Lew Terman received the B.S., M. S., and Ph. D degrees from Stanford University in 1956, 1958, and 1961 respectively. He joined the IBM Research Division in 1961, and retired in 2006. In 1964 he began working on semiconductor memory, becoming one of its earliest advocates, and participating in the program that resulted in the first IBM MOS memory products. He continued in the Research Division for over three decades, working on and managing groups in advanced semiconductor devices and technology, and chip, circuit and high speed processor design. In 2001 - 2003, he left the Research Division to serve as President of the IBM Academy of Technology, an IBM internal organization modeled after the US National Academies of Science and Engineering. He returned to the IBM Research Division in 2003 as Associate Director of the Systems Department until retirement. At IBM, he received 9 IBM major technical awards, including 3 Corporate Awards.
Dr. Terman was the IEEE 2008 President. He was president of the IEEE Electron Devices Society 1990-91, and the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society from 1998-1999. He was the IEEE Vice President of Technical Activities in 2001, and Division 1 Director 2004-2005. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, received the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Technical Field Award in 1995, and is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering.