May Mei is Professor of Mathematics at Denison University. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine, and her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the application of dynamical systems to mathematical physics, and she has also published work on integer sequences and happy numbers, Conway’s Game of Life, the epistemology and cognitive science of mathematics, and mathematical models of mollusk growth.
An engaged and thoughtful educator, Dr. Mei approaches teaching as a craft, continually refining her pedagogy to support student learning. Beyond the university, she chairs the Mathematical Association of America’s Committee on Program Review and is co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation grant focused on strengthening departmental program review practices.
Works
- N. Frank, M. Mei, and K. Yang, (Don’t) Mind the Gap: Complexity of Gapped Digit Substitutions, Math. Mag. (2025)
- D. Damanik, M. Embree, J. Fillman, and M. Mei, Discontinuities of the Integrated Density of States for Laplacians Associated with Penrose and Ammann-Beenker Tilings, Exp. Math. 33 (2024), no.4, 588-610.
- D. Goodwin, D. Gillikin, A. Wanamaker, A. Lall, M. Kretchmar, and M. Mei, Reconstructing Seasonality Using Oxygen Isotopes from Bivalve Mollusk Shells. Conference: GSA Connects (2023).
- S. H. Hong and M. Mei, The Game of Life on the Robinson Triangle Penrose Tiling: Still Life, J. Cell. Autom. 17 (2023) no. 3–4, 209–219.
- S. Chin-Parker, S. Cowling, and M. Mei, The Explanatory Value of Mathematical Information in Everyday Explanations, 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2019) 1499–1505.
- B. Baker Swart, S. Crook, L. Hall-Seelig, H. G. Grundman, M. Mei, and L. Zack, Fixed Points of Augmented Generalized Happy Functions II: Oases and Mirages, J. Integer Seq. 22 (2019), no. 5, Art. 19.5.5.
- J. Fillman and M. Mei, Spectral properties of continuum Fibonacci Schrödinger operators, Ann. Henri Poincaré 19 (2018), no. 1, 237-247.
- B. Baker Swart, K. A. Beck, S. Crook, C. Eubanks-Turner, H. G. Grundman, M. Mei, and L. Zack, Fixed points of augmented generalized happy functions, Rocky Mountain J. Math. 48 (2018), no. 1, 47-58.
- M. Mei and A. Read-McFarland, Numbers and the heights of their happiness, Involve 11 (2018), no. 2, 235-241.
- B. Baker Swart, K. A. Beck, S. Crook, C. Eubanks-Turner, H. G. Grundman, M. Mei, and L. Zack, Augmented generalized happy functions, Rocky Mountain J. Math. 47 (2017), no. 2, 403-417.
- M. Mei and W. Yessen, Tridiagonal substitution Hamiltonians, Math. Model. Nat. Phenom. 9 (2014), no. 5, 204-238.
- M. Mei, Spectra of discrete Schrödinger operators with primitive invertible substitution potentials, J. Math. Phys. 55 (2014), no. 8, 082701, 22.
Other
Selected student research projects:
- Natalie Fieberg ’27, Pierce Patterson ’27
Matrix Methods for Periodic Jacobi Operators - R. Kang ’26
An Introduction to the Characterization of Tilings - Z. Fang ’23, R. Goel ’24, M. Hong ’22
The Game of Life on Penrose Tilings. - N. Harris ’20, H. LeBlanc ’20, A. Tubbs ’20
Algorithmic Investigation of Graph Laplacians Associated with Substitution Tilings - A. Read-McFarland ’17
Numbers and the Heights of Their Happiness.
