Biography
Farnam Jahanian
President
Henry L. Hillman President's Chair
Farnam Jahanian was appointed the tenth president of Carnegie Mellon University by its Board of Trustees in March 2018. He was previously the university's provost and later served as interim president from July 2017 to February 2018.
A nationally recognized computer scientist, entrepreneur, public servant and higher education leader, Jahanian brings to CMU extensive leadership and administrative expertise, not only in advancing research and education within and across disciplines, but also in translating research into technologies and practices that benefit society.
He first joined CMU as vice president for research in 2014, where he was responsible for nurturing excellence in research, scholarship and creative activities. In his role as provost and chief academic officer from May 2015 to June 2017, Jahanian had broad responsibility for leading CMU's schools, colleges, institutes and campuses and was instrumental in long-range institutional and academic planning and implementation.
Prior to coming to CMU, Jahanian led the National Science Foundation Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) from 2011 to 2014. He guided CISE, with a budget of almost $900 million, in its mission to advance scientific discovery and engineering innovation through its support of fundamental research. Previously, Jahanian was the Edward S. Davidson Collegiate Professor at the University of Michigan, where he served as chair for Computer Science and Engineering from 2007 to 2011 and as director of the Software Systems Laboratory from 1997 to 2000.
Jahanian has been an active advocate for how basic research can be uniquely central to an innovation ecosystem that drives global competitiveness and addresses national priorities. His highly influential research on internet infrastructure security formed the basis for the internet security company Arbor Networks, which he co-founded in 2001 and where he served as chairman until its acquisition in 2010.
Jahanian serves as chair of the National Research Council’s Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB), sits on the executive committee of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, and is a board member of the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT). He is also active with the World Economic Forum, serving as co-chair of Global University Leaders Forum and as a member of the Internet of Things Council through WEF’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Jahanian holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Tris. They have three children: Dan, Thomas and Sara (who earned her statistics and data science degree at CMU).
