February 26, 2021
An Iranian doctoral student at Canada’s Western University is the first recipient of the school’s scholarship awarded to honor the school’s four students who died one year ago in the shootdown of a Ukrainian airliner.
The inaugural recipient, Payam Momeni, said he thinks every day about how he is carrying the torch for the students whose lives were cut short by surface-to-air missiles.
“We only knew these students [who died] for a few months or a few years, but their main goal was to live in peace and serve this country as their new home which provided them great opportunities to pursue their dreams as well as their home country, Iran. I think the best thing I can do will be to live that goal,” Momeni said.
The scholarship supports the studies of a graduate student in science or engineering.
Momeni is a student in the Earth sciences department at Western University in London, Ontario. His research involves helping communities develop infrastructure and policies to reduce the loss of life and property damage in areas that are susceptible to tsunamis.
He is from Babol, where he worked as an engineer and teacher before going to Western to pursue his PhD.
Hadis Hayatdavoudi, Milad Nahavandi, Ghazal Nourian and Sajedeh Saraeian were all graduate students in science and engineering at Western and were traveling back to Canada following the winter break when their flight was shot down by the Pasdaran January 8 of last year. All 176 people on board the plane were killed.
Momeni was friends with Nourian, whom he calls “one of the most kind-hearted people I knew.” The two arrived at Western in September 2019 to start their studies.
Momeni said he misses his friends intensely.
“These students that we lost were among the few best students among hundreds of thousands of students in Iran. And among several countries that they could choose to continue their studies, they decided if they were going to leave their family and friends, they chose Canada this beautiful country with caring people, just like home,” he said.
“But this chance has been taken away from them: a peaceful life and a family. So, this chance is not only for me, but for all international students, and that won’t fade for me.”
The endowment for the scholarship was made possible by a financial gift from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization and community donors. Next year’s recipient will be an engineering student.
A scholarship in memory of Hayatdavoudi set up by Nasim Bagheri, a Western alumna was unveiled earlier this month and will go toward a chemistry student.
Another four scholarships of $10,000 each created by an Ontario government scholarship program to honor the victims will be available for undergraduate students at Western.
Many other colleges and universities across Canada are also offering scholarships in honor of the dead Iranians who attended their schools.