Biography

Tris Jahanian

Presidential Spouse

Tris Jahanian is the wife of Carnegie Mellon’s 10th president, Farnam Jahanian. 

Tris is an active member of the CMU community and serves as an ambassador for all things Tartan, whether engaging on campus with students, professors, staff, supporters and alumni or representing the university around the world. She also proudly serves as honorary president of the Carnegie Mellon Women’s Association, which hosts workshops and networking events to advance the experience of women across our campus.  

Tris is an expert in software development and systems architecture with more than 30 years of experience. Her professional career includes work for Electronic Data Systems and Fiserv, Inc., where she developed cutting-edge software and built technology for financial institutions. Tris was responsible for developing a secure communications algorithm that allows banks to communicate to each other during ATM transactions. She holds two patents for her work in high-performance guaranteed distributed transaction authorization.

Tris earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Math, Computer Science and Systems Design from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Her recent personal endeavors include launching a tech startup – Martris, LLC – with her friend and co-founder Martha Harty. Her first product is a mobile app for conflict management called Conflict Coach. As a member of the Pittsburgh community, she serves on the Board of the Carnegie Science Center and volunteers with several local organizations.

Tris and Farnam have three children: Dan, Thomas and Sara (who earned her statistics and data science degree at CMU).