Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, inducted 18 new members into the Rhode Island Alpha chapter at Brown University on Saturday, December 8. Ten juniors were inducted along with eight seniors.
Among the ten juniors elected were: Christy Chao ’14, Joshua Cohen ’14, Katherine DeSimone ’14, Conan Huang ’14, Daniel Jacobson ’14, Ramya Mahalingam ’14, Ryan McKeown ’14, Alisa Owens ’14, Rei Ukita ’14, and Jay Young ’14.
The eight seniors elected included: Matthew Barnes ’13, Alexander Berg ’13, Ian Brownstein ’13, Elliot Creager ’13, Paula Dixon ’13, Matthew Lim ’13, Therice Morris ’13, and Stephen Palazola ’13.
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 leading engineering student admissions tours of Barus and Holley, and in a variety of other engineering student organizations.