Program

Event Program

Dr. Bruce Boghosian
AUA President

Alisa Chalakhyan (BAB '19)
Alumni Emcee

Lida Asilyan (BAEC ’24)
Featured Alumni

Zulal Trio
Musical Performers

Guest Panelists

Dr. Aram Adourian
Senior Scientific Advisor
Flagship Pioneering

Dr. Areg Danagoulian
Associate Professor,
Nuclear Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Naira Campbell-Kyureghyan
 Judson King Endowed Visiting Professor
AUA Akian College of Science & Engineering

Dr. Anna Ohanyan (moderator)
Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor, Political Science and International Relations Stonehill College

Dr. Bruce Boghosian
AUA President

Dr. Bruce M. Boghosian became the sixth president of the American University of Armenia (AUA) effective September 2023. He has previously served as AUA president from 2010 to 2014, during which AUA’s undergraduate degree program was launched.

Dr. Boghosian was Professor of Mathematics at Tufts University from 2000 and served as chair of that department from 2006 to 2010. He also holds secondary faculty appointments in the Departments of Physics and Computer Science at Tufts. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society since 2000, a recipient of the Tufts Distinguished Scholar Award in 2010, a non-native member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (RA) since 2008, a recipient of the “Order of the Republic of Armenia” bestowed by the RA Prime Minister in 2014, and a recipient of the “Gold Medal” from the RA Ministry of Education and Science in 2014. He is a Fellow of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University since 2018, and a Fellow of the Data Intensive Studies Center at Tufts University since 2020.

His interests span mathematical fluid dynamics and kinetic theory and their application to problems in the social sciences, including wealth distribution and inequality, oligarchy, and opinion dynamics. He is a member of the editorial boards of three scientific journals and has held visiting scholar positions at the Département de Mathématiques, Université de Paris-Sud in Orsay and the École Normale ́Supérieure in Paris, France; Peking University in Beijing, China; University College London; the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy; and with the Economic Research Group at the Central Bank of Armenia. He has also served as the vice president of the Association of American International Colleges and Universities (AAICU) from 2013 to 2014.

Alisa Chalakhyan (BAB '19)
Alumni Emcee

Alisa Chalakhyan is a 2019 graduate of the American University of Armenia (AUA) with a bachelor’s degree in business. Throughout her studies at AUA, she was actively engaged in student life and served as the vice president of the AUA Finance Club and was among the pioneering residents of the AUA Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center (EPIC). 

Chalakhyan’s journey continued at Columbia University, where she earned a master’s degree in enterprise risk management. Returning to Armenia in 2022, she took on the role of program lead at EPIC, spearheading the groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind entrepreneurship program, STRIVE. 

Throughout her career, Chalakhyan has remained deeply involved in the startup ecosystem, constantly increasing her commitment to help founders around the world, and especially in Armenia, mitigate strategic risks when building their own startups. Currently, she is deepening her expertise by pursuing an Executive DBA at Pennsylvania State University, focusing her research on early-stage enterprise failures.

Lida Asilyan (BAEC ’24)
Featured Alumni

Lida Asilyan (BAEC ’24), a recent graduate from the English and Communications program at the American University of Armenia (AUA), hails from Ijevan, Tavush Province. During her years at AUA, Asilyan worked as a writing consultant at the University’s Writing Center; contributed to Rerooted Archive and the Center for Truth and Justice as an interpreter and translator; and reported for The Armenian Mirror-Spectator. Asilyan also served as the alumni coordinator for the Future Leaders Exchange (FLEX) program, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, and as the EducationUSA junior adviser, assisting students from Syunik and Tavush in improving their English, soft, and hard skills. 

In addition to her roles in journalism, writing, and translation, Asilyan is passionate about oral history, teaching, and educational development. Soon, she will begin her master’s in education policy and analysis at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Zulal Trio
Musical Performers

Zulal, which means “clear water,” is an a cappella trio that transforms Armenia’s village folk melodies into arrangements that pay tribute to the music’s ancient roots while allowing it new possibilities. Zulal celebrates the trials and joys of old Armenian village life, from the echoes of loss to the enduring vibrations of dance and celebration. The trio has performed in such esteemed venues as the Getty Museum, the MET, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Berklee College of Music, and the Kennedy Center. Zulal has four critically acclaimed albums to its credit.

Teni Apelian‘s love for Armenian folk music has guided her musical explorations. Her love for the a cappella genre began at Carnegie Mellon where she sang in the school’s Jazz Choir and earned a Masters in Arts Management. A trip to Armenia in 2000 eventually led her to the members of Zulal in a most circuitous way. In addition to arranging, recording and performing with Zulal, Teni enjoys teaching Armenian folk music in the classroom setting. Zulal has brought life and breath to Teni’s foremost passion and she considers herself lucky to share the creative process with two friends who are now truly sisters.

Anaïs Alexandra Tekerian, originally from San Francisco, discovered her joy of folk when she was a member and then director of the Yale Slavic chorus. A singer and theater artist now living in New York, she has performed in many plays and has written three works for the stage. Her most recent play, Lost Spring, co-created with artist Kevork Mourad, premiered (in French) at the Mucem in Marseille and at the Morgenland Festival in Germany in 2015. Celebrating her Armenian heritage through song with Zulal is a constant source of joy and inspiration.

Yeraz Markarian was first introduced to a cappella at Barnard College at Columbia University where she began singing as a “bass”. A native New Yorker, she has a background in marketing and a PhD in clinical psychology. Yeraz’s passion for Armenian folk music began at an early age, when she performed with the Hamazkayin’s Armenian Children’s Choir of New York at Lincoln Center at the age of six. Yeraz is proud to take part in discovering, arranging and performing Armenian folk music, and is overjoyed that what began as an innocent conversation among friends has led to the creation of Zulal.

Dr. Aram Adourian
Senior Scientific Advisor, Flagship Pioneering

Dr. Aram Adourian is a senior scientific advisor at Flagship Pioneering, a biotechnology company that invents and builds platform companies to advance human health and sustainability. He most recently served as chief scientific officer at BG Medicine, developing diagnostic solutions to aid in the analysis and clinical management of chronic diseases. Dr. Adourian has also served as a senior researcher at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he developed novel systems and approaches for biomolecular sequencing, genomics, and computational modeling. His career in the life sciences spans two decades, with roles in basic and applied research, product development, and commercialization. Dr. Adourian earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University in statistical physics and studied physics and mathematics at Cornell University.

Dr. Areg Danagoulian
Associate Professor, Nuclear Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Dr. Areg Danagoulian is an associate professor of nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His Ph.D. research was in experimental nuclear physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Danagoulian worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher.  While working in the industry, he developed the Prompt Neutron from Photofission (PNPF) technique, which allows for the rapid detection of shielded fissionable materials in commercial cargo traffic. Dr. Danagoulian’s current research interests revolve around nuclear physics applications in nuclear security, nuclear nonproliferation, technologies for treaty verification, nuclear safeguards, and cargo security. He was elected the 2019 Arms Control Association Person of the Year and received the 2019 American Nuclear Society’s Radiation Science and Technology Award.

Dr. Naira Campbell-Kyureghyan
Judson King Endowed Visiting Professor, AUA Akian College of Science & Engineering

Dr. Naira Campbell-Kyureghyan is a visiting professor at the American University of Armenia (AUA). She is an internationally renowned expert in musculoskeletal biomechanics, ergonomics, and human-centered design. She received her B.S./M.S. degree in electrical engineering and controls from the State Engineering University of Armenia, M.S. degree in industrial engineering from AUA, and Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering/biomechanics from The Ohio State University. During her 20+ years in academia, Dr. Campbell-Kyureghyan founded and directed several interdisciplinary laboratories, centers, and an innovation incubator and formed and directed academia-industry-government consortia. Dr. Campbell-Kyureghyan has taught in many countries throughout her career. She has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and presentations in ergonomics and biomechanics; delivered a dozen keynote addresses nationally and internationally; and served on the editorial boards of several major international journals in her field. Dr. Campbell-Kyureghyan’s research was funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, National Science Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Defense, and numerous industry partners. She has invented and successfully licensed products and holds pending patents in the U.S. and internationally.

Dr. Anna Ohanyan
Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor, Political Science and International Relations Stonehill College

Dr. Anna Ohanyan is the Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Stonehill College in Massachusetts. She is a two-time Fulbright Scholar and a Nonresident Senior Scholar in the Russia/Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Dr. Ohanyan has authored, edited, and co-edited five books and numerous academic articles. She is a public scholar and has contributed to Bloomberg Asia, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CNBC- Asia, MSNBC, BBC, PBS, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, and The Washington Quarterly, among many other news outlets and policy journals.