority of the Armenian students who worked on my
research projects were highly motivated, well prepared and had very
strong academic background. The best proof of their success is perhaps
the fact that all of them are currently doing successful professional
careers with major US corporations including Microsoft, Yahoo,
Symantec, JP Morgan Chase, Netflix and Saleforce. One of the students,
after five-year professional career at Microsoft went back to school
full time and obtained an MBA from Columbia Business School. Another
former student started his career at the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), then worked at Bloomberg and currently he is a Vice President
at JPMorgan Chase.
I spent my entire academic career at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn. I started here as an assistant professor in 1997,
promoted to associate professor in 2003 and to professor and
department chair in 2009.
Unfortunately my current administrative duties occupy majority of my
time and I cannot devote much time to my research and student
supervision. We offer several undergraduate and graduate degree
programs and over the next several years we will be hiring several new
faculty members in the department who will chart the future of the
department and the college.
I try to visit Armenia as often as I can. Both my wife's and my
parents and all our close relatives leave in Yerevan and my last visit
to Armenia was two years ago.
Armen Zakarian with his family
Photo: A. Zakarian's archive.
Armen and his wife Marina have two sons, both born in the U.S. The
older son Gary just graduated from the high school and currently a
freshman in the College. The younger son Vanik is a seventh grader and
goes to a middle school in Ann Arbor where the family resides.
My older son Gary started a college in September. It seems that he
eliminated engineering and medicine as possible career choices. Vanik
is active in sport and plays soccer and tennis.
Aram Araratyan
- See more at: http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/50-global-armenians/12581#sthash.xlU41g5X.dpuf
December 13, 2014 13:16
exclusive
Armen Zakarian
Mediamax continues its "50 Global Armenians" special project and
presents its next hero Armen Zakarian, Professor and Chair of
Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department at the
University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Armen Zakarian is an engineering scientist born in Yerevan in 1966. He
attended Nikol Aghbalian School No.19 and then continued his education
in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the State Engineering
University of Armenia (SEUA) (formerly Yerevan Polytechnic Institute).
After receiving his undergraduate diploma in mechanical engineering,
Zakarian continued his graduate education in the United States. He
received Master's degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from
University of Southern California, Los Angeles in 1993 and Ph.D.
degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Iowa, Iowa
City in 1997.
Since 1997, Armen Zakarian has been a faculty member in the Department
of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at the University
of Michigan-Dearborn. Since 2009 he is a professor and chair of the
department.
During his time at University of Michigan Dearborn, Armen Zakarian was
involved in large-scale engineering projects with various US
corporations, including Ford Motor Company, General Motors and
Chrysler. His research was also sponsored by the US Army and US Navy.
Armen Zakarian is an author of numerous scientific publications in the
areas of intelligent design and manufacturing. He supported more than
dozen students from Armenia for their graduate studies at University
of Michigan Dearborn who are currently pursuing successful
professional careers with various major US corporations.
I was born in Yerevan in 1966 and lived there till the age of 24. My
father, Vanik Zakaryan, is a mathematician and a member of National
Academy of Sciences of Armenia and my mother, Rita is a chemist. I
attended the Krupskaya School (presently, Nikol Aghbalian School No.19 -
Mediamax) that was considered one of the best at the time. After
graduating from the school in 1983 I was admitted to Civil Engineering
Department of the Yerevan Polytechnic Institute. Two years later I was
drafted into military service and served two years in Gyumri. Then I
continued my education at SEUA but changed my area of specialization
to mechanical engineering.
I completed my undergraduate studies in 1990 when country was going
through major transformations and engineering job prospects in Armenia
were not that great. During that time the establishment of the
American University of Armenia (AUA) was underway in Armenia. As part
of this effort the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) was
sponsoring eleven to twelve selected students to continue their
master's education in two University of California, Berkeley and
University of Southern California (USC). I was one of the students
selected for this program to study industrial and systems engineering
at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and I left for
the US in 1991.
Those were interesting years. There was no Internet back then and we
knew very little, if anything, about US education system. Everything
was new and different and we had to learn the language and the system
on a fly. I remember upon arrival to USC we were asked to take the GRE
exam within couple of days and none of us knew what the GRE exam was
about. I have to emphasize the tremendous help and guidance we
received from Dr. Mihran Agbabian, our guardian at USC and the first
President of AUA and at the time also chair of Civil Engineering
Department at USC. I stayed in Los Angeles until December of 1993.
During the summer of 1992 I returned to Armenia and worked at AUA as a
teaching assistant for Dr. Shmuel S. Oren, professor at UC Berkeley
who was teaching operations research class at AUA to first year
industrial engineering master's students.
Armen Zakarian
Photo: A. Zakarian's archive
After obtaining my Master's Degree from USC in 1993 I had to decide
about my future career path. At the time I already developed some
strong interest towards engineering research and after considering all
options, I decided to pursue doctoral study in industrial engineering.
I submitted applications to a number of universities in 1993 and
received admission to several of them. I decided to continue my
education at the University of Iowa in Iowa City as Industrial
Engineering department there offered me a full scholarship and I was
also offered to work with one of the most renowned professors.
Beyond doubt, Iowa City was very different from Los Angeles. Iowa is a
small Midwestern state located in Central United States, often
referred to as "American Heartland". Iowa City is a small university
town that had cold winters and freezing rains. While studying in Iowa,
in the summer of 1994 I again returned to Armenia and taught an
Engineering Probability and Statistics course at AUA. In 1997, I
successfully defended my doctoral thesis and shortly after received a
job offer from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. I joined the
university in September of 1997.
The University of Michigan is one of the most distinguished
universities in the world. It boasts of one of the largest health care
complexes in the world and has largest research expenditure for any
university in the US. The University of Michigan-Dearborn is one of
the three campuses of the University of Michigan and located in the
city of Dearborn. It attracts around 9,000 students, of which 350
study at Armen Zakarian's department.
The work at University of Michigan Dearborn marked new and very
interesting stage in my career. Many of my research projects were with
large companies including General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and AT&T. The
fact that many of these projects were not just theoretical in nature
but involved working with people and applications of algorithms for
solving real world large scale engineering problems made my work even
more interesting. These research activities provided me with an
opportunity to bring 12-13 students from Armenia to US and fully
support them for their graduated studies at University of Michigan
Dearborn. Most of the students had applied mathematics background from
SEUA and YSU.
Armen Zakarian with his family
Photo: A. Zakarian's archive.
The overwhelming majority of the Armenian students who worked on my
research projects were highly motivated, well prepared and had very
strong academic background. The best proof of their success is perhaps
the fact that all of them are currently doing successful professional
careers with major US corporations including Microsoft, Yahoo,
Symantec, JP Morgan Chase, Netflix and Saleforce. One of the students,
after five-year professional career at Microsoft went back to school
full time and obtained an MBA from Columbia Business School. Another
former student started his career at the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), then worked at Bloomberg and currently he is a Vice President
at JPMorgan Chase.
I spent my entire academic career at the University of
Michigan-Dearborn. I started here as an assistant professor in 1997,
promoted to associate professor in 2003 and to professor and
department chair in 2009.
Unfortunately my current administrative duties occupy majority of my
time and I cannot devote much time to my research and student
supervision. We offer several undergraduate and graduate degree
programs and over the next several years we will be hiring several new
faculty members in the department who will chart the future of the
department and the college.
I try to visit Armenia as often as I can. Both my wife's and my
parents and all our close relatives leave in Yerevan and my last visit
to Armenia was two years ago.
Armen Zakarian with his family
Photo: A. Zakarian's archive.
Armen and his wife Marina have two sons, both born in the U.S. The
older son Gary just graduated from the high school and currently a
freshman in the College. The younger son Vanik is a seventh grader and
goes to a middle school in Ann Arbor where the family resides.
My older son Gary started a college in September. It seems that he
eliminated engineering and medicine as possible career choices. Vanik
is active in sport and plays soccer and tennis.
Aram Araratyan
- See more at: http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/50-global-armenians/12581#sthash.xlU41g5X.dpuf