Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, inducted 23 new members into the Rhode Island Alpha chapter at Brown University on Saturday, December 4. Fourteen juniors were inducted along with eight seniors and one graduate student.Among the 14 juniors elected were: James Arthur Bensson ’12, Brian John Bierig ’12, Michael Caron ’12, Mark Andrew Guttag ’12, Warren Bruce Jin ’12, Yosuke Korokawa ’12, Francis Liu ’12, Alec Roelke ’12, Wichinpong Sinchaisri ’12, Dingyi Sun ’12, Kathryn Ries Tringale ’12, Lingke Wang ’12, and Brent Zajaczkowski ’12.
The eight seniors elected included: Jake Lipton Albert ’11, Brendan James Checkett ’11, Kevin Thomas Durfee ’11, Martin Fagan Finn ’11, Margaret Helen Henderson Merritt ’11, Christopher Casey Moynihan ’11, Nikolas Jurjans Osvalds ’11, Daniel P. Prendergast ’11, and Theresa Marie Raimondo ’11.
Gregory James Rizza Ph.D.’12 was the graduate student elected.Tau Beta Pi, founded in 1885, is the second oldest Greek-letter honor society in America; the oldest is Phi Beta Kappa. While Phi Beta Kappa is restricted to students in the liberal arts, Tau Beta Pi is designed to “offer appropriate recognition for superior scholarship and exemplary character to students in engineering.” In order to be inducted into the prestigious honor society, juniors must rank in the top eighth of their class and seniors must rank in the top fifth of their class. Graduate students who have completed at least 50% of their degree requirements and who rank in the top fifth of their class are also eligible to become candidates for membership.
The Rhode Island Alpha chapter is not only an honor society to pay tribute to outstanding students, it also provides a vehicle for these students to assume a role of leadership at Brown and to be of distinctive service. Tau Beta Pi members are active in engineering student publications, the engineering recruiting project, and in a variety of other organizations.
