Chancellor Gary S. May is this year’s recipient of the Education Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Electron Devices Society, the organization announced last month.

The society calls the award its “highest honor to recognize distinguished contributions to education within [our] field of interest.”

May’s award honors “dedicated leadership and mentorship that has diversified academic leaders in education,” the society said.

May has made mentorship, especially of underrepresented groups, a key focus of his career, and has created nationally recognized programs to attract, mentor and retain people from those groups in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

In 2011 he was honored with the Lifetime Mentor Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 2015, President Barack Obama selected May for the Presidential Award for Excellence in STEM Mentoring.

Earlier this year, May received the Lifetime Member of the Year award from the National Society of Black Engineers.

His field of study is computer-aided manufacturing of integrated circuits, a topic in which he has authored more than 200 technical publications, contributed to 15 books and holds a patent.

The award will be presented at a meeting in December.