New book announcement! Revolutionary Engineers: Learning, Politics, and Activism at Aryamehr University
Official release on May 27, 2025!
I am thrilled to announce the forthcoming publication of our co-authored book, Revolutionary Engineers: Learning, Politics, and Activism at Aryamehr University of Technology, written in collaboration with Drs. Mahdi Ganjavi and Mina Khanlarzadeh. Published by MIT Press, the book is available for pre-order and will be officially released on May 27, 2025. I am really grateful to the Spencer Foundation for funding this research.
Revolutionary Engineers explores the cultural, political, and pedagogical history of Aryamehr University of Technology (AMUT)—now Sharif University of Technology—in the years leading up to the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Established in 1966 as part of the Shah’s modernization efforts, AMUT became a site where Western notions of scientific rigor intersected with Iranian and Islamic values. By 1979, its engineering students played a pivotal role in the revolution, reshaping Iran’s political landscape. This work is based on 17 oral histories conducted with former students, faculty, and leadership of the institute, along with extensive archival research. Our sources include materials from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Archives, Sharif University’s Ganjīnah Historical Document Center, Iran’s National Library and Archives, and Iran’s Parliamentary Library, among others. These diverse sources provide a rich and multifaceted perspective on the intersection of education, politics, and revolutionary activism in Iran.
What's this book about, and why is it relevant now?
It's the untold story of engineering university students and professors in Iran who were part of the most significant revolution of the 20th century. These were students who didn't separate their academic pursuits from their love of justice and freedom. From love for their culture and their homeland. Students who didn't separate the engineering curriculum from their political beliefs and identities. And these were engineering students at Iran's most prestigious university, the "MIT of the Middle East," as some people call it. It is our hope that the stories offer inspiration to college students today, all around the world, fighting for a better world. And I'm not a religious guy, but God knows if there was ever a time we needed college students and professors to stand up to authoritarian politics, it is now.
The fact that the students in our book were engineering students is very significant. As a former engineering student myself, I now understand that the culture of political apathy that is common across so many engineering departments in the US is a choice. Our book rejects the myth that engineering and STEM students are nerds who lack soul or heart. Of course, there are other examples of engineering students who have been politically and culturally engaged. In fact, in the course of our research, we learned a lot about MIT students and faculty who were very politically involved in the 1960s and 1970s, specifically against the Vietnam War. But the story of Sharif stands out. It provides a concrete historical reference point for a university whose entire political culture was inseparable from protest and revolution. In this way, Sharif is also a useful historical reference point for academic programs and initiatives that seek to prepare ethical and moral tech workers. Sharif was a grand, if flawed, experiment in braiding together humanities and culture with a rigorous technical education. We are in a moment where there is an urgent need to prepare a new tech workforce that understands technology, as well as policy, social scientific, and humanistic implications of tech. Sharif is a historical case study of exactly this kind of effort.
Our book is also an unapologetic attempt to honor Iran and put Iran on the map. For many, the 1960s and 1970s invoke histories of student protest and dissent all over the world. From the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, to the anti-Vietnam War movement, to the anti-apartheid movement, and beyond. And yet, student protests in the Middle East are rarely part of this collective historical memory. Our book offers a corrective here and brings Iran into the conversation. I humbly submit that after reading this book, you will agree that Sharif students should be viewed amongst the most revolutionary students in the vast and deep history of college student protests all across the globe. The ideas and practices that were most prevalent amongst the students and faculty, while heterogeneous, were anchored in a disciplined oppositional politics grounded in ideals of democratic freedom and social justice. Many sacrificed their lives. Their beliefs and actions became part of a mass popular movement and eventual overthrow of the US-backed dictator, the Shah. Our book tells this story and adds an important and until now unexamined layer to the 1979 revolution.
Finally, for our Iranian readers and those of you who may be intimately familiar with Iranian history and politics: I know that the revolution is a sore subject. A sad and painful subject. To put it bluntly, the decades following Iran's 1979 revolution have brought catastrophe and misery for the Iranian people. To read a book that fundamentally honors a group of students who helped catalyze or accelerate the revolution may bring up mixed feelings for many. It did for me, and it still does. I'll say that something I'm very proud of in this book is that we didn't shy away from those mixed feelings. Throughout the book, we tried to both honor the history and people of Sharif University and at the same time, hold up the history to a careful scrutiny and analysis based on the interviews and archival research we conducted. We learned many things and were surprised many times. Our book is at times hopeful and at times painful. We tried to convey the complexity, the messiness, and most of all the passion and purpose that defined Sharif University and the people who studied, taught, or worked there. I hope you will read the book or come to one of our forthcoming book talks and tell us if we were successful in this goal.
We are honored to have received endorsements from leading scholars, including:
"This novel contribution documents an important social movement that places Sharif University and its engineering dominance in Iran’s and broader global political histories. Vakil and colleagues’ attention to complexity reveals the tensions and paradox in learning and identity, in movements, and the disciplines themselves, while helping us re-imagine how technology can be a tool of resistance, dignity, and respect." — Kris D. Gutiérrez, Carol Liu Chair and Distinguished Professor, Learning Sciences and Human Development, UC, Berkeley
"Revolutionary Engineers uncovers the captivating story of Sharif University’s role in Iran’s 1979 revolution, challenging conventional STEM narratives and offering a profound lens on the power of students to shape history."— Ruha Benjamin, Princeton University, author of Race After Technology
"By drawing on a broad range of primary and secondary material, Revolutionary Engineers offers an informative and lucid survey of the educational excellence and radical student activism during late Pahlavi Iran."— Ali Gheissari, University of San Diego, author of Iranian Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century
"From the early nineteenth century to this day, Iran has been an epicenter of revolutionary mobilizations against foreign domination and domestic tyranny. Based mostly on fresh oral history, Revolutionary Engineers details the nucleus of a counterintuitive pedagogical event in Iran in the mid-twentieth century, when the students and faculty of a major school of engineering were as bold and brilliant in their STEM research as they were defiant and daring in their revolutionary aspirations for their homeland."— Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University, author of Theology of Discontent
"Drawing upon voices of student and faculty activists, the authors refreshingly explore how and why people engage with STEM to achieve liberatory goals, offering a nuanced examination of the ethical dimensions of sensemaking in a politicized discipline and context—essential reading in the learning sciences."— Angela Calabrese Barton, University of Michigan
To celebrate the book’s release, we have arranged a series of book talks, with the first event scheduled for tomorrow, April 9, a virtual talk co-hosted by the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University and the Center for Middle East Studies at UC Berkeley. A flyer for the event is attached. Our 2nd talk will be in-person on May 22 at Northwestern University, co-hosted by home department of Learning Sciences at Northwestern University, and the Middle East and North Africa Studies program. Our third talk will be in-person on May 29 at Stanford University, hosted by the Iranian Studies program. Please reach out if you are interested in hosting us for a book talk in your area.
