Peng Mei

BA ’59, Mathematics, Harvard University
MS ’62 Mathematics, Brown University
PhD ’71, Computer Science, Purdue University
(Nominated by: Computer Science)

"My thesis advisor, Professor Richard Buchi, was very frugal but he was very generous with his graduate students. This influenced the way I ran my business. Also, my graduate work demanded that I be rigorous in my endeavors. One must define the problem to be solved and focus on it without distraction."

At 14, Peng Mei immigrated to the U.S. He completed his last three years of secondary education at the Putney School in Vermont before going to Harvard and Brown to pursue mathematics.

After working for Honeywell Information Systems for five summers, Mei joined Honeywell full-time in 1961, where he worked in programming and systems development. In 1962, Mei married Elaine Bien, a Chinese immigrant whom he met at Brown. In 1966, Mei took an educational leave of absence to study for a doctorate in computer science at Purdue. Mei returned to Honeywell in early 1970 before completing all of his PhD requirements.

After holding various technical and management positions at Honeywell, Teradyne, and SESA, plus a short stint as an independent consultant, Mei and Bien started Mei Technology in their basement. They were able to grow the company to 300 employees with 11 offices across the country. They sold the company in 1999 and retired.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

• 1999 - Retired from Mei Technology
• 1994 - Named prime contractor of the year (New England Region) by the U.S. Small Business Administration
• 1990 - Received New England Region’s Minority Small Business Person of the Year from the U.S. Small Business Administration
• 1987 - Received Outstanding Minority Small Business Enterprise Award from the Research and Special Programs Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation