Gary S. May

Gary Stephen May (born May 17, 1964) is an American academic and electrical engineer who is the seventh chancellor of the University of California, Davis. From May 2005 to June 2011, he was the Steve W. Chaddick School Chair of the School of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. He served as the Dean of the Georgia Tech College of Engineering from July 2011 until June 2017.

In 2018, May was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to semiconductor manufacturing research and innovations in educational programs for underrepresented groups in engineering. In 2020, May was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for educational and academic leadership.

Early life and education

May was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was a member of the ANAK Society. May graduated in 1985 with a B.S. in electrical engineering. He then attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned an M.S. (1987) and Ph.D. (1991), both in electrical engineering and computer science.

Georgia Tech

May joined the Georgia Tech ECE faculty in 1991 as a member of the School's microelectronics group. His research is in the field of computer-aided manufacturing of integrated circuits. He was a National Science Foundation "National Young Investigator" (1993–98) and was Editor-in-Chief of '' IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing'' (1997–2001). He has authored over 200 articles and technical presentations in the area of IC computer-aided manufacturing. In 2001, he was named Motorola Foundation Professor, and was appointed associate chair for Faculty Development.

May is the founder of Georgia Tech's Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Science (SURE) program, a summer research program designed to attract talented minority students into graduate school. He also is the founder and director of Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science program (FACES), a program designed to encourage minority engagement in engineering and science careers in academia. May was a National Science Foundation and an AT&T Bell Laboratories graduate fellow, and has worked as a member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. He is a member of the National Advisory Board of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE).

UC Davis

The University of California Board of Regents confirmed Gary S. May as UC Davis chancellor on Feb. 23, 2017. He officially started his post on Aug. 1, 2017. He leads the most comprehensive campus in the University of California system, with four colleges and six professional schools. UC Davis enrolls just over 40,000 students, brings in more than $1 billion annually in sponsored research and contributes $12 billion annually to California’s economy.

In 2018, Chancellor May established task forces on food insecurity, housing and health care and established the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Feb. 2019.

Along with campus leaders and civic officials from the city of Davis and Yolo County, Chancellor May helped lead the Healthy Davis Together initiative. The effort launched in November 2020 and included free saliva-based testing for COVID-19 that was open to the UC Davis community and residents of Yolo County. Samples were processed at the UC Davis Genome Center. An evaluation of the program by Mathematica found that COVID-19 case counts were reduced by 60 percent in the city of Davis.

Throughout his career, he has championed diversity and mentorship in both higher education and the workplace, providing support to minority educational organizations and underrepresented groups. He developed nationally recognized programs to attract, mentor and retain underrepresented groups in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. In 2023, May partnered with his mentor to establish the "Professor Emeritus Augustine O. Esogbue and Chancellor Gary May Endowed Award in Engineering Diversity" at UC Davis.

Under his leadership, UC Davis has risen in national and global rankings including number one in the nation for Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture and Forestry and ranks second in the world, according to QS rankings. Davis is ranked in the top 10 public universities in the nation according to U.S. News and World Report. Also, The Wall Street Journal/College Pulse named UC Davis #3 among public schools in their 2025 ranking of the best colleges in the United States.

Controversy

May has been a member of the board of directors of Leidos, a defense contractor, since 2015. His involvement with Leidos—which frequently works with government agencies such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the National Security Agency, United States Border Patrol, Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and the United States Department of Homeland Security—has prompted criticism from media outlets and students in the Davis community.

Linda Katehi, May's predecessor as chancellor, resigned following a scandal over her "moonlighting" on for-profit boards.

Personal life

May is married to LeShelle R. May, a software engineering manager at CNN. He and his family moved from Atlanta to Davis when he accepted the offer to become UC Davis's chancellor.

Recognition

*Named to the Georgia Tech College of Engineering Hall of Fame, 2024
*Lifetime Member of the Year Award from the National Society of Black Engineers, 2023
* Education Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Electron Devices Society for his “dedicated leadership and mentorship that has diversified academic leaders in education,” 2023
*Honorary Doctorate from Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021
*American Association for the Advancement of Science, Lifetime Mentor Award, 2021
* Sacramento’s Most Admired CEOs, Sacramento Business Journal, 2021
*American Society for Engineering Education, Fellow Member, 2021
*National Medical Fellowships’ Excellence in Education Award, 2021
*Named by the Sacramento Kings Foundation as a Dream All Star, 2021
*Career Services Champion Award from the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 2020
*American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member, 2020
*1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America by Cell Mentor, 2020
*Named to the Sacramento 300, the most powerful business leaders in Metro Sacramento
* National Academy of Engineering, Member, 2018

Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math and Engineering Mentorship
, 2015

ECEDHA Leadership Award
, 2015
*Doctor Honoris Causa of Engineering from Universidata Latina de Panama, 2011
* AAAS Fellow, 2009.
* IEEE Fellow, 2006. "For contributions to education in semiconductor manufacturing and engineering."

Notable publications

●       May, G.S. and Chubin, D.E. (2003), A Retrospective on Undergraduate Engineering Success for Underrepresented Minority Students. Journal of Engineering Education, 92: 27-39.

●       May, G. S., Spanos, C. J. (2006). ''Fundamentals of Semiconductor Manufacturing and Process Control. John Wiley & Sons.''

●       May, G. S., Huang, J., & Spanos, C. J. (1991). Statistical experimental design in plasma etch modeling. ''IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing'', ''4''(2), 83-98.

●       Chubin, D.E., May, G.S. and Babco, E.L. (2005), Diversifying the Engineering Workforce. Journal of Engineering Education, 94: 73-86.

●       Himmel, C. D., & May, G. S. (1993). Advantages of plasma etch modeling using neural networks over statistical techniques. ''IEEE Transactions on semiconductor manufacturing'', ''6''(2), 103-111.

●       Hong, S. J., Lim, W. Y., Cheong, T., & May, G. S. (2011). Fault Detection and Classification in Plasma Etch Equipment for Semiconductor Manufacturing e-Diagnostics. ''IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing'', ''25''(1), 83-93.

●       Hong, S. J., May, G. S., & Park, D. C. (2003). Neural network modeling of reactive ion etching using optical emission spectroscopy data. ''IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing'', ''16''(4), 598-608.

Noteworthy mentees

*Dean Dr. Raheem Beyah, Ph.D., Dean of The College of Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
*Mr. David Joshua Ferguson, MS, MRSB MRSC, Scientist and Science Educator

References

External links

Georgia Tech SURE Program

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Gary S.
1964 births
Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Fellows of the IEEE
Georgia Tech faculty
Georgia Tech alumni
Living people
UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni
Chancellors of the University of California, Davis
Educators from St. Louis