UCLA International Institute, January 9, 2020  — The UCLA International Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of the inaugural director of The Promise Armenian Institute, Ann R. Karagozian, distinguished professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCLA.

Professor Karagozian is the immediate past interim vice chancellor for research for the UCLA campus. She is also a past chair of the UCLA Academic Senate (2010-11). She serves on the board of trustees of the American University of Armenia (AUA), which is affiliated with the University of California, and chairs the AUA Board’s Educational Policy Committee. She also has served on boards for Haigazian University (Beirut, Lebanon), the Armenian Missionary Association of America and the United Armenian Congregational Church (Los Angeles).

Professor Karagozian currently heads UCLA's Energy and Propulsion Research Laboratory and is the director of the joint UCLA-Air Force Research Laboratory Collaborative Center for Aerospace Sciences. She has been a faculty member in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department at UCLA since 1982, having received her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in that year. Ann's research interests lie in fluid mechanics and combustion, with applications to improved engine efficiency, reduced emissions, alternative fuels and advanced rocket and air breathing propulsion systems.

Among her many affiliations, Professor Karagozian is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She twice received the Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service from the U.S Air Force (2001, 2010), and is a member of Tau Beta Pi, Phi Beta Kappa, the Combustion Institute and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. She is a past chair and division councilor of the American Physical Society/Division of Fluid Dynamics.

The Promise Armenian Institute is a groundbreaking new entity within the UCLA International Institute. Made possible with a $20 million gift from the estate of Kirk Kerkorian, the largest gift that the International Institute has received, The Promise Armenian Institute positions UCLA to significantly build upon its more than 50 years of history of Armenian Studies, which currently includes two endowed faculty chairs. This new institute will be the hub for world-class research and teaching on Armenian Studies, and for coordinating new and ongoing research and public impact programs across UCLA —  from social sciences to health sciences; from humanities to music, the arts and engineering; and from public policy to management. The Promise Armenian Institute’s size, scope and interdisciplinary approach make it the first of its kind in the world.

The Promise Armenian Institute will include the new Armenian Studies Center, and Professor Karagozian will be involved in the selection of its first director.

The UCLA International Institute warmly welcomes Professor Ann R. Karagozian to her leadership role at The Promise Armenian Institute.

See announcement of the founding of The Promise Armenian Institute here.