The Alabama A&M University family is mourning the weekend death by natural causes of one of its most noted professors.
Dr. Mostafa Mark Dokhanian, professor of physics, died on Saturday, January 25. Dokhanian had served in the AAMU physics program for more than 22 years. Kobler said Huntsville police investigated the death and determined it was from natural causes.
Dokhanian penned the successful grant resulting in an $8 million award from the National Science Foundation to fund the Alliance for Physics Excellence (APEX)
project. The five-year project aims to transform secondary physics education by integrating the latest teaching practices into secondary physics programs, ultimately impacting a quarter of the physics teachers in the state’s school systems and more than 40,000 students.
Fellow colleague and department chair Mohan Aggarwal describes Dokhanian as “a very gentle team player who had an eagle foresight, a hardworking scientist who helped our physics department grow to the present heights.”
Dr. Dokanian had also been the principal investigator for other projects, including the NSF-Pathway to Success Through Physics scholarships and the HBCU-UP program.
“Dr. Dokhanian was a very versatile educator, mentor and researcher for the physical sciences,” commented Aggarwal.
Funeral arrangements are forthcoming.
