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CHE Department History - Remembrances of a
Few Past Professors
Frank P. May
Ph.D., University of Florida
 Like
Mack Tyner, Frank May was dedicated to teaching and served our students
devotedly for many years. After his service in World War II, he came to UF,
earned his B.S.Ch.E., and began practicing chemical engineering in industry with
the American Oil Co. in Texas and later with U.S. Phosphoric Products in Tampa.
This led Frank back to Gainesville for his M.S.E. and Ph.D., followed by his
career of teaching in the Department.
No narrow specialist, he taught many of the required courses including:
Introduction to Chemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering Operations and Lab,
Mathematical Methods in Chemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering Calculations,
and Computer Model Formulation. To keep up with the new developments, he
attended many specific improvement programs sponsored by AIChE and NSF, and he
served on important student and subject-oriented committees in the Department.
Frank was one of the more colorful professors in the Department and was often
the favorite professor for "roasting" at the annual student banquet. The
students called him "Bull Moose" because of his booming voice. At one banquet,
the students presented him with a specially-made ash tray three feet in
diameter. This was their way of bringing attention to his habit of smoking while
giving a lecture, flicking his ashes at a little ash tray on the table but
usually missing it—producing an ash-littered table by the end of the lecture.
Frank was a caring teacher. He knew his subject well and was always available to
the students. He could lead a student through the material because he knew from
long experience what mistakes the student would likely make. He was an
entertaining lecturer because he was such a character.
Among the many valuable contributions Frank will be remembered for are the
computer programs he wrote for the unit operations lab to model the distillation
columns, and the computer control system for the columns and the double effect
evaporator.
Frank retired in 1995 and planned to divide his time between Florida and North
Carolina, but he died suddenly in September, 1996.
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