May graduated from Georgia Tech with his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering in 1985 and returned to campus as a faculty member in 1991 after earning his doctorate. He would stay at Tech until 2017, when he was named chancellor at University of California Davis. 



He held the Steve W. Chaddick Chair in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering before being named dean of the College in 2011. He founded Tech’s Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Science program, which is designed to attract talented minority students into graduate school. 

May was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018 for contributions to semiconductor manufacturing research and innovations in educational programs for underrepresented groups in engineering.