Carnegie Mellon University president Jared Cohon has been at the university for sixteen years. He has experienced many memorable moments at Carnegie Mellon and has made unforgettable memories. Cohon majored in civil engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and went on to earn his M.S. and Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before coming to Carnegie Mellon, Cohon worked as the dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University.
He is still amazed by the journey that brought him to Carnegie Mellon, even though it has been sixteen years. Cohon received a call from a professional acquaintance that was friends with a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon who was leading the search for the university’s next president. Cohon’s name had come up as a potential candidate. When asked if he was interested in the position, Cohon politely declined. He was happy at Yale University and had not planned on leaving. But, after a conversation with his wife, Cohon changed his mind and decided that Carnegie Mellon could be the next step for his career.
Cohon describes his experience at Carnegie Mellon as “fabulous.” It was hard form him to convey his feelings for the university in just a few words. After sixteen years, he has become very attached to the school, “The culture of the place is great and everyone is noble. It is a real privilege to be here.” For Cohon, his favorite thing about Carnegie Mellon is the people, especially the students. He went into teaching for the opportunity to interact with wonderful and bright students. Although he does not get to interact much with students as president of Carnegie Mellon, when Cohon gets the chance it is a joy. He describes students as being “idealistic, committed, and passionate about what they are doing.” He has also enjoyed working the faculty and staff as well as alumni, who make up the wonderful broader Carnegie Mellon community.
Cohon did his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia. Cohon says it is hard to make the comparison between Carnegie Mellon and Penn. Carnegie Mellon is really distinctive and unique in its relatively small size and unusual combination of strengths. There is no medical school or law school, unlike the University of Pennsylvania. Cohon strongly believes there is no other place like Carnegie Mellon, with its commitment to problem solving and teamwork. Cohon is proud to be an alumn of the University of Pennsylvania.
Cohon loves the spirit of Carnegie Mellon and the hard work and determination students present towards challenges. A few years ago, a section of the United States Department of Defense had a competition known as the Grand Challenge through DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). The challenge was to create a robotic car that could drive itself through a 150 mile long course in a desert in California. The competition was a huge technological challenge with a prize of two million dollars. At four in the morning, Cohon remembers going out to a trailer in the middle of the desert where Carnegie Mellon students were at work on computers, trying to optimize the route the vehicle would take once the race started. No one won the race that year, but Carnegie Mellon’s car made it the furthest. Cohon says that image of students working at four am on a very real project embodies what the university is about.
Cohon has enjoyed his time as president because of moments like that morning in the desert. He remembers the second time the Grand Challenge race happened; Stanford came in first place and Carnegie Mellon cars came in second and third. It was a disappointing loss. But, the next year DARPA started a new race known as the Urban Grand Challenge, where the robotic vehicle had to maneuver through forty miles of an urban simulation course. Carnegie Mellon won the third race.
Cohon cannot say enough about the pride he feels for the university, especially when he sees students being so passionate about what they love. He knows he will miss people the most. But, Cohon is not leaving Carnegie Mellon. Instead, he will work as a professor in civil engineering in the Carnegie Institute of Technology. He is excited for this new opportunity.