Frederick Emmons Terman was an American professor and academic administrator. He was the dean of the school of engineering from 1944 to 1958 and provost from 1955 to 1965 at Stanford University. He is widely credited as being the father of Silicon Valley.

Stanford University is a private research university in Stanford, California. It was founded in 1885 by Leland Stanford—a railroad magnate who served as the eighth governor of and then-incumbent senator from California—and his wife, Jane, in memory of their only child, Leland Jr. Stanford has an 8,180-acre (3,310-hectare) campus, among the largest in the nation. It is also frequently ranked amongst the most prestigious and highly respected universities in the world.