Professor Emeritus Chiang Chung Mei, pioneering scholar of ocean wave dynamics and fluid mechanics, dies at 91

Chiang Chung "C.C." Mei, professor emeritus in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), a renownedhydrodynamicist whose work shaped the field's understanding of ocean waves and their interactions with coastal and offshore structures, passed away peacefully at home in Waltham, Massachusetts, on July 16. He was 91.

For more than four decades, Mei was a defining presence in CEE. Since joining the MIT faculty as an associate professor in 1965, he became one of the world's foremost authorities on theoretical hydrodynamics, fluid mechanics, and ocean and coastal wave phenomena, retiring in 2010 after 45 years on the faculty. Throughout his career, he earned a reputation among colleagues and students as a generous mentor and thoughtful leader.

An elegant, rigorous scholar

Mei's research advanced the science of ocean wave hydrodynamics, spanning nearly every aspect, including nearshore currents, sediment transport and resuspension, the formation of sand ripples and bars on beaches, wave-induced stresses and seabed deformation, and the removal of contaminants from soils. In later years, he extended his mathematical approach to biofluid dynamics, publishing on flow problems in blood vessels and the inner ear, including a paper on "Streaming and diffusion in the cochlea" that appeared in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics in July 2025.

He authored over 300 publications, was cited more than 14,000 times, and coauthored the landmark books "Theory and Applications of Ocean Surface Waves" and "Homogenization Methods for Multiscale Mechanics." Mei published decades of influential research on wave power extraction, harbor oscillations, waves over muddy seabeds, coastal vegetation, landslide-generated waves, tsunamis, and hydrodynamic resonance. His work combined mathematical elegance with practical engineering application and continues to guide solutions to some of the world's most complex ocean-based environmental challenges, including coastal defenses against storms and oil spill response strategies.

"C.C. tackled deep, diverse, difficult, and important fluid dynamics questions with utmost finesse and elegance," says Lydia Bourouiba, the Japan Steel Industry Professor. "He was an inspiring scholar, an intellectual leader, and a wonderful mentor, whose rigor set the standard we should continue to uphold. We lost a true giant in our field."

His excellence and leadership in research and teaching earned numerous prestigious recognitions, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1972, election to the National Academy of Engineering in 1986, fellowship in the American Physical Society, the Theodore von Kármán Medal in 2007, and appointment as a Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT.

Beyond his scientific achievements, Mei devoted himself to the MIT community, serving as interim head of CEE from 2001 to 2002 and helping guide the department through a period of transition with the same humility and steadiness that characterized his scholarly contributions. In 2015, the department established the C.C. Mei Distinguished Speaker Series in his honor - an idea that grew out of the initiative of Bourouiba to revive CEE's environmental seminar series and honor its strong historical legacy in fluid dynamics. "Discussing the idea with C.C., he thought it was an excellent idea and was so generously supportive. He embodied the excellence I wanted the new series to reflect; naturally, we named it in his honor," she says. The series continues to bring internationally renowned scholars to MIT.

A mentor whose students became family

Mei's influence was equally profound in the lives of his students. Over more than 45 years at MIT, Mei advised and mentored generations of engineers, many of whom became leaders in academia, industry, and government. Even in his final days, those relationships endured.

One of his first doctoral students, Professor Emertius Ole Madsen, visited him just hours before his passing. Former student Yile Li SM '01, PhD '06, who continued collaborating with Mei on biofluid dynamics research in his later years, remained in close conversation with him throughout his final days. Li recalls the highlight of his discussions with Mei. "He told me there are three stages of doing research: solving problems using mathematical methods, modeling problems by capturing core physics, and ultimately discovering entirely new problems," Li says. "His own work proved he was a master of all three."

For Mei's family, MIT was never simply his workplace. "CEE was truly the center of my father's life," says his daughter Deborah Mei. "For more than 50 years, it shaped not just his career, but our whole family's world. His students, colleagues, and collaborators weren't separate from our home life - they were part of it, for as long as I can remember."

Colleagues consistently remember not only Mei's intellectual brilliance, but also his extraordinary generosity. Mei was known for the warmth he extended to junior colleagues finding their footing at MIT.

"He was so respectful and kind to me when I was hired in 1976, and feeling like a fish out of water," says Institute Professor Sallie "Penny" Chisholm. "I will never forget that. A great gentleman, indeed."

Heidi Nepf, the Donald and Martha Harleman Professor, recalls Mei as "an exceptional scholar and a wonderful colleague."

Rafael L. Bras, professor emeritus, remembers Mei as the model of the gentleman scholar. "He cared deeply about people, loved his profession, and touched countless lives, both directly and indirectly. Everybody loved him."

A full and joyful life

Mei was born on April 4, 1935, in Wuchang, Hubei Province, China, the only son and first child of Ju-Long Mei and Wu Yu-Ling. He earned his BS from National Taiwan University in 1955, his MS from Stanford University in 1958, and his PhD from Caltech in 1963.

Those who knew him describe a man who was passionate, playful, endlessly curious, and quick with both words and affection. The home he shared with his wife, Caroline, became a gathering place for generations of the Mei family, his MIT colleagues and students alike with animated conversation, humor, and his familiar loving banter with his wife and siblings, as those close to him remember it.

To generations of students and colleagues, Mei was known as much for his patience, kindness, intellectual curiosity, and quiet encouragement as for his scientific accomplishments. He was always willing to discuss an idea, help a student work through a difficult problem, or offer thoughtful guidance to a young colleague beginning an academic career. His legacy lives on not only in the theories that continue to shape coastal and ocean engineering, but also in the worldwide community of scholars he mentored, inspired, and welcomed over more than half a century at MIT.

Mei is survived by his wife, Caroline (Schmitt) Mei of Waltham; his daughter, Deborah Yupin Mei, and her husband, Juan Ignacio Garcia De Motiloa Ubis of Singapore; his sisters Helen Chiang-Hua Mei Chao of Potomac, Maryland; Teresa Chiang-Ming Mei Wu of Bethesda, Maryland; Heidi Chiang-Kuo Mei Hsia and her husband, Jack, of Potomac, Maryland; and Christine Chiang Ying Mei and her husband, Paul Tung, of Rancho Palos Verdes, California; his grandchildren, Juan Ignacio Jr. and Lauren; and many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, and grand-nephews.

Gifts may be made in Mei's memory to the Chiang and Caroline Mei Fund