Biography

Farnam Jahanian Assistant Director for CISE National Science Foundation

Dr. Farnam Jahanian serves as the National Science Foundation Assistant Director for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate. He guides CISE in its mission to uphold the nation's leadership in computer and information science and engineering through its support for fundamental and transformative advances that are a key driver of economic competitiveness and crucial to achieving national priorities. Dr. Jahanian oversees the CISE budget of over $600 million, directing programs and initiatives that support ambitious long-term research and innovation, foster broad interdisciplinary collaborations, and contribute to the development of a computing and information technology workforce with skills essential to success in the increasingly competitive, global market. He also serves as co-chair of the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council Committee on Technology, providing overall coordination for the activities of 14 government agencies.

Dr. Jahanian holds the Edward S. Davidson Collegiate Professorship in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan, where he served as Department Chair for Computer Science and Engineering from 2007 - 2011 and as Director of the Software Systems Laboratory from 1997 - 2000. Earlier in his career, he held research and management positions at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center.

Over the last two decades at the University of Michigan, Dr. Jahanian led several large-scale research projects that studied the growth and scalability of the Internet infrastructure, which ultimately transformed how cyber threats are addressed by Internet Service Providers. His research on Internet infrastructure security formed the basis for the successful Internet security services company Arbor Networks, which he co-founded in 2001. Dr. Jahanian served as Chairman of Arbor Networks until its acquisition by Tektronix Communications, a division of Danaher Corporation, in 2010.

Dr. Jahanian is the author of over 100 published research papers and has served on dozens of national advisory boards and panels. His work on Internet routing stability and convergence has been highly influential within both the network research and the Internet operational communities and was recognized with an ACM SIGCOMM Test of Time Award in 2008. He has received numerous other awards for his innovative research, commitment to education, and technology commercialization activities. He was named Distinguished University Innovator at the University of Michigan (2009) and received the Governor's University Award for Commercialization Excellence (2005).

Dr. Jahanian holds a master's degree and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).