(Ottawa – January 8, 2020) The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) wishes to express heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of the 176 victims involved in a horrific air crash that occurred earlier today in Iran.

Media reports suggest that the 63 Canadians on the flight included Edmontonian Mojgan Daneshmand, and her husband Pedram Mousavi, both engineering faculty at the University of Alberta.

Daneshmand was an assistant professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Radio Frequency Microsystems for Communications and Sensing, while Mousavi was a professor of mechanical engineering. Their daughters Daria and Dorina were with them and also perished.

Other Canadians on the flight were from British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario. The University of Ottawa has confirmed that three students were aboard the Ukraine International Airlines flight, which crashed shortly after takeoff from Iran's capital of Tehran on its way to Kyiv.