I'd also like to know what's the appeal of the bitchy woman who tries to bully a MC, fails, then keeps throwing the male MC into situations with the MC rolling over and taking it.
As you have picked I wanted a diverse arrange of characters.
The MC has been around the university a while (7 years) and at 40 is mature enough to understand the quirky behaviours, antics and thoughts from people half his age at the university (which he would have seen a lot of).
The data on the super-computer will soon be pretty useless, technically the University would own all the rights and they have just blown his project off and as he explains the encryption is there more for integrity than for security.
The whole PHD has really been a distraction so he doesn't have to think about relationships, love and life. The MC has feelings for Emily and Catherine and with the ethics popping up in using the device on them he is using Mai as a distraction as he finds her 'scareousing'.
While his behaviours might not be logical, it is functional for the MC who in some ways is trying not to get attached to anything or anyone.
I see the MC as being a person who through his study would have a good understanding of behavioural analysis and is very curious about people. While he is not a push over he still has a lot of empathy for those around him and wants to understand more the people around him (hence building the device to read peoples thoughts).
Lastly he works at happy burger, so it hasn't really cost him anything or put him out at all.