Dr. Yegian, College of Engineering Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering joined Northeastern University in 1976 after completing his doctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served as department chair from 1984 until 2001. He is widely published and noted for his work in Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, geosynthetics, and lessons learned from destructive earthquakes. His research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and industry sponsors. He established an earthquake engineering graduate program, research laboratories with a shaking table, and a seismic recording station with an interactive display in the Snell Engineering Center lobby.

Nationally, he has served on many technical committees and has organized various conferences. He has served as a seismic consultant on many large projects including power plants, dams, landfills, and new and historic bridges. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Dr. Yegian received the Robert D. Klein Distinguished Scholar Award at Northeastern University in 1992, received the University's Teaching Excellence Award in 1995, and is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.