Farnam Jahanian
Farnam Jahanian | |
|---|---|
 Jahanian in 2018 | |
| 10th President of Carnegie Mellon University | |
| Assumed office March 8, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Subra Suresh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1961 (age 64–65) Tehran, Iran |
| Spouse | Tris Jahanian |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | University of Texas at San Antonio (BS) University of Texas at Austin (MS, PhD) |
| Signature |  |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science |
| Institutions | Thomas J. Watson Research Center University of Michigan Carnegie Mellon University |
| Thesis | Specification and Analysis of Timing Properties in Real-Time Systems (1988) |
| Aloysius Mok | |
Farnam Jahanian (Persian: فرنام جهانیان) is an Iranian-American computer scientist serving as the 10th president of Carnegie Mellon University since March 2018. Born in Tehran in 1961, he emigrated to the United States in 1977 and received a PhD in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989. He spent two decades on the faculty at the University of Michigan, where his research on BGP routing stability and distributed denial-of-service attack detection influenced the security practices of internet service providers worldwide. In 2000 he co-founded Arbor Networks, a network security company that served roughly 80 percent of the world's ISPs before its acquisition by Tektronix Communications in 2010. He directed the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) from 2011 to 2014 before joining CMU as vice president for research.
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. He received the ACM SIGCOMM Test of Time Paper Award in 2008 and 2021 and has received research support from the NSF, DARPA, the Department of Homeland Security, and industry partners. He is a member of the President's Export Council and serves on the World Economic Forum's Global University Leaders Forum.
Early life and education
[edit]Jahanian was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1961. He emigrated to the United States in 1977 at the age of 16 and completed high school in San Antonio, Texas.
He received a Bachelor of Science in computer science from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1982.[1] He earned an MS in 1987 and a PhD in computer science in 1989 from the University of Texas at Austin.[2] His doctoral dissertation, "Specification and Analysis of Timing Properties in Real-Time Systems," was supervised by Aloysius Mok. After receiving his PhD, Jahanian joined IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center as a research staff member, where he worked from 1989 to 1993.[2]
Career
[edit] | A major contributor to this section appears to have a close connection with its subject. (July 2025) |
University of Michigan
[edit]In 1993, Jahanian joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He held the Edward S. Davidson Collegiate Professorship in the College of Engineering and served as chair of Computer Science and Engineering from 2007 to 2011 and as director of the Software Systems Laboratory from 1997 to 2000.[2]
His research areas included distributed computing, network security, and network protocols and architectures, supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Homeland Security, DARPA, the National Security Agency, the Office of Naval Research, and companies including Cisco, Intel, Google, Boeing, VeriSign, Hitachi, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM. His most-cited paper, "Safety analysis of timing properties in real-time systems," examined formal methods for verifying correctness properties in embedded, time-sensitive systems.[3]
While at Michigan, Jahanian led research into internet routing stability and scalability. Working with graduate students Craig Labovitz and G. Robert Malan, his group published "Internet Routing Instability" (SIGCOMM 1997), which demonstrated fundamental fragilities in the Border Gateway Protocol routing infrastructure and measured the convergence behavior of the global routing table under failures. The work influenced commercial routing software and ISP routing policies, and received the ACM SIGCOMM Test of Time Paper Award in 2008.[2][4]
His group also developed techniques combining network-topology data and flow statistics to detect, trace back, and filter distributed denial-of-service attacks at scale.
Arbor Networks
[edit]In 2000, Jahanian co-founded Arbor Networks with G. Robert Malan, a former Michigan doctoral student, commercializing the group's internet security research as a spinout from the University of Michigan.[2][5] Jahanian served as President and Chief Scientist from 2001 to 2004, taking a leave of absence from Michigan, before returning to his faculty position; he remained on the board as chairman until the 2010 acquisition.[2][6]
Arbor's products were used by hundreds of internet service providers, wireless carriers, and cloud providers to detect and mitigate DDoS attacks and network anomalies. Tektronix Communications, a subsidiary of Danaher Corporation, acquired Arbor in August 2010.[5] NetScout Systems subsequently acquired Arbor as part of its $2.3 billion purchase of Danaher's Communications Business in 2015.[7]
National Science Foundation
[edit]Jahanian led the National Science Foundation Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) from 2011 to 2014.[2] With a budget of over $900 million, he directed programs supporting advances in research and cyber infrastructure, interdisciplinary collaboration, and computing workforce development.
Under his leadership, the CISE Directorate launched several presidential initiatives including the National Robotics Initiative, the National Big Data Research and Development Initiative, and Cyberlearning and Future Learning Technologies. He helped launch public-private partnership programs including US Ignite and I-Corps, and cross-disciplinary programs including Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) and Smart and Connected Health (SCH).
He served as co-chair of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council Committee on Technology, coordinating R&D activities across 17 federal agencies.
Carnegie Mellon University
[edit]Jahanian joined Carnegie Mellon University as vice president for research in 2014 and served as provost and chief academic officer from 2015 to 2017.[2] He served as interim president beginning July 1, 2017, succeeding Subra Suresh,[8] and became president on March 8, 2018.[9][1]
Under his tenure, CMU launched several interdisciplinary research centers, including the Risk and Regulatory Services Innovation Center sponsored by PwC, the Block Center for Technology and Society,[10] and the Center for Shared Prosperity. He also oversaw educational initiatives including the Carnegie Mellon Neuroscience Institute, founded in 2018,[11] and an undergraduate major in artificial intelligence, which CMU described as the first such degree offered by a U.S. university.[12]
He oversaw CMU's launch of the Advanced Robotics Manufacturing Institute, 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.
During his tenure, the university undertook its largest campus infrastructure expansion in its history, including renovation of educational and residential spaces and new maker spaces, along with new buildings including ANSYS Hall, TCS Hall, a Hall of Arts at Posner Hall, and reconstruction of Scaife Hall.
He chaired the campus-wide Task Force on the CMU Experience and launched projects to advance student success, campus climate, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
In May 2021, CMU and the Richard King Mellon Foundation announced a $150 million gift for CMU's science and technology programs, supporting a new science building on the Oakland campus, a new Robotics Innovation Center at Hazelwood Green, and expansion of the Manufacturing Futures Initiative.[13]
In October 2018, the university launched Make Possible: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University, with a goal to raise $2 billion by 2024.
In July 2025, Jahanian ordered The Fence to be painted over, after students painted "No Rapists on our Campus" on it in advance of Donald Trump's visit for the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, breaking a century-old CMU tradition permitting students to use The Fence for any message.[14]
Public opinion
[edit]Jahanian has spoken on higher education's transformation in the digital age, including the need to embrace personalized, interdisciplinary, and technology-enhanced approaches.[15]
On April 15, 2021, Jahanian testified before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee in a hearing titled "Reimagining Our Innovation Future," addressing federal research funding, domestic and international talent investment, and universities' role in innovation.[16][17][18]
Service and honors
[edit]Jahanian has served on numerous national advisory boards. He chaired the National Research Council's Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) from 2015 to 2021, sits on the executive committee of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, and is a trustee of the Dietrich Foundation. He has also served on boards of Highmark Health, the Computing Research Association (CRA), the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), and the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. He serves as vice chair of the World Economic Forum's Global University Leaders Forum (GULF) and as a member of the Global Network Advisory Board for WEF's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR).
Awards include a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (1995), University of Michigan College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award (1998), DARPA Innovation Award (2000), State of Michigan Governor's University Award for Commercialization Excellence (2005), and the ACM SIGCOMM Test of Time Paper Award (2008 for "Internet Routing Instability" and 2021 for "Internet Inter-Domain Traffic").[2][4]
He 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.[2]
In 2015, Jahanian received the Computing Research Association's Distinguished Service Award. In 2016, Carnegie Corporation of New York honored him in its "Great Immigrants — The Pride of America" campaign.[19]
He serves as a member of the President's Export Council.[20][21]
Personal life
[edit]Jahanian is married to Teresa (known as "Tris") and has three children.[2] On September 26, 2021, one of his sons, Thomas Jahanian, drowned in the Monongahela River.[22]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Carnegie Mellon University names Farnam Jahanian as its new president". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 8, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Farnam Jahanian Biography". Carnegie Mellon University, Office of the President. December 20, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Jahanian, Farnam; Mok, Aloysius Ka-Lau (1986). "Safety analysis of timing properties in real-time systems". IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. SE-12 (9): 890–904. doi:10.1109/TSE.1986.6313045. S2CID 15624941.
- ^ a b "ACM SIGCOMM Test of Time Paper Award". ACM SIGCOMM. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
- ^ a b Bomey, Nathan (August 9, 2010). "University of Michigan spinoff Arbor Networks sold to Tektronix Communications in major IT security deal". AnnArbor.com. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "President Obama Names University of Michigan Professor Farnam Jahanian as New Head of NSF CISE". National Science Foundation. September 23, 2010. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "NETSCOUT Systems Reports Financial Results for First Quarter Fiscal Year 2016 Following Transformative Acquisition of Danaher's Communications Business" (Press release). NETSCOUT Systems. July 30, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite press release}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Schacker, Bill (June 14, 2017). "CMU names interim president". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
- ^ "Farnam Jahanian Named President of Carnegie Mellon University". Carnegie Mellon University. March 8, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Carnegie Mellon Launches Block Center to Examine Societal Impact of Emerging Technologies" (Press release). Carnegie Mellon University via PR Newswire. February 22, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
- ^ "About the Neuroscience Institute". Carnegie Mellon University Neuroscience Institute. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Carnegie Mellon Launches Undergraduate Degree in Artificial Intelligence". Carnegie Mellon University. May 10, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "CMU, R.K. Mellon Foundation Announce Historic Partnership". Carnegie Mellon University. May 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "CMU students, university administration meet to discuss 'The Fence' policy". WTAE. July 17, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
- ^ Belsky, Leah (October 4, 2019). "Where Online Learning Goes Next". Harvard Business Review.
- ^ "Congressional Testimony of Farnam Jahanian" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 1, 2021. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ^ "Three Key Takeaways from President Jahanian's Congressional Testimony". Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "The US must invest in research and innovation to broaden economic opportunity". The Hill. April 22, 2021. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "2016 Great Immigrants Honorees: The Pride of America". Carnegie Foundation. June 30, 2016. Retrieved October 12, 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "President's Export Council Members". International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Jahanian Appointed to the President's Export Council". Carnegie Mellon University. February 28, 2023. Retrieved May 21, 2026.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Carnegie Mellon Univ. president's son dies after being pulled from Monongahela River in Pittsburgh". WPXI. September 27, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
