Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, inducted 18 new members into the Rhode Island Alpha chapter at Brown University on Friday, December 7. Twelve juniors were inducted along with six seniors.
Among the 12 juniors elected were: Emma J. Abele '20 (Mechanical Engineering), John T. Antolik, '20 (Mechanical Engineering), Arthur K. Chen '20 (Biomedical Engineering), John P. Hegarty '20 (Materials Science), Noah C. Korotzer '20 (Electrical Engineering), Jennifer Lopez '20 (Computer Engineering), Jon A. Nelson '20 (Computer Engineering), Yit Lin Ng '20 (Chemical and Biochemical Engineering), Sumaiya Sayeed '20 (Biomedical Engineering) Eli W. Silvert '20 (Materials Science), Julian P. Vallyeason '20 (Chemical and Biochemical Engineering), and Zhaoyong Zheng '20 (Computer Engineering).
The six seniors elected included: Thomas Hale '19 (Computer Engineering), Evan A. Pandya '19 (Computer Engineering), Maria Jesus Perez Ramirez '19 (Chemical and Biochemical Engineering), Maria R. Ronchi '19 (Materials Science), Ekaterina M. Tsotsos '19 (Materials Science), and Brian B. Vuong '19 (Biomedical Engineering).
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, but 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 lead prospective engineering student tours of Barus and Holley and the Engineering Research Center, provide tutoring to freshmen and sophomores, and are active in a variety of other engineering student organizations.