Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, inducted 19 new members into the Rhode Island Alpha chapter at Brown University in a virtual ceremony held Friday, Nov. 20. Eleven juniors were inducted along with eight seniors.
Among the 11 juniors elected were: Kento Abeywardane ’22 (chemical engineering), Srinidhi Chari ’22 (mechanical engineering), Malachi Hornbuckle ’22 (electrical engineering), Tyler Jacobson ’22 (mechanical engineering), Jung Yeop Kim ’22 (mechanical engineering), Mo Liu ’22 (mechanical engineering), Jeremy Lutz ’22 (engineering physics), Danielle Sawka ’22 (biomedical engineering), Phillip Schmitt ’22 (biomedical engineering), Eliza Sternlicht ’22 (biomedical engineering) and Tim Zhao ’22 (engineering physics).
The eight seniors elected included: Olivia Banks ’21 (computer engineering), Sarah Branse ’21 (biomedical engineering), Theo Guerin ’21 (computer engineering), Kyra Hu ’21 (mechanical engineering), Elizabeth Kimmel ’21 (mechanical engineering), Nishanth Kumar ’21 (computer engineering), Joseph Urban ’21 (biomedical engineering), and Tucker Wray ‘21 (mechanical 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.
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 provide tutoring to first years and sophomores, and are active in a variety of other engineering student organizations. In the past, members have led prospective engineering student tours of Barus and Holley and the Engineering Research Center, and are working with administration on alternative ways of doing so this spring.