28 Facts About Farnam Jahanian

Farnam Jahanian is an Iranian-American computer scientist, entrepreneur, and academic.

Farnam Jahanian serves as the 10th president of Carnegie Mellon University.

Farnam Jahanian emigrated to the United States in 1977 at the age of 16 and completed high school in San Antonio, Texas.

Farnam Jahanian earned a master's degree in 1987 and a PhD in computer science in 1989 from the University of Texas at Austin.

In 1993, Farnam Jahanian joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Farnam Jahanian held the Edward S Davidson Collegiate Professorship in the College of Engineering and served as chair for Computer Science and Engineering from 2007 to 2011 and as the director of the Software Systems Laboratory from 1997 to 2000.

Jahanian's contributions to Internet stability and security led to the successful commercialization of his research through Arbor Networks, which Jahanian co-founded with former UM graduate student G Robert Malan in 2000.

Over a 10-year period, Farnam Jahanian led the research, co-founded the company, launched its flagship products, and upon his return to the University of Michigan, served as Chief Scientist and Chairman of Arbor Networks until its acquisition in 2010.

Farnam Jahanian led the National Science Foundation Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering from 2011 to 2014.

Farnam Jahanian played a major role in the launch of public-private partnership programs such as US Ignite and the I-Corps as well as several cross-disciplinary research and education programs, including Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace, Smart and Connected Health, Algorithms in the Field, and Exploiting Parallelism and Scalability.

Farnam Jahanian joined Carnegie Mellon University as vice president for research in 2014 and later served as provost and chief academic officer from 2015 to 2017.

Farnam Jahanian oversaw several cross-cutting educational innovations, such as a cross-cutting Neuroscience Institute, a behavioral economics programs, and the world's first undergraduate major in artificial intelligence.

Farnam Jahanian oversaw CMU's launch of the Advanced Robotics Manufacturing Institute, an independent entity supported by more than $250 million in public and private funding, located in the Hazelwood Green development, as well as the launch of the Army AI Task Force headquartered at CMU.

Farnam Jahanian continues to be a vocal proponent of Pittsburgh's thriving tech scene.

Farnam Jahanian chaired the campus-wide Task Force on the CMU Experience, and launched several projects and initiatives to advance student success, campus climate, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Farnam Jahanian has enhanced the competitiveness of CMU's research enterprise, diversifying sources of funding and growing stronger relationships with foundation and industry partners.

Farnam Jahanian has spoken frequently on the topic of higher education's transformation in the digital age, especially the need to embrace more personalized, interdisciplinary and technology-enhanced approaches.

Farnam Jahanian is an active advocate for how research can be uniquely central to an innovation ecosystem that drives global competitiveness and addresses national priorities.

Farnam Jahanian followed his testimony with an op-ed in The Hill.

Farnam Jahanian has served on dozens of national advisory boards and panels.

Farnam Jahanian served as chair of the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board from 2015 to 2021, sits on the executive committee of the US Council on Competitiveness, and is a trustee of the Dietrich Foundation.

Farnam Jahanian has been a board member of Highmark Health, the Computing Research Association, the National Center for Women and Information Technology, and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, among others.

Farnam Jahanian is active with the World Economic Forum, serving as vice chair of the Global University Leaders Forum and as a member of the Global Network Advisory Board for WEF's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Farnam Jahanian has received numerous awards for teaching, research and entrepreneurship, including a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, University of Michigan College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award, DARPA Innovation Award, the State of Michigan Governor's University Award for Commercialization Excellence and the ACM SIGCOMM Test of Time Award.

Farnam Jahanian is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Farnam Jahanian currently serves as a member of the President's Export Council.

Farnam Jahanian is married to Teresa, and the father of three children with her.

On September 26,2021, one of his sons, Thomas Farnam Jahanian, drowned in the Monongahela River.