Shahrokh Ahkami
As a small child Hossein is remembered by the Ghorashi family as being smart and brave. He was fortunate to have a gracious mother and distinguished father. Both exposed Hossein to the latest tools of knowledge and the importance of education. We, as older cousins were amazed at his ability to read one book per week and his eagerness to share the story with us. He is both humble and courteous, both characteristics are obvious by simply looking at his face and seeing his genuine smile.
Persian Heritage is happy and honored to have two cousins, Hamid Ghorashi and Hossein Ghorashi on the cover of this issue. We are proud to have the opportunity to introduce them to the younger generation.
Shahrokh Ahkami
Can you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Thank you for this opportunity. I am Hossein Moayed Ghorashi, and I was born on November 23, 1945 in Mashhad Iran. My parents were Mrs. Pourandokht and Dr. Mahmood Ghorashi.
And where were you educated?
I have two high school diplomas from Barrington high school in Illinois, and Shahreza High school in Mashhad. My higher education degrees include a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering majoring in electronics from University of Tennessee in Knoxville TN.
What was your experience and exposure to the United States?
As a 16-year-old youngster in Iran, my exposure to and impression of the United States was limited to the American movies. It seemed to be a country made up of wild western frontiers and busy cities with high rises like New York.
How did you come to the United States?
In 1962, I saw a flier at school from American Field Service (AFS), an organization which specialized in international student exchange programs with the US. They were looking for 3 student candidates who could meet the scholastic requirements and had the necessary social backgrounds. After an English exam and an interview with my family, I was selected, and set to travel to the US to live with an American family to attend my senior year in high school. To my surprise, I found myself ready to take this big step, and that I had my parents’ approval and blessing. As a highly active child, I think they were ready for a break, for a while at least! I found AFS’s exchange program extremely interesting and valuable. It was an opportunity to learn a new culture, and to share my own in over 60 presentations at various schools and organizations. This was quite an experience for a young boy.
Did American Education differ from education in Iran?
I found the American high school curriculum quite different from that in Iran. The few courses required for graduation were vastly simpler and narrower in scope compared to the many complex and advance courses in Iran. In general, the Iranian school system provided a much smoother transition to university than the American counterpart.
What were your personal experiences as a newcomer to the United States?
My American family was warm and generous treating me like a son. I kept in touch with them until the passing of the parents a few years ago. I was treated as an honored guest everywhere and later found out that the students had helped with my expenses by selling newspapers!
AFS’s mission of cultural exchange between the students and those they met in US was a total success whose benefits continued throughout our lives. In this regard, the social experience and learnings that I took back to Iran were amazing.
You had a very unique experience shortly after your arrival to the United States, can you share that with us?
At the end of the school year, international exchange students for the calendar year of 62-63, totaling over 2400, gathered in Washington D.C. where some of us had the unique opportunity to meet President Kennedy at the White House.
I was lucky enough to answer a few of his questions about my experience in the US. I then returned to Iran, and as a more mature young man, I carried with me an abundance of enlightened cultural insight to share.
Looking back at my 55 year plus of living in this country, I have nothing but fond memories, and consider myself lucky to have the opportunity to adopt a mix of Iranian and American cultures, which I have passed onto my children.
You come from a long line of physicians. Your maternal grandfather was an ophthalmologist. I believed he traveled every year to Holland to buy flowers and established the most amazing flower garden in Mashad.
Your father also an ophthalmologist was the first to have a hospital for eye surgery, of which your grandfather started. You broke the chain and became an electrical engineer? How did the change come?
As you have stated, I come from a long family line of physicians, both from my father and mother side of the family. My father was an ophthalmologist who also performed eye surgeries. While he never pushed, or suggested, I had the feeling that he wanted me to follow in his footsteps. One day I asked to be present during a surgery, and what I recall from the first moments of that experience was enough to convince me that I was not to be a physician!
After graduating from high school in Iran, I joined my cousin, Mr. Pirouz Ahkami, at David Lipscomb College in Nashville, TN. Upon completion of our freshman year, we then transferred to University of Tennessee in Knoxville, pursuing electrical engineering.
Can you discuss your introduction to inventions?
After graduation from university, I was employed by Spinlab, a local company which specialized in the design and manufacturing of cotton testing instruments. These instruments, which were used worldwide, measured properties of cotton fibers. While testing was slow and only measured singular properties, it was an important advancement in a field that estimated properties were conducted by human classers for decades.
Properties of cotton are important to several entities. They are the basis of cotton farmer’s selling price, the merchant’s marketing strategy, and the textile mill’s basis of productions of yarn and fabric.
With over 100 million bales of cotton (50 billion pounds) produced each year, the need for an instrument that could measure multiple properties of cotton fibers such as length, uniformity, strength, elongation, finesse, color, and non-fiber matters rapidly was clear. In the ‘80’s we embarked on a project to develop such an instrument to achieve this objective that later was known as High Volume Instrument (HVI).
Over the course of following years, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) purchased an average of 30-50 instruments per year. In the early 90’s, USDA successfully began to test 100% of US cotton on these instruments. The global world of cotton followed suit, and today over 80% of the world cotton is tested on these instruments, and it is the international standard for cotton testing.
I was the project manager during the development of multiple generations of HVI. In this role, and later as VP of Research & Development / Engineering, I maintained a level of responsibility for hardware and software developments. During this period, we were granted over 22 international patents in this field for which I authored and coauthored.
In 2000, I became the CEO of the US operation. I continued to participate in national and international conferences, presenting research papers in new developments and applications. The unofficial title of “Father of HVI”, given to me by this industry, is something that I have cherished, and was proud of.
Tell us about your company and the reasons you retired?
Our company which was established in 1945 in a garage in Knoxville TN has an interesting history. In 1990, Spinlab was acquired by Uster Technologies which was a renowned international Swiss company also specializing in textiles quality control instrumentation. From 2002 thru 2012, we went thru two management buy outs, an IPO on Swiss Stock Exchange, and finally a 100% buy out by Toyota Industries. In 2015 after 46 years of service, I retired. The reason as you asked was it was finally time to spend more time with my family!
After so many years of living in the United States do you still remain attached to your Persian culture?
Although I have lived a significant portion of my life in the US, I am strongly connected to my native culture. I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to experience two vastly different cultures, and to live the best of both. As an Iranian, family and friends’ ties are especially important.
My wonderful wife, Janice, is a retired executive as VP of Human Resources in our company. She along with our 3 children understand, appreciate, and are supportive. They believe these unique circumstances have also enriched their lives in some aspects.
Is there any advice you would give to the younger generation?
The advice that I would have for young people in America, would be what I had preached for a long time… open your horizons beyond this land and to this ever-integrating world, learn and try to adopt the best of cultures. Appreciate and respect the differences. And yes, hard work does pay off!
Is there anything you would do differently?
While, like most, I would do some things differently if I were to start my life over. But none enough to change the happiness and contentment I feel today. Being retired and able to spend time with our family and four grandchildren is the best that I could ask for. I consider myself lucky for the opportunities that life has presented to me, but again I must admit without hard work the desired results would not have been achieved.
One final question, I know you have a passion for cars how did it begin?
You had asked about my love for cars which started when I was still young. My Uncle Saeed recognized this passion and would hold me in his lap while I drove his jeep outside of the town. Today, the passion is still there, and I enjoy driving my small collection of American and Italian sports cars.
Thank you.