Andreas Pester: ‘Armenia Has a Very Vibrant Educational Scene’

2 min read

In May 2019, the Akian College of Science and Engineering (CSE) of the American University of Armenia (AUA) had the privilege to host Professor Andreas Pester from Carinthia University of Applied Science (CUAS), Austria who conducted a series of workshops in the field of deep learning and remote engineering. Upon return to his home institution, Professor Pester wrote about his experience in Armenia and, in particular, at AUA in the IGIP Newsletter of the International Society of Engineering Pedagogy.

“It seems that in Armenia the sun is shining everyday (at least in summer), people are friendly, life is quiet. Nevertheless, Armenia has a very vibrant educational scene. It was my third visit to that country, at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan,” he wrote.

The workshops, titled Introduction to (Shallow) Neural Networks, Deep Learning Networks for Supervised Learning, and Famous Architectures in Deep Learning, were very popular among AUA students and other interested individuals. The topics discussed ranged from statistics of logistic regression, convolutional networks, to LeNet, Alexa, and GoogleNet algorithms. Those who attended all three workshops received certificates of participation. 

Concluding his remarks, Professor Pester noted: “It was interesting to see in the audience mostly young entrepreneurs from the startup scene or young scientists. The youth of this country has a big potential, is open minded and very interested to be a part of the international community in science and business. I hope that our community can develop further contacts with this emerging country and their universities. They are ready and waiting for further incentives.”

Author of more than 75 publications, Professor Pester received his PhD from Kiev State University in 1979. He has more than 25 years of experience in teaching math and mathematical modelling, simulation technologies, remote engineering, and online labs, as well as over 20 years of experience in eLearning in higher education. He specializes in strategic planning for eLearning use in higher education internationalization and in platform evaluation.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia, affiliated with the University of California, and accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission in the United States. AUA provides local and international students with Western-style education through top-quality undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.