Fred Terman is named dean. Under his leadership, the SoE experiences some of its greatest development, including new liaisons with industry, the first significant government research contracts, and aggressive recruiting of faculty and graduate students. Terman implements his theory of "steeples of excellence" in faculty recruiting. The steeples are small groups of experts who demonstrate leadership in their professions.

"Electronics provides the nervous system of our civilization through the fact that it is the basis of modern communication. . . .One can quite rightly say that our future security depends to a large extent on our ability to control the electron more effectively than do others."

— FRED TERMAN, 1947