 Rabi was appointed a member of the Science Advisory Committee ( SAC ) of the Office of Defense Mobilization in 1952 , serving as its chairman from 1956 to 1957 . This coincided with the Sputnik crisis . President Dwight Eisenhower met with the SAC on 15 October 1957 , to seek advice on possible US responses to the Russians ' satellite success . Rabi , who knew Eisenhower from the latter 's time as president of Columbia University , was the first to speak , and put forward a series of proposals , one of which was to strengthen the committee so it could provide the President with timely advice . This was done , and the SAC became the President 's Science Advisory Committee a few weeks later . He also became Eisenhower 's Science Advisor . In 1956 Rabi attended the Project Nobska anti @-@ submarine warfare conference , where discussion ranged from oceanography to nuclear weapons . He served as the US Representative to the NATO Science Committee at the time that the term " software engineering " was coined . While serving in that capacity , he bemoaned the fact that many large software projects were delayed . This prompted discussions that led to the formation of a study group that organized the first conference on software engineering . 
