Professor emeritus remembered for connection to students, research

UIC Department of Chemical Engineering lost a great mentor and educator with the passing of Professor Emeritus Raffi M. Turian on June 11, 2024. He was 88 years old.

Turian was born in Nazareth (which was then Palestine and is now modern-day Israel) after his family fled Turkey during the Armenian Genocide. When he was 12, his family fled Palestine. He, his brother, and grandmother lived in Zarqa Camp, the United Nations Refugee and Works Agency camp in Zarqa, Jordan, for two years. Thereafter, they moved to the country of Cyprus to rejoin his mother and sisters. He attended the English School, a British-style boarding school in Nicosia, Cyprus, where where he learned Greek and Turkish. He eventually immigrated to the U.S. to attend the University of Maryland.

Turian earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1958, and went on to receive both his master’s and PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1959 and 1964, respectively.

Prior to joining UIC, he served as a professor and chairperson at Texas Tech University, professor at Syracuse University in New York, director of the Chemical Processes Program at the National Science Foundation, research engineer at Shell Company in Texas, and an instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Turian joined the UIC Chemical Engineering Department in 1980, when it was known as the energy engineering department.

Shortly after joining the department, Turian became department head and worked with then UIC College of Engineering Dean Paul M. Chung to change the name of the college’s departments. He believed that having an unconventional department name did a disservice to students as they had difficulty obtaining jobs post-graduation. The department’s name was officially changed to chemical engineering in 1982.

Turian was emphatic about the importance of teaching and his belief that teaching comes before research. In fact, Sohail Murad, UIC Chemical Engineering adjunct professor emeritus, Illinois Institute of Technology professor of chemical engineering and interim director of the IIT Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, shared that Turian always went out of his way to help students.

“I know that he became close with some of his students and that was really important to him—the friendships that he developed,” said Samantha Vamos, one of Turian’s two daughters. “My father was so proud of every student who excelled.”

UIC Chemical Engineering Professor Emerita Cynthia Jameson said Turian was particularly interested in doing a proper job of teaching. So much so, that he wrote an article about excellence in teaching for the Chemical Engineering Education journal.

“His article really indicates how much he thought about how to do a proper job teaching his classes,” Jameson said. “That’s one of the things that separates him from others. Of course, we all worry about our teaching, but he wrote an article about it.”

“Raffi brought very complicated chemical engineering material to a level that students could understand while maintaining high academic standards,” said Gina Shreve, former UIC Chemical Engineering assistant professor and current Wayne State University associate professor. Turian also served as a mentor for Shreve.

In Turian’s Chemical Engineering Education journal article, he wrote, “I try to infuse my classroom presentations with examples of brilliant achievements of real chemical engineers, teachers, and practitioners. I tell them that a great nation needs good chemical engineers just as it needs good poets.”

Jameson added that he was always surrounded by students. All faculty had their own research space and classrooms, so it was very close interaction among the faculty members and the students. However, she said that she always found Raffi in the corridor surrounded by students. Turian loved to talk to his students outside of the classroom when most other faculty were busy with their research.

“When I lived in Chicago, my husband loved it when my dad used his facility for language to make connections. One day, the three of us got in a cab to go to a Greek festival. My husband and I were seated in the back and my dad was sitting in the front passenger seat. I watched my father smile at the driver and I knew he was trying to figure out if the driver spoke a language other than English,” Vamos said. “So, my dad said something in one language, but the driver ignored him. Then, my dad tried saying something in another language. Same thing—no response. Finally, on the third language, he hit it. The driver looked totally surprised and pleased, and it suddenly felt like we were all friends in the cab. My dad grew up speaking Armenian, Arabic, English, and also learned Hebrew and French before becoming fluent in Greek and Turkish in high school.”

Vamos noted that her father, who spoke five languages fluently, loved poetry, literature, and learning languages. To many, he was so knowledgeable about history and world politics and had a really deep sense of humanity.

Shreve added that when she and her husband would venture to Greektown with Turian, it felt as though he knew everyone. Every so often, Turian would also invite students to come to his house on the weekends for meals.

Many agreed that Turian was an unbelievable cook.

Anil Oroskar, a friend and former student of Turian’s when he was at Syracuse University, said that Turian used to tell a lot of stories about his early childhood. He used to always remember his grandmother cooking excellent meals with some meager supplies. In his day, it didn’t take many ingredients to make a wonderful meal.

Vamos agreed that her dad was a fantastic cook noting that everything he made was delicious, and he loved to cook for his family. It was one of many ways he showed his love.

“He was a very generous and kind, and loving person,” Vamos added. “He always had a very kind word about everyone he met. He always looked for the good in people.”

Shreve also said that during her first day at UIC, she was almost in tears and lonely from the change of coming to a bigger city and leaving her husband behind back in Michigan. At one point, she looked over in the corner of her office and saw an umbrella in the filing cabinet and this little note in perfect calligraphic handwriting. It said, ‘Gina, you will need an umbrella here in Chicago. My office is next door. Let me know if you need anything.’ From then on, she said he turned into her best friend in Chicago.

Raffi also wrote in his article that “there is a view, held by some, that teaching and research are antagonistic endeavors; that one can only be done well at the expense of the other. I do not share this view. I believe that, carried out in proper balance, teaching and research should be mutually reinforcing.”

He was a clear example that this could be accomplished with effort and dedication.

Turian received the 1998 UIC Teaching Recognition Program Award Winner from the UIC Council for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, the 1998 Nominee for the UIC Silver Circle Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Outstanding Teacher in Chemical Engineering 1994-95.

He also received the NSF Award for Special Creativity in 1982, a two-year unsolicited award for $97,109 based on results of five-year NSF research grant on Flow of Slurries through Pipelines, 1969 Ralph Teetor Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers, Syracuse University Best Teacher Award in 1967, 1969, and 1974, UIC’s Professional Engineering Societies Council Best Advisor Award 1993-1994, University of Maryland Engineering Undergraduate Scholarship 1955-1958, University of Maryland Calvert Debate Society 1959 Mid-Atlantic Region Best Novice Debater Award, and the 1957 Tau Beta Pi Best Essay Award.

Turian’s research was added to the AIChE 100 most-cited articles in journal history.

During his time at UIC, he developed two major research laboratories: the Slurry Pipeline laboratory and the Fluid Particle Research Laboratory.

“Raffi was very knowledgeable and talented in fluid mechanics, and he could solve a lot of problems, very easily whereas it was more difficult for others,” Oroskar said. “We worked together on the transport of slurries and published a paper on the critical velocity of transport. The paper was cited by researchers for the next 20 years or so.”

Oroskar added that he worked with Turian through an industry-university collaboration through presentations for undergraduate students about how to bring the industrial perspective to academia. Turian helped organize the lectures as well.

He also was very active in the UIC faculty senate and taught almost every undergraduate chemical engineering course at UIC. Turian helped to develop several courses for UIC Chemical Engineering.

Shreve said that she believes that Turian was the kick-starter behind her research career, and she was neither the first, nor last colleague or student to feel he kick-started their research.

Turian served as department head from 1980 through 1983. He remained a professor in the department until his retirement in 2010, when he became an emeritus professor. He continued to be a tireless friend, mentor, and teacher to all until the end.

He is survived by his two daughters, Samantha (Greg) and Jennifer (Jim), and their respective families. Turian had four grandchildren—Michael, Travis, Olivia, and Jackson—whom he adored and meant the absolute world to him.