Ann Karagozian, inaugural director of The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA, wears many hats at UCLA and has built an extensive record of work in both STEM and the social sciences.
by Natalie Monsanto, Communications Director, Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law
UCLA International Institute, February 26, 2026 — Professor Ann Karagozian’s work bridges an uncommon array of specializations, as evidenced by her positions as both a distinguished professor at the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the inaugural director of The Promise Armenian Institute.
“Growing up, I did not imagine I’d be where I am today,” the Los Angeles native shared. “As a child, my parents were very involved in local Armenian-American organizations and I’d go to events with them. I liked math and was good at it, which you could say ran in the family. My mother was extremely accomplished in mathematics; in fact she was the chair of the math department in the high school where she taught — a rare thing in those days — and my father was a CPA.”
Thanks to a program at her nearby high school which allowed students with high SAT scores to take courses at UCLA, Karagozian found that the courses which worked with her high school schedule fit into two categories: Armenian literature (“my genocide-surviving grandparents were thrilled I could take this class,” she smiled) and engineering problem solving. Without knowing it, these courses were quietly foreshadowing the dual paths her career eventually would take.
After high school, Karagozian enrolled at UCLA full-time and completed her undergraduate engineering degree with an emphasis on aerospace and mechanical engineering fundamentals. She then went to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and in 1982 became the first woman to earn her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering there.
“There were always a couple of women in my engineering classes at UCLA, but at Caltech it was rare when I wasn’t the only woman in the class.” Afterwards, she returned to UCLA once more, this time as faculty at [what became] the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, something she described as a homecoming. “Many faculty who had been my professors became my colleagues and friends.”
She shared that she was also the first woman hired in the department, and among the first handful of women hired in the engineering school at all. “When you’re one of the early ones in that way, as you move along in the system, you’re often the first to do lots of things: become tenured, make full professor, to do lots of other things. So it’s something I got used to, even though it was strange at first to be the inaugural woman in these positions.”
Fast forward 43 years, and Karagozian’s portfolio has expanded across disciplines and campus itself. “I never would have dreamed I would be leading an organization like the sort we have here at The Promise Armenian Institute!”
Established in 2020 to be a hub for world-class research and teaching on subjects relevant to Armenia and Armenians, The Promise Armenian Institute's (PAI) suite of work includes the Armenian Genocide Research Program, Armenian Studies Research and Outreach Program, their renowned Armenian Music Program and Operation Armenia, an interdisciplinary team providing medical disaster relief and long-term humanitarian aid to the Republic of Armenia.
It’s clear that when Karagozian says she wears many hats, it’s an understatement. She credits the problem-solving approaches baked into engineering studies with helping to prepare her for the complexities of PAI’s work, but notes that her deep experience and relationships at UCLA also helped make her the right person for the job. “Our donor, Dr. Eric Esrailian, had a vision of an institute that was not just Armenian studies per se, but was more interdisciplinary and engaging across an array of fields.”
Karagozian emphasized the importance interdisciplinary collaboration, including using science and technology alongside humanitarian, legal, historical and cultural work. One example she described is the ongoing destruction of churches that are in some cases over 1,000 years old, located in the formerly autonomous oblast of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh, an area now captured by Azerbaijan. "Scholars are able to document that destruction because of satellite imagery, and I find that work very compelling and important.”
When reflecting on the many challenges facing humanitarian and human rights work today, Prof. Karagozian spoke, not surprisingly, of the importance of crossing perspectives and differences. “People’s different backgrounds and personal experiences, including their different political leanings, may all feel like they separate us, but I think there are certain things people know are true and are clearly right and are wrong,” she said.
“I think this moment in history asks us some stark questions. What is essential in a society? A people? A country? One thing is clear, this moment asks for courage and compassionate truth-telling.”
In contemplating PAI’s legacy 100 years from now, she paused and gently leaned forward. “Armenians are not a very large population and are victims of genocide, victims of cruelty over centuries, so understanding and protecting vulnerable people is something that I think is inherent to the Armenian psyche.
“I hope PAI’s legacy will be the enhancement of scholarship and furthering the continuation of Armenian culture, heritage, studies and more. I hope we have a broader impact than just UCLA.”
Reprinted with the permission of The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law.
Published: Thursday, February 26, 2026
