Chris Terman is a Senior Lecturer Emeritus in the EECS Dept.  Terman implemented several early prototypes for microprocessor-based workstations that led to the development of the IEEE-1196 Bus Architecture (the NuBus) which introduced the idea of plug-and-play peripherals. In his work on CAD tools for VLSI circuits, Terman developed several algorithms for full-chip transistor-level timing simulation including SIM which was widely used in industry and academia.

During 10 years in industry, Terman cofounded several firms, including Symbolics Inc. (manufacturer of Lisp Machines), TLW Inc. (VLSI designs for communications and multimedia), and Curl Co. (software technology for the Web). After returning to MIT, Terman has worked on developing educational technology for use in both on-campus and online teaching of design-oriented courses.

Since his semi-retirement in 2018, he has been working with the EECS Department to provide student support via web portals.