Gary May: Diversity champion

Gary May (M.S.’88, Ph.D.’91 EECS) credits comic books, Star Trek and Legos for inspiring an early interest in STEM, which eventually led down the path of electrical engineering and computer science. May has spent most of his career teaching, and leading, at Georgia Tech.

In 2017, May returned to California to serve as the seventh chancellor of UC Davis. May is known for his approachable style and rapport with students and colleagues, and for his deep drive to help others succeed. May has used his position as a professor, dean of the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech, and now as chancellor at Davis to advocate for building better pipelines and programs to attract, mentor and retain people traditionally underrepresented in science, technology and engineering fields.

May’s work has been recognized by the Presidential Award for Excellence in STEM Mentoring in 2015, and he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018. May returned to Berkeley in 2016 to give the annual Kuh lecture, and this year he will speak at Berkeley Engineering’s graduate commencement ceremony.

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