Chiang Chung "C.C." Mei, professor emeritus in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), a renowned hydrodynamicist 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. 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...
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