E. Kenneth May Memorial Scholarship Fund
Edmund Kenneth May was born in 1949 in South Shields, on the Northeast coast of England. Raised in the nearby coal mining town of West Boldon, the course of his life was changed when legislation in the late 1940s made it possible for working-class students to attend grammar school. He attended Jarrow Grammar school, still restricted then to those who passed the rigorous 11+ exam at the age of 10, and he was the first person in his family to attend college; he studied Chemical Engineering at Imperial College (IC) in London. An education gave him the possibility of pursuing opportunities that would have been unavailable to him otherwise. Following his time at IC, he taught math and science for two years on Anguilla, a small island in the Caribbean, and then applied, was accepted, and offered funding support to enroll in the Masters program in Chemical Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Upon graduation from CU, he got a job with Universal Oil Products (UOP), and with his wife Gretchen, lived in places in the US and around the world, where he helped start up oil refineries and address operational problems. In 1979 with the support of one of his CU mentors, he was recruited by the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI – now NREL) in Golden, Colorado, to bring his industrial experience to the new organization. He and his wife settled in Colorado where they raised their family and for the next 40 years he enjoyed hiking and cross country skiing in the Colorado mountains, gardening and spending time with his family. At SERI he entered into the field that became his lifelong passion.
In 1983, with partner Randy Gee, Ken left SERI to found Industrial Solar Technology (IST). IST designed, manufactured and installed parabolic trough collector systems for industrial and commercial applications, sectors well-suited to transitioning from fossil fuels to solar thermal. These systems embodied many innovations resulting from the extensive R & D program conducted by the company. IST built and installed systems in Colorado, California, Arizona and Texas and shipped ready-to-install systems around the world, to customers in Korea, Australia, Lebanon, Denmark and more. Through the years IST systems demonstrated that parabolic trough systems were commercially viable. The company also served residential customers through the service and installation of flat plate solar thermal collectors for hot water and heat, as well as designing and installing some of the largest flat plate solar thermal systems ever built in the US.
The E. Kenneth May Memorial Scholarship Fund will honor Ken May’s legacy as a pioneering solar thermal innovator and installer who dedicated a great deal of his energy to mentoring and supporting the next generation of solar professionals. This scholarship will be distributed annually to support a student with financial need who is pursuing practical applications to improving large-scale solar thermal project construction. Ken May worked tirelessly to replace fossil fuel sources with solar thermal technologies in industrial and institutional heating applications. Research into decreasing the material and construction costs of these technologies would facilitate this transition. This research will be conducted within an accredited program at an institution of higher education, in coordination with active and aspiring solar thermal technology installers.
The IST technology was incorporated into Abengoa Solar in 2007 where Ken became the Director of Industrial Projects and continued to pursue innovative design modifications to advance the solar thermal technology. During his time with Abengoa his team designed and installed systems that displaced fossil fuels as a source of industrial process heat.
A true pioneer in the solar industry field, Ken received many honors during his lifetime, including the ASES Hoyt Clarke Hottel Award in 2000 for “unique contribution to make solar thermal technology a commercial reality,” the distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from CU-Boulder in 2009 and was recognized posthumously in December 2020 as a Solar Industry Pioneer by the International Solar Energy Society.
Even after retirement, Ken continued to do consulting work in the solar field, and he always encouraged and supported others to follow in his footsteps. Ken was deeply proud of where he came from, and acutely aware of the impact getting an education had on his life. He was a mentor, teacher and leader whose tireless work ethic inspired those around him, and he was particularly aware of the need for support for young people from under-resourced backgrounds with limited educational opportunities, like his own. This scholarship will provide this support to continue and encourage others to follow the path to which he dedicated his life’s work.
Award Details
Pending.
Fund Administrators
- Hilary May
- Gretchen May
CharitySmith accepts donations in two ways:
By Mail:
CharitySmith Nonprofit Foundation
13100 Filly Lane
Truckee, CA 96161
Use credit card by clicking the link below.
The above Memorial Fund is established as a division of Charitysmith Nonprofit Foundation (EIN 87-0636433). All donations are tax deductible in accordance with federal tax law. Receipts for tax purposes are sent via US Mail within two weeks of donation. Please consider asking if your employer participates in a gift-matching program. If so, your donation may be matched by your employer.
For questions regarding your donation or this memorial fund please contact CharitySmith.