Author: Andres-Papazian

Journal of Technology & Science
November 28, 2010

WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE;
Metal Processing Institute founder Diran Apelian to receive materials
advancement award

WORCESTER, Mass. – Diran Apelian, Howmet Professor of Mechanical
Engineering at WPI and director of the University’s Metal Processing
Institute, will receive the 2010 National Materials Advancement Award
from the Federation of Materials Societies during a ceremony at the
National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 8.

The National Materials Advancement Award recognizes individuals who
have demonstrated outstanding capabilities and contributions in
advancing the multidisciplinary field of materials science and
engineering; the effective and economic use of materials in the
marketplace and the application of materials developments to national
problems and defense; and the development and implementation of
national policy that furthers the impact of materials sciences and
engineering on society.

Previous recipients have included Paul Maxwell, science consultant to
the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science (1985); William
Baker, retired chairman of AT&T Bell Laboratories (1987); Rep. George
Brown Jr., chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology
Committee (1992); Mary Good, undersecretary of commerce (1996);
Mildred Dresselhaus, director of the Office of Science in the U.S.
Department of Energy (2000); and Jeffrey Wadsworth, president and CEO
of Battelle Memorial Institute (2009). This is the first year two
awards have been presented; the second will go to Richard Alkire,
emeritus professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Apelian will be recognized for his work to found and develop the Metal
Processing Institute “as a prime example of building bridges between
the industrial, government, and academic communities that bring the
capabilities of materials science and engineering to bear on societal
challenges, while always valuing the role of the human element.” Notes
Arden Bement, former director of the National Science Foundation, “his
work is at the forefront of maintaining a U.S. leadership presence in
manufacturing new products based on emerging advancements in materials
science and engineering.”

Apelian, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and an
internationally recognized pioneer in metals research, has received
numerous honors for his contributions to research and education in
materials science and engineering in recent years. Earlier this year,
he received the 2010 Robert Earll McConnell Award from the American
Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME),
one of the nation’s oldest engineering societies.

In 2009 he concluded a term as the 52nd president of The Minerals,
Metals & Materials Society (TMS), one of the four AIME member
societies. Previously, he received the Acta Materialia Inc. J. Herbert
Hollomon Award, the Brimacombe Prize, and the Bruce Chalmers Award
from TMS and was one of six Anniversary Laureates at the TMS annual
meeting, which marked the society’s 50th anniversary. Apelian is one
of only 100 living TMS Fellows.

He was the first person from WPI to be named a fellow of APMI
International, the professional society for individuals involved in
powder metallurgy technology and particulate materials. He is also an
honorary member of the French Materials Engineering Society, a fellow
of APMI and ASM, and a foreign member of the National Academy of
Sciences of the Republic of Armenia. He received an honorary doctorate
from Northwestern Polytechnic University in Xian, China, in 1997.

Apelian’s pioneering work in molten metal processing, new aluminum
alloys, and innovative casting techniques has resulted in more than
500 publications and 11 books, which he co-edited. The Metal
Processing Institute, an industry-university alliance he founded at
WPI in 1996, is dedicated to research in such areas as resource
recovery and recycling, metal casting, and metal heat treating. With
more than 90 corporate partners, it is the largest industry-university
consortium in North America.

In addition to his leadership in metals processing, Apelian has long
been an advocate for redefining engineering education and changing the
popular perception of engineers. Over the past two years, he has
co-taught “Grand Challenges,” one of WPI’s Great Problems Seminars,
which are offered to first year students through the university’s
innovative first year experience. The seminar explores major
challenges facing engineering in the 21st century using materials
science and sustainability as a unifying theme. He is also co-editor
of the book “Shaping Our World: Engineering Education for the 21st
Century,” expected to be released by J. Wiley & Sons in 2011.

Apelian received an undergraduate degree in metallurgical engineering
from Drexel University and an Sc.D. in materials science from MIT. He
worked at Bethlehem Steel’s Homer Research Laboratories and then
joined Drexel, where he ultimately was named vice provost. At WPI, he
served as university provost from 1990 to 1996. Since then, he has
focused on teaching and research in materials processing. WPI has
twice honored him: in 2006 with its Board of Trustees’ Award for
Outstanding Research and Creative Scholarship, and in 2009 with its
Chairman’s Exemplary Faculty Prize.

From: A. Papazian

Agence France Presse
November 19, 2010 Friday 4:42 PM GMT

Armenian president pulls out of NATO summit in protest

YEREVAN, Nov 19 2010

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has cancelled plans to attend the
summit of NATO leaders in Lisbon, his office said Friday, in a protest
linked to his country’s conflict with Azerbaijan.

In a statement, Sarkisian’s office said “the president of Armenia has
decided not to go to Lisbon”.

This was because of plans for a declaration at the summit that would
be “a bad signal and create additional difficulties in the negotiating
process to peacefully resolve the conflict” over Azerbaijan’s
breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh.

Presidential spokesman Armen Arzumanian told AFP the planned
declaration is expected to mention “territorial integrity” as a
principle in resolving conflicts but not others that mediators from
the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have
put forward in attempting to resolve the conflict over Karabakh.

“In the project for the Lisbon summit declaration of the three OSCE
principles there is only territorial integrity, and the other two, a
people’s right to self-determination and the non-use of force, are
absent.

“This is unacceptable to Armenia,” he said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are locked in a long-simmering conflict over
Karabakh, where ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized
control from Baku in a war in the early 1990s that left an estimated
30,000 dead.

Armenia would instead be represented at the summit by Foreign Minister
Eduard Nalbandian and Defence Minister Seiran Ohanian, the statement
said.

From: A. Papazian

Haykakan Zhamanak, Armenia
Nov 19 2010

Armenian military base sealed off after conscript shot dead

An Armenian serviceman was shot dead in a military unit in Chambarak,
Gegharkunik Region, on 17 November, a pro-opposition Armenian daily,
has reported.

In a report on 19 November, Haykakan Zhamanak quoted sources as saying
23-year-old Robert Avetisyan was killed by a fellow serviceman
following a brawl. Shots were reportedly heard after Avetisyan went to
“talk to” a serviceman on sentry duty. The sources said Avetisyan was
unarmed and the shots were fired by one of those on duty.

Phone calls and movement in and out of the military unit have been
prohibited, the paper says. Investigators reportedly questioned
soldiers and officers at the unit all day on 18 November, but the
press service of the Defence Ministry’s investigation department told
the paper it could provide no information about the incident.

Avetisyan was a private. He was conscripted from Armavir six months ago.

From: A. Papazian

Haykakan Zhamanak, Armenia
Nov 19 2010

Jailed Armenian editor denies placed in isolation cell voluntarily – lawyer

Nikol Pashinyan, the jailed editor of pro-opposition Armenian daily,
Haykakan Zhamanak, has issued a statement via his lawyer denying a
statement by a Ministry of Justice official, who said that Pashinyan
had been placed in a disciplinary cell at his own request for security
reasons, the daily reported on 19 November.

“Arsen Babayan, the head of the public relations unit of the Armenian
Ministry of Justice’s penitentiary department said on 16 November 2010
that following a long meeting, Nikol refused to enter the general zone
[of the jail] and that the administration of the penitentiary
institution isolated him on his own verbal request for purposes of
security. Nikol states unambiguously that this information does not
correspond to reality,” Pashinyan’s lawyer, Vahe Grigoryan, quoted him
as saying.

Pashinyan said the management banned him from entering the general
zone, warning him that he would be in danger there and he should be
isolated for security purposes. Pashinyan said he refused the
management’s request for him to appeal in writing for transfer to a
disciplinary cell.

Grigoryan told the paper that he had to wait for 40 minutes before he
was allowed to meet Pashinyan on 18 November. Grigoryan said
Pashinyan’s prison regime was “illegally” made stricter and this
prevents him from contacting the media directly. “At the moment he
cannot have correspondence, he is deprived of the opportunity to
communicate directly with the media,” Grigoryan was quoted as saying.

Pashinyan is serving a sentence of three years, ten months and 29 days
after being convicted of organizing post-election disturbances in
Armenia’s capital Yerevan on 1 March 2008.

From: A. Papazian

Global Insight
November 19, 2010

Armenia Aims to Convince Gazprom to Maintain Gas Price Discount for 2011

BYLINE: Andrew Neff

Armenia’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Armen Moysisyan, told
the country’s parliament this week that the Armenian government is
attempting to convince Russia’s Gazprom not to raise gas prices for
Armenia to “European levels” beginning next year. Moysisyan told
lawmakers in the National Assembly that Armenia had presented its
arguments for maintaining the 10% discount to market prices that the
country currently enjoys in purchasing Russian gas, although he said
it was premature to say whether these arguments would be successful
since negotiations are continuing.

Significance:Armenia receives a discount in its price for gas imports
from Russia as a legacy of an earlier deal cut with Gazprom back in
2006, when the Russian gas firm first began pushing to end the
practice of providing subsidised gas supplies to ex-Soviet countries
(seeCIS: 7 April 2006:). Armenia’s gas import price jumped sharply
this year, to about US$180 per 1,000 cm, as part of the transition to
European prices which is supposed to be completed in 2011. Armenia
pushed through a 37% increase in domestic gas prices for end-users on
1 April 2010 in response to the hike in the border price of imported
Russian gas, but the Armenian government is hopeful that it can keep
import prices from rising again in 2011, which could then help avoid
the need for another round of gas price increases for domestic
consumers.

From: A. Papazian

The Times (London)
November 19, 2010 Friday
Edition 1; National Edition

Saint’s day

SECTION: FEATURES; Pg. 40

St Nerses I, 4th century, was an Armenian bishop and strong reformer,
organising a synod to bring discipline and efficiency to the church.
However, his promulgation of canon legislation from Greece drew him in
to conflict with the royal family. After a spell in exile, St Nerses
fell out with the new king, who, in revenge, invited the bishop to
dine and poisoned him.

From: A. Papazian

Trend, Azerbaijan
Nov 19 2010

Prosecutor General’s Office: Investigation into crash of helicopter
with Azerbaijani senior officials suspended

Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 19 / Trend K.Zarbaliyeva /

The investigation into crash of helicopter with Azerbaijani senior
officials on board in the sky of the Garakand village of the Khojavand
region 19 years ago has been suspended.

“The investigation into the crime was suspended as it took place in
the area which is currently occupied by the Armenian Armed Forces. It
was impossible to expose criminals,” the Prosecutor General’s Office
told Trend.

The Armenian Armed Forces shot down MI-8 Helicopter, which included
Azerbaijani senior officials, Russian and Kazakh military observers,
onNov. 20 in 1991 and as a result, killing 22 people.

The incident killed Azerbaijani Interior Ministry Mahammad Asadov,
Prosecutor General Ismat Gayibov, Secretary of State Tofig Ismayilov,
his Deputy Rafig Mammadov, MPs of USSR Supreme Council Vali Mammadov
and Zulfu Hajiyev, Presidential Administration’s Department Head Osman
Mirzayev, Shusha City Administration Head Vagif Jafarov, journalist
Ali Mustafayev, operator Fakhraddin Shahbazov, lighter Arif Huseynzade
and others.

A lawsuit was filed on the incident at the Military Garrison
Prosecutor’s Office on Nov. 21 in 1991 and submitted to the Republican
Prosecutor’s Office to continue investigation.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

From: A. Papazian

Interfax, Russia
Nov 19 2010

Armenian president refuses to take part in NATO summit

YEREVAN. Nov 19

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has declined to take part in the
two-day NATO summit which began on Friday in Lisbon.

“Armenia has repeatedly pointed out that it cannot accept unified
formulas in settling conflicts,” the Armenian presidential press
service told Interfax.

“The preservation in the draft resolution of the NATO summit in Lisbon
of previous unified wordings for resolving the South Caucasus
conflicts, which refer only to one of the principles proclaimed by the
OSCE, could be a bad message and could create additional difficulties
in the negotiating process on a peaceful settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, especially against the background of
unprecedented growth of Azerbaijan’s military spending in the past
years and its leadership’s anti-Armenian rhetoric,” the press service
said.

The Armenian president decided not to go to Lisbon, taking these
concerns into account, it said.

Armenia will be represented at the summit by the foreign minister and
defense minister.

NATO earlier forwarded an official invitation to Sargsyan to take part
in the Lisbon summit.

From: A. Papazian

RPA deputy thinks Armenian president’s refusal to take part in NATO
summit is correct

2010-11-20 16:07:00

ArmInfo. Armenian President’s decision not to participate in NATO
Summit Meeting in Lisbon over the inadmissible language of the draft
declaration to be adopted during the event was tough but correct, a
member of the Republican Party of Armenia Gagik Melikyan told
journalists today.

“I suppose that the provision on territorial integrity was introduced
in the draft declaration by Georgia’s rather than Azerbaijan’s
request, Gagik Melikyan said and added: “However, this provision could
be used against us in future.”

“Armenia has numerously stated that the conflicts in the South
Caucasus are different, what makes adoption of common solutions to
them impossible. Karabakh has never been and will never be a part of
independent Azerbaijan,” Melikyan stated.

He also added that the president’s such decision must not be
considered a diplomatic defeat for Armenia. It cannot be compared with
the Lisbon summit of the OSCE 1996.

From: A. Papazian

Garegin Mkhitaryan appointed Deputy Chief of National Security Service

armradio.am
20.11.2010 14:05

President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree on dismissing Armen Darbinyan
form the position of the Deputy Chief of the National Security Service
adjunct to the Government of the Republic of Armenia.

According to another presidential decree, Garegin Mkhitaryan was
appointed Deputy Chief of the National Security Service adjunct to the
Government of the Republic of Armenia, President’s Press Office
reported.

From: A. Papazian