Raffi Kayat is a fifth year architectural engineering student at The Pennsylvania State University. Upon graduation, he will receive his integrated Bachelor/Master of Architectural Engineering Degree specializing in Structures as well as the EIT status. Mr.Kayat participated in the Sede di Roma Summer Abroad Program, offered by the AE department at Penn State, he earned his minor in Architectural Studies while experiencing Italy. In the spring semester of 2010, Mr.Kayat took part in an exchange program with the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia.

The summer of 2011, Mr.Kayat Interned for HDR, Inc in Washington, DC Area in the structural department where he worked on several major projects. He expanded his knowledge on issues and subjects that are not discussed in the classrooms.

Being exposed to past and modern architecture on both sides of the globe, Raffi Kayat has gained a strong knowledge about the world’s evolution and diversity making him a more established leader. Living abroad is not an easy task, it is not made for everyone, only those who are willing to learn, experience, and adapt to new ideas and way of life. Being an independent student Mr.Kayat made all of his travels and education by earning many honors and Scholarships including the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, Carpenter Scholarship by the City and County of Philadelphia and the Simpson Strong-Tie Scholarship.

Over the course of his collegiate career Mr. Kayat, has participated in many student organizations including the Student Partnership for Achieving Construction Excellence (S: PACE), the Structural Engineers Association (SEA), Phi Alpha Beta (AE Honors Society) and most importantly the Penn State chapter of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) where he previously was the Representative of the Architectural Engineering department and member of the design team. In EERI, Mr.Kayat took part in the competition sponsored by EERI National in San Diego California where as first timers their design has achieved a ranking of 7^th place out of 30 schools that participated.

In his free time, Mr.Kayat enjoys playing sports such as soccer, volleyball, swimming, and outdoor sports. In addition, he enjoys learning languages as he is fluent in French, Arabic and currently learning Spanish.