Jared Cohon

Jared Cohon has been president of Carnegie Mellon University since 1997. He came to Carnegie Mellon from Yale, where he was dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies from 1992 to 1997. He started his teaching and research career in 1973 at Johns Hopkins, where he was a faculty member in the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering for 19 years. He also served as Assistant and Associate Dean of Engineering and Vice Provost for Research at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Cohon earned a B.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1969 and a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973.

An author, coauthor, or editor of one book and more than 80 professional publications, Dr. Cohon is an authority on environmental and water resource systems analysis, an interdisciplinary field that combines engineering, economics and applied mathematics. He has worked on water resource problems in the United States, South America and Asia and on energy facility siting, including nuclear waste shipping and storage. In addition to his academic experience, he served in 1977 and 1978 as legislative assistant for energy and the environment to the Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan, retired United States Senator from New York. President Bill Clinton appointed Dr. Cohon to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board in 1995 and appointed him as chairman in 1997. His term on the Board ended in 2002. President George W. Bush appointed Dr. Cohon in 2002 to his Homeland Security Advisory Council. He was also appointed as Chairman of the Council’s Senior Advisory Committee on Academia and Policy Research.

During his presidency, Carnegie Mellon has continued along its trajectory of innovation and growth. Priorities have included: undergraduate education; new interdisciplinary initiatives in information technology, biotechnology, environment, and the fine arts and humanities; diversity; international initiatives; and the economic development of southwest Pennsylvania. In recognition of the last of these, President Cohon shared “Pittsburgher of the Year” honors in 2001 with Mark Nordenberg, the Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh.