Gary S. May is a Black American engineer and university leader whose work connects semiconductor research with mentoring future scientists. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, then built his academic career at Georgia Tech, where he served as an academic department chair and dean of engineering. In 2017, he became chancellor of the University of California, Davis, leading a major public research university.
May's research has focused on computer-aided manufacturing of integrated circuits: the use of software and modeling to design and control the processes that turn silicon wafers into working chips. Chip manufacturing involves hundreds of steps, and small errors multiply across production, so improvements in process control carry real weight in the industry.
His election to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018 recognized both his semiconductor manufacturing contributions and his efforts to broaden participation in engineering. The second part has run through his career as a teacher and administrator. His mentoring work received a presidential award in 2015 and a lifetime mentoring award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2021, honors that reflect work with students and early-career faculty over many years.
As chancellor, he has led a campus that combines a top-ranked engineering college with agriculture, veterinary medicine and the health sciences. His career has run from laboratory research to department leadership to the top job at a university whose graduates include many future engineers.
A chancellor sets academic priorities, manages a budget and answers to the university system's Regents, so the job joins research administration with public accountability for one of the state's major institutions. May's path to it ran through two decades of Georgia Tech leadership, including service as dean of its College of Engineering.
