CEMB member Xuemei May Cheng, PhD, Professor of Physics at Bryn Mawr College, has been appointed to the position of Dean of the Graduate Studies.

May joined the faculty at Bryn Mawr College in 2009, having received her bachelor’s degree in physics from China’s Nanjing University in 1997 and an MS in microelectronics and solid-state electronics, also from Nanjing University, in 2000. Soon after she came to the US to continue her graduate studies in physics at Johns Hopkins University, where she received an MA in 2004 and PhD in 2006.  Prior to joining the faculty at Bryn Mawr, May held a postdoctoral fellowship in the X-Ray Division at the Argonne National Lab in Lemont, Illinois outside of Chicago.

May has distinguished herself at Bryn Mawr as a preeminent researcher.  The focus of her research is on the fabrication, characterization and application of nanoscale materials. Her current projects include templated electrochemical deposition of nanoscale materials for energy and medical applications; time-resolved imaging of spin dynamics in magnetic nanostructures; and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism study of multiferroic materials. Between 2011 and 2017 she held a prestigious NSF CAREER award, and currently she is co-Principal Investigator on a large NSF MRI grant. May’s robust publication record likewise attests to the contributions she has made to the fields of Spintronics and Mechanobiology.  Moreover, she has been awarded access to Department of Energy user facilities at national laboratories, which has allowed her to provide her physics students with meaningful experience in the field.  And it is through both her research and extensive teaching in the Physics department that May has made a concerted effort to inspire many students to enter the field of physics and STEM.