LEONARD M. SILVERMAN (1939-2025)

BY MARC BALLON AND YANNIS C. YORTSOS

LEONARD MICHAEL SILVERMAN, emeritus dean of engineering and professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), passed away on April 17, 2025. He was 85.

Len joined USC in 1968 and spent his entire academic career at the university as a faculty member in electrical and computer engineering; chair of the Electrical Engineering-Systems Department from 1981 to 1984; and dean of the School of Engineering from 1984 to 2001. He retired from USC in 2018.

He earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University in the control of time-variable systems. His research had an immediate impact on the field and led to his early election to the National Academy of Engineering in 1988.

“He was a serious and committed researcher and a respected leader,” said Andrew Viterbi (NAE 1978, NAS), namesake of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, co-founder of Qualcomm, and recipient of one of the first doctorates in electrical engineering granted at USC.

During his tenure as dean, Len guided the school through a series of milestones. They included the founding of the Integrated Media Systems Center, the first National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center in multimedia and the internet; the expansion of the Distance Education Network for distance learning and its transition to web streaming; the founding of the Keck Photonics Lab, the first cleanroom on the USC campus; and the creation of the USC Institute for Creative Technologies.

He also recruited standout faculty, including future USC President C. L. Max Nikias (NAE 2008), who joined the university in 1991 as a professor of electrical engineering and later became associate dean for research in the School of Engineering. Nikias succeeded Len as dean in 2001, was named provost in 2005, and became USC president in 2010.

“Through the close relationships Silverman forged with myriad Southern California aerospace companies in the 1980s, he proved a transformational dean,” Nikias said. “Len capitalized on the rise of the aerospace industry in Southern California and was able to connect [us] with local aerospace companies, where the school benefited enormously.” Under Len’s direction, thousands of aerospace industry employees came to USC Engineering for advanced degrees.

Even with the end of the Cold War and defense cutbacks, when funding dried up in the early 1990s, he persuaded Hughes Aircraft to support construction of the Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center. This building now houses part of the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering.

Len also reshaped the face of engineering at USC by expanding recruitment efforts, said Timothy Pinkston, USC Viterbi’s vice dean for faculty affairs and the George Pfleger Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering. “He was committed to a more diverse faculty, with my being the first Black tenure-track faculty hired in the school in 1993, and ultimately the first African American promoted through the faculty ranks to become tenured here,” Pinkston said.

Richard K. Miller (NAE 2012), founding president of Olin College, served as USC School of Engineering’s associate dean for academic affairs under Silverman from 1989 to 1992. He said he found Silverman’s dedication and commitment inspiring.

“As a young academic, I learned an enormous amount from him that has served me well in leadership at other universities,” said Miller, a two-time co-recipient of the National Academy of Engineering Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. “His drive helped USC attract and retain a remarkable community of exceptional faculty and staff that formed the engine that drove the rise in national and international recognition.”

By engaging the school’s Board of Councilors and alumni, Len helped elevate USC Engineering into one of the nation’s most prominent engineering schools.

“I got a phone call one day. ‘Hi, I’m Len Silverman. I’m the dean of the engineering school.’ And the bottom line of it is that all of my philanthropic efforts trace directly back to that phone call,” said USC Trustee Dan Epstein. “Len Silverman was the linchpin. He came down and met with me in my office in San Diego, and I liked him from the moment I opened the door. I felt I could be helpful with what he was trying to do with the school.”

In 2002, Epstein’s naming gift created the first named academic department at USC, the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, now ranked among the best in the country. He later made additional gifts to support doctoral student fellowships, new faculty recruitment, and the Epstein Family Plaza, an outdoor space in the center of the Viterbi School’s engineering quad.

Len’s leadership was pragmatic and entrepreneurial, with a clear vision for the possibilities engineering was creating at a rapid pace. As a national leader, he helped shape engineering education and research during rapidly changing times through investments in computing and electronics, by navigating the end of the Cold War, and by anticipating the growing role of engineering as a driving force of modern society.

He is survived by his son, Phil Silverman; his daughter, Sarah Silverman Aibel; their spouses; and four grandchildren.