Making a Difference in Armenia

WPI’s 50+ project centers have come about as a result of everything from professional connections to individual passions. The origin story of one of WPI’s newer project centers, located in Yerevan, Armenia, involves one alum’s desire to give back and a particularly timely phone call.

Enter Mike Aghajanian ’80.

Following a successful career that was capped by selling his company at age 50, Aghajanian quickly decided that the next phase of his life would be focused on giving back. After learning that Interactive Qualifying Projects still take place at his alma mater and that there was talk of alumni becoming involved in project centers, he connected and hit it off with Holly Ault, associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Melbourne Project Center. He ended up advising student groups at the project centers in Melbourne, Venice, and Santa Fe, N.M.

“In Santa Fe in particular, we did a lot of very meaningful project work, making a big impact for the local community,” he says, “and I thought, ‘Wow, Armenia could really use this.’”

A connection over the phone with Diran Apelian, former Howmet Professor of Mechanical Engineering and founder and director of WPI’s Metal Processing Institute, led to the discussion of a project center in Armenia (“I asked him if he’d ever considered opening one in Armenia, and he replied, ‘Only for the last 10 years,’” Aghajanian recalls with a laugh.) and the eventual decision to send a group of students to Yerevan as part of a pilot program in 2017.

Since its inception, students have worked on projects such as improving sanitation and student health in Armenian schools, cataloging resources to reduce poverty, and developing a smartphone app focused on tourism. One project from the project center’s pilot year, “Improving Eye Care Delivery through Data Sharing Technology,” was the recipient of the 2017 President’s IQP Award. “That group of students was extraordinary,” Aghajanian says. “They really stand out as one of the best I’ve ever had.”

WPI students aren’t the only ones benefiting from Aghajanian’s plan. Through a partnership with the American University of Armenia (AUA), Armenian students travel to WPI for C-Term, take two courses, and complete ID2050 with their group mates. They return to Armenia to collaborate on IQPs.

“Mike is the driving force behind this whole project center, and he’s done an amazing job,” says Ault, who, after serving with Aghajanian as co-director since 2019, will soon be passing the baton to Associate Professor Aaron Sakulich. “It’s an incredible opportunity for both groups of students.”

Jack Aylesworth ’25, whose team used geographic information systems to locate and analyze methane hotspots across Armenia, agrees. “We would’ve left a large amount of Armenia undiscovered and underappreciated without the guidance of the AUA students,” he says, reminiscing about one of his favorite memories in particular: One of the students from AUA brought them to her village, a trip that involved visiting her middle school, stopping by a wedding happening across the street, playing soccer with her neighbors, and enjoying dinner with her family. “It fully summarized how I visualized Armenia as a whole: accepting us with open arms the whole time and letting all of us fully embrace its culture and tradition.”

While there are many different things Aghajanian hopes students get from their time in Armenia, it’s simple for him to boil it all down to one key takeaway. “At the end of the day, I’m interested in results, not reports,” he says. “I want the students to realize the difference they make. I really hope that after their time in Armenia, they leave with a level of satisfaction that they’ve positively impacted someone’s life and take that with them throughout their careers.”

—Allison Racicot