Kiremidjian, Anne S.
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In this 2016 oral history, Professor Anne Setian Kiremidjian, a structural engineer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, describes her early life in Bulgaria, her family’s immigration to the United States in the 1960s as a part of a program for those of Armenian descent, her engineering education at Stanford, and her research on earthquake risk modeling and structural damage detection at Stanford’s John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center. One of the first women to receive tenure in the School of Engineering, Kiremidjian also discusses some of the issues facing female engineers in academia. Kiremidjian begins with the story of her family’s departure from communist Bulgaria in 1965. She describes their journey first to Beiruit, Lebanon, and then to New York City, a voyage which influenced her career trajectory by exposing her to many architectural wonders. At her high school in Forest Hills, New York, Kiremidjian was ahead of the class in math and physics but struggled to learn English. She describes the challenges this presented for an immigrant determined to go to college and explains how she eventually got accepted to Queens College with the help of a sympathetic admissions officer and then attended Columbia University as part of a special five-year degree program. Shortly after finishing her undergraduate education, she married mathematician, Garo Kiremidjian. When he was offered a teaching position at Stanford University in 1972, Kiremidjian decided to pursue an advanced degree in engineering at Stanford. Although she was the only woman in the civil engineering program, Kiremidjian describes how Professor Haresh Shah made her an equal partner on his graduate team. Shah’s growing interest in and enthusiasm for earthquake engineering sparked her own, she says. She describes how her participation on a team responsible for making a seismic hazard map of Nicaragua and a visit to Managua where damage from the December 1972 earthquake was still evident “created a purpose” for her as an engineer. As a graduate student, Kiremidjian participated in the opening of the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center, and she describes that exciting time. Kiremidjian also discusses her work at Blume’s firm after graduation where she helped to develop an earthquake model for the Hosgri fault near the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Powerplant. Kiremidjian describes her experience of the Loma Prieta earthquake, which struck in 1989, and recalls the involvement of civil engineering faculty and students in assisting with the damage assessment at Stanford, as well as hosting the scores of visiting scientists from all over the world who came to study the damage caused by the earthquake. She also talks about the Blume’s Center’s rehabilitation after the quake. Describing her key research projects, Kiremidjian speaks of developing a probabilistic seismic hazard map of California and working with Professor of Electrical Engineering Teresa H. Meng and Erik Straser to develop wireless sensors to detect structural damage. She explains that although they hold the patents, no one has yet turned these tools and techniques to commercial use. Kiremidjian also outlines new environmental directions in civil engineering, as well as the increasing prevalence of entrepreneurship in the discipline. Speaking of the gendered attitudes she faced while pursuing her goal of becoming an engineer, Kiremidjian notes that she was often the only woman in her math, physics, and engineering classes and describes instances of rude or dismissive treatment. She explains, however, that the different cultural attitudes towards women in mathematical and scientific fields that she experienced growing up helped her to succeed. Kiremidjian discusses the challenges of teaching and working toward tenure while raising a child, noting that her daughter, Seta, became a frequent partner on her scholarly travels as part of her solution to childcare. Kiremidjian concludes the interview with a discussion of her teaching strategies and her participation in a group called ENHANCE that recruits women earthquake engineers to mentor their younger female colleagues.
Description
| Type of resource | mixed material |
|---|---|
| Date created | May 20, 2016 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Kiremidjian, Anne S. | |
|---|---|---|
| Contributing author | Kiefer, Joyce | |
| Publisher | Stanford Historical Society |
Subjects
| Subject | Anne Kiremidjian |
|---|---|
| Subject | Stanford University > Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| Subject | women in engineering |
| Subject | Stanford Historical Society |
| Subject | oral histories |
| Subject | interviews |
| Subject | higher education |
| Subject | professors |
| Subject | Stanford Pioneering Women Oral History Project |
Bibliographic information
| Related item |
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| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/jv345dv6415 |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
Kiremidjian, Anne S. (2016).
Oral History. Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program Interviews (SC0932).
Department of Special Collections & University Archives, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, Calif. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/jv345dv6415
Collection
Stanford Historical Society Oral History Program interviews, 1999-2022
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- universityarchives@stanford.edu
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