Contributor to the development of the computer and its applications at Argonne, Miller served as Director of the Applied Mathematics Division at Argonne National Laboratory beginning in 1959, and later as President and CEO of SRI International from 1979 to 1990. A Herbert Hoover Professor of Public and Private Management Emeritus, Professor of Computer Science Emeritus, President Emeritus of SRI International, Chairman Emeritus of Borland Software Corporation, and Chairman/Founder of Nanostellar, Inc., William Frederick Miller also served as Vice President and Provost of Stanford University from 1971 to 1979. Born in Vincennes, Indiana, he attended Purdue University, where he earned a B.S. degree in Physics in 1949, an M.S. degree in Experimental Physics in 1951, and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics in 1956. Prior to entering Purdue as a freshman in 1946, Miller served three years in the United States Army, attaining the rank of second lieutenant.
After completing his studies, he served as Associate Physicist at the Argonne National Laboratory for three years, where he worked on problems in computational science. He became Director of the Applied Mathematics Division in 1959, a position in which he made significant contributions to the development of the computer and its applications at Argonne. From 1962, he was a member of the Atomic Energy Commission's advisory committee on mathematical and computer sciences research, and served as the U.S. delegate to the study group for digital technology of the European Nuclear Energy Agency. At the same time, Miller served as a lecturer at the University of Chicago, and in 1962–1963 took a leave of absence to go to Purdue as a visiting Professor of Mathematics.
He was recruited to the faculty of Stanford University in 1964 to assume a professorship in computer sciences by Frederick Terman, who was Stanford's Vice President and Provost at the time. There he served as Chairman of the Department of Computer Sciences, became Stanford's first Vice President for Research, and in January 1971 was named Provost. At Stanford, Miller not only served the university in improving its Computer Sciences Department, but also reorganized the Computation Center and university-wide computing services. In addition, he was responsible for bringing into existence a new major computation center at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, one of the country's major National Laboratories dedicated to fundamental research.
From 1979 to 1990, Miller served as President and CEO of SRI International, where he focused on expanding the organization's business in the Pacific Rim and acquired the Sarnoff Corporation as a for-profit subsidiary of SRI, subsequently becoming its Chairman and CEO. He was a co-founder of the Mayfield Fund, an early venture capital organization, and served on numerous Boards of Directors, including but not limited to Wells Fargo, Borland International, McKenna Group, Palyn-Gould Group, Who Where?, Quest Gen, and the BHP International Advisory Council. Miller was also a member of professional physics and mathematics societies.
He was presented with an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from his alma mater, Purdue University, in 1972. In 1989, Tau Beta Pi recognized him as an Eminent Engineer. Miller was a Life Member of the National Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Life Fellow of IEEE, a Member of the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame, and a Member of the Jr. Achievement Business Hall of Fame. He received the Okawa Prize in 2000 and the Dongbaeg Medal from the Republic of Korea in 2000, and went on to receive the David Packard Civic Entrepreneur Award in 2008. In 2009, Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea, opened the William F. Miller School of Management of Technology, where he served as Honorary Dean. Miller was also an Honorary Professor at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.
