A leading American historian of the contemporary Middle East, human rights, and modern humanitarianism, he is an expert on the Armenian genocide and its denial, and the role of the refugee in world history.

[2] He has been a leader of international efforts to address the needs of displaced and refugee university students and professionals, primarily those affected by the wars and civil conflicts in Syria, Iraq, and Turkey.

Panian was an Armenian Genocide child survivor who was held in the Ottoman orphanage at Antoura, Lebanon, where he was subjected to violent attempts at Turkification.

His team's findings appear in "Opening Doors: Academic Conditions and Intellectual Life in Post-War Baghdad,"[7] which was highly critical of early American cultural and education policies in post-invasion Iraq, especially those adopted by the Coalition Provisional Authority.

[19] "The Article 26 Backpack Digital Platform Empowers Refugee Students," IIE Networker (Spring 2018) [20] "A Matter of Rights Professor shares his efforts to help refugees access higher education" University of California News [21] "We Will Stop Here and Go No Further: Syrian University Students and Scholars in Turkey" (2014)[22] Ottoman History Podcast, Syrian University Students and the Impacts of War (2014)[23] Ottoman History Podcast Interview with Chris Gratien The Middle East in the Making of Modern Humanitarianism (2015)[24] "Why Trump's Executive Order Is Wrongheaded and Reckless," Chronicle of Higher Education, (January, 2017) [3] "A Fragile Glasnost on the Tigris" Middle East Report 228: Fall 2003.