YEREVAN, Armenia — From September 8-13, members of the American University of Armenia (AUA) Zaven P. and Sonia Akian College of Science and Engineering (ACSE) and their collaborators presented their research findings at the DigitalHeritage World Congress & Expo 2025 held in Siena, Italy. One of these presentations was a joint research paper developed within the framework of the AUA-Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) study abroad program.
Titled “Epigraphy in Motion: Deciphering Armenia’s Tapanakar Inscriptions via Mobile LiDAR” and produced as part of the program’s Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP) component, the paper was co-authored by WPI-AUA 2025 study abroad participants Zachary Shord (Mechanical Engineering ’26), Marley Roy (Aerospace Engineering ’26), Zara Grigoryan (BSCS ’26), Anahit Yeghiazaryan (BSCS ’26), and Satenik Baghdasaryan, senior assistant to the chair of History and Theory of Armenian Art in the Faculty of History at Yerevan State University. The research was supervised by Dr. Narine Sarvazyan, William Frazer Endowed Professor at ACSE, and Dr. Emma Chookaszian, adjunct lecturer in AUA’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Held for the fourth time, DigitalHeritage 2025 served as a global platform for researchers and practitioners engaged in the digitization and preservation of cultural heritage. The congress gathered scholars, engineers, and professionals from disciplines such as computer science, archaeology, and design to explore how emerging technologies are transforming the field. Accepted papers from the conference are now published in leading repositories, including the Eurographics Digital Library (indexed by Scopus) and the ACM Digital Library, offering wide visibility to contributing researchers.
“The AUA team made a great impression at the DigitalHeritage Congress, delivering three engaging oral talks,” said Dr. Sarvazyan. “Our presentations were very well received, reflecting the audience’s genuine interest in Armenia’s cultural heritage and the innovative nature of our projects.”
The WPI-AUA team’s project explores how modern mobile technologies can help document and preserve Armenia’s tapanakars, ancient stone monuments found in cemeteries across the country. Using smartphone-based photogrammetry, the students captured 54 high-resolution 3D scans from various regions of Armenia. Each model was complemented with descriptive data and expert insights. These data will be later added to a comprehensive digital archive of Armenian tapanakars currently co-sponsored by AUA and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research.
Beyond documentation, the team’s approach shows how accessible mobile scanning tools can simplify data collection in the field. The project also sets the stage for future artificial intelligence-assisted reconstructions of damaged or incomplete monuments, creating new possibilities for digital restoration and preservation.
“Presenting our project at the DigitalHeritage conference was an incredible experience,” shared Roy. “It was inspiring to see people from around the world genuinely interested in our work. One attendee even told me it was the presentation they were most looking forward to and it made me realize how deeply our project resonates globally.” Adding to this, Yeghiazaryan, Grigoryan, and Shord reflected: “The project was a truly unique opportunity to rediscover our cultural heritage and share it with the international community.”
An interactive library of Armenian tombstones co-sponsored by AUA can be explored on the website tapanakars.3darmenia.com, which presents 3D models, research background, and visual documentation in an engaging digital format. The platform allows visitors to examine detailed carvings and inscriptions in lifelike detail, providing an immersive experience that bridges technology and heritage preservation.
Additionally, a newly dedicated WPI–Armenia Project Center website has been launched, bringing together years of collaborative research, student projects, and ongoing initiatives in one space. Dr. Aaron Sakulich, WPI Associate Professor and co-director of the WPI-Armenia Project Center, said: “I have been advising groups of AUA and WPI students on projects since 2020, and it’s a great experience not just in terms of how the work that is done, but how that work changes the students. Seeing this team define their project, work towards building the 3D model database, and then produce this excellent conference presentation really illustrates all the benefits of project-based learning and the AUA-WPI partnership.”
This collaboration demonstrates that AUA-WPI joint research projects are growing in scope; through innovation and team-driven efforts, they serve as powerful tools for showcasing Armenia’s cultural heritage to the world.
Since 2018, AUA has partnered with Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a private university in Massachusetts that was founded in 1865 and adopted a project-based curriculum in the 1970s. Each year, a group of AUA students travels to Worcester for two months to work with WPI students. They take classes and lay the foundation for a project that will be carried out in Armenia. When the AUA students return to Armenia, their WPI teammates join them and spend another two months working with local partners on projects such as the one that resulted in this conference publication.
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 and graduate degree and certificate programs, promotes research and innovation, encourages civic engagement and community service, and fosters democratic values.
