13 January 2004
Iranian-Americans Reported Among Most Highly Educated in U.S.
Iranian-Americans also contribute substantially to the U.S. economy
By Phyllis McIntosh
Washington File Special Correspondent
Washington -- Iranian-Americans are far more numerous in the United States than
census data indicate and are among the most highly educated people in the country,
according to research by the Iranian Studies Group, an independent academic
organization, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The group estimates that the actual number of Iranian-Americans may top 691,000
-- more than twice the figure of 338,000 cited in the 2000 U.S. census. According
to the latest census data available, more than one in four Iranian-Americans
holds a master's or doctoral degree, the highest rate among 67 ethnic groups
studied.
With their high level of educational attainment and a median family income 20
percent higher than the national average, Iranian-Americans contribute substantially
to the U.S. economy. Through surveys of Fortune 500 companies and other major
corporations, the researchers identified more than 50 Iranian-Americans in senior
leadership positions at companies with more than $200 million in asset value,
including General Electric, AT&T, Verizon, Intel, Cisco, Motorola, Oracle,
Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies, and eBay. Fortune magazine ranks Pierre
Omidyar, founder and chairman of the board of eBay, the wildly popular online
auction company, as the second richest American entrepreneur under age 40.
Iranian-Americans are also prominent in academia. According to a preliminary
list compiled by ISG, there are more than 500 Iranian-American professors teaching
and doing research at top-ranked U.S. universities, including MIT, Harvard,
Yale, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, the University of California system (Berkeley,
UCLA, etc.), Stanford, the University of Southern California, Georgia Tech,
University of Wisconsin, University of Michigan, University of Illinois, University
of Maryland, California Institute of Technology, Boston University, George Washington
University, and hundreds of other universities and colleges throughout the United
States.
The Iranian Studies Group (ISG), founded in 2002 by a group of Iranian Ph.D.
candidates enrolled at MIT, analyzes social, economic, and political issues
involving Iran and Iranians. The group began compiling statistics on the Iranian-American
community at the request of Iranian associations and community leaders in the
United States who do not have the time or capacity to conduct such research.
The ISG arrived at its population estimate of 691,000 Iranian-Americans by assembling
a list of 100 family names from the national university examination database
in Iran, then conducting a computer analysis of U.S. white page telephone directories
to count households with those names. They then multiplied that total by 2.83,
the average number of individuals per Iranian-American household as reported
in the 2000 census. Overall census counts of Iranian-Americans may be low in
part because many people are reluctant to identify their country of origin due
to troubled relations between the United States and Iran over the past 25 years,
says Ali Mostashari, one of the founders of the Iranian Studies Group.
Iranians have achieved a high level of success in the United States because
unlike many immigrants, most left their homeland for social, political, or religious
reasons, rather than in search of economic opportunity, Mostashari adds. The
two large waves of immigrants who came to the United States because of the 1979
revolution in Iran consisted mainly of people with education and assets, he
notes.
"These were people who could make it to the U.S. and sustain themselves
in the U.S. It was a pre-selection, not your typical immigration where people
come mainly for financial reasons," he said.
In another recently issued report, the Iranian Studies Group has undertaken
the mission of convincing Iranian-Americans to become more active participants
in the American political process. According to surveys in some major cities,
fewer than 10 percent voted in the last presidential election. The report cites
the experiences of other ethnic groups, such as Israeli-Americans, Arab-Americans,
and Cuban-Americans, to show how Iranians could use their collective voice to
influence U.S. foreign policy regarding Iran and address the needs of the Iranian-American
community.
In addition to its focus on Iranian-Americans, the ISG issues reports about
topical issues in Iran, such as earthquake management, and publishes the Iran
Analysis Quarterly, which features scholarly articles about social, political,
and economic issues in Iran. Through its Development Gateway Project, the group
has established Internet links to some 400 articles representing a wide spectrum
of views about Iranian development issues. A lecture series brings experts from
Iran and the United States to MIT to discuss a broad range of topics, such as
The Fate of Local Democracy under the Islamic Republic, Nonviolent Struggle:
Liberation Without Violence, Temporary Marriage and Women's Rights, and Rethinking
Persian Modernity.
More information about the Iranian Studies Group is available on its
website, http://web.mit.edu/isg
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.
U.S. companies are operating in Iran
More than 30 U.S. corporations are doing business in Iran despite trade
sanctions imposed in 1980.
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Dozens of U.S. corporations are conducting business in
Iran, despite a 1980 trade sanction outlawing U.S. citizens and companies from
doing business there.
Importing carpets, caviar, dried fruits and nuts is still legal, but few of
these companies fall under these categories.
According to one analyst, there are more than 30 U.S. corporations doing
business in Iran through foreign subsidiaries or related companies.
Vice President Cheney's old firm Halliburton
<http://cgi.cnnfncom/mgi/mgi_search?QUERY=HAL> (HAL
<http://gw.cnnfn.com/search/GW?symbol=HAL> : Research
<http://cnnfn.multexinvestor.com/Reports.aspx?ticker=HAL> , Estimates
<http://cgi.cnnfn.com/firstcall/fc?ticker=HAL> ) has an office in the
Iranian capital, Tehran. A company spokeswoman told CNN that the subsidiary,
Halliburton products and services, helps build drilling rigs in Iran's southern
oil field.
Halliburton's main competitors in the oil field industry, Baker Hughes
<http://cgi.cnnfncom/mgi/mgi_search?QUERY=BHI> (BHI
<http://gw.cnnfn.com/search/GW?symbol=BHI> : Research
<http://cnnfn.multexinvestor.com/Reports.aspx?ticker=BHI> , Estimates
<http://cgi.cnnfn.com/firstcall/fc?ticker=BHI> ) and Smith International
<http://cgi.cnnfncom/mgi/mgi_search?QUERY=SII> (SII
<http://gw.cnnfn.com/search/GW?symbol=SII> : Research
<http://cnnfn.multexinvestor.com/Reports.aspx?ticker=SII> , Estimates
<http://cgi.cnnfn.com/firstcall/fc?ticker=SII> ), have foreign operations
in Iran too.
All of these companies told CNN that they are in full compliance with U.S. trade
laws.