(Virtual) Coffee with Kamyar Ghavam, Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering
October 5, 2020
This is part of the series of coffee chats interviewing MME staff and faculty.
Kamyar Ghavam is an Enigma
Quiet, shy, mechanical engineer and lecturer, Kamyar Ghavam’s personality shines through as he teaches Dynamics of Machines, Advanced Finite Element Method, and other classes. He has depth, passion and makes you laugh. His student’s say he, “really connects with the class”, “he cares”, “has charisma and charm”, and “is smart and knows the material”. He has been teaching University since he was 25 and before that he was an Undergrad tutor - his great, great Grandfather may have had something to do with it. The Kamyar we know outside of the classroom is gracefully introverted and reserved – he is a dichotomy and very private.
Image: Kamyar Ghavam (Faculty Advisor) poses with Solomon Anandan and Janelle Tan for Mechanical Engineering Capstone Projects.
It comes as no surprise that Kamyar went to a school for exceptional talent, in Iran. At four he was in grade one, at five he was in a class of eight-year-old peers, and he graduated high school at 15. At the end of grade 9 (when he was 12 and younger than his peers) students had to choose their academic path (engineering, medical doctor, nurse, lawyer, etc.). He chose to become a medical doctor, but he changed his path last minute in grade 12. He had always loved astrophysics, but there were no graduate studies available at that time. He chose engineering because of his cerebral love of math, science, and design.
Ghavam had many other career options in life and I am sure his loving parents wondered what trajectory their brilliant child would take. It appears they were great role models. Kamyar’s Dad was also a mechanical engineer, who studied in Tehran and Paris, and became Iran’s Deputy Minister of Transportation. His Mom has an English Literature degree. Kamyar’s sister has a degree in French Literature and is currently studying Early Childhood Education (ECE). They are such a small, close-knit family, that comically, his sister’s dog, Hanna, fakes an injury, so she won’t be left at home alone.
Fortunate to have his family tree, his family hails patrilineally from Caucasia, Georgia (the country and slated as one of the most linguistically and culturally diverse regions on Earth) before migrating to Tehran due to the Russo-Persian war (which ceded the area to Russia). Of note, his great, great grandfather was a Clergyman. Their family name is based on the scholar and educator’s title which was bestowed to him.
To chat with Kamyar from a University perspective, he presents as an enigma. We know he is intelligent, but he is difficult to read, but he appears calm and deep like he has some quiet wisdom. When you get to know him, he is not only about academia. There is a depth in his character that loves the arts, languages, the simpler things in life, and he is a curious lifelong learner. Ghavam pursues and is passionate about the arts.
He has quite an extensive library at home with custom bookshelves he had made in Iran. His favorites include Ray Bradbury, J.D. Salinger, Arthur C. Clarke, and Franz Kafka and a whole library of Persian books. Currently, he mostly reads short articles and websites. He calls the practice, “a side effect of the internet”.
Kamyar has a love of independent, very non-mainstream, art. He is a sentimentalist who scanned every photograph to ensure they were never lost. He is an avid philatelist and tiny car collector. He used to collect tapes and CDs but decided to mp3 them instead. For fun, he loves typography, maps (10+ year National Geographic subscriber), graphs, linguistics, history, and geography.
He feels music. Kamyar primarily likes progressive rock, electric guitar solos, and he has spent infinite hours listening to his favorite songs. Among them, Pink Floyd’s, “Comfortably Numb” from The Wall album (1979) followed by the ephemeral riff on Camel’s “Ice” track from the album I Can See You From Here (1979). When he was a teen he watched concerts on VHS till he burned through the tape.
While somewhat shy, he contradictorily enjoys being on stage or lecturing. He had been randomly approached several times to be an actor for movies and commercials, something he didn’t choose for a career. The experiences must have planted a proverbial seed because he became involved in amateur theatre in Kitchener.
Kamyar surrounds himself with things that keep his brain activated in his downtime, but while well-traveled, he prefers to go to a cottage with friends and loves meaningful conversations. Before the pandemic, his weekends were spent with friends, going to Toronto to enjoy the liveliness of the city, live music, and the restaurants.
This is just the surface. Kamyar Ghavam is the definition of enigma and as the 13th century poet and scholar, Rumi said, “Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.” Ghavam appears to embody that.
Read the other Virtual Coffee with the MME team: