Tau Beta Pi is the oldest engineering honor society, the second oldest honor society in the United States. It is the only engineering honor society that represents the entire engineering profession. Tau Beta Pi honors engineering students that have demonstrated high scholastic ability along with a commitment to professional integrity.
In the late nineteenth century the first academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, restricted its membership to liberal arts students. This restriction provided an opportunity to found a collegiate honor society exclusive to engineering students. This was an opportunity that Edward H. Williams Jr. took.
Williams was the head of the mining department at Lehigh University, Pennsylvania. Williams wanted to create a society for committed and talented engineering students and so Tau Beta Pi was born. Irving Andrew Heikes, the valedictorian of his class, was initiated on June 15th 1885 to mark the first student member of Tau Beta Pi.
It was only a matter of time until Tau Beta Pi began to spread. The second chapter was granted its charter in 1892 marking the birth of the Michigan Alpha chapter at Michigan State University.
Tau Beta Pi started as a male only society, however, this would soon change with the introduction of the woman's badge. Starting in 1936, the Association began awarding the Woman's Badge to exceptional female engineering students. Between 1936 and 1969 the Association distributed 619 women's badges to remarkable women in engineering. In 1969, Tau Beta Pi began granting full membership to women in engineering.
Sigma Tau was an engineering honor society similar to Tau Beta Pi. Sigma Tau was founded on February 24th, 1904 at the University of Nebraska to bring together the top third of engineering students at American universities.
On January 1, 1974, Sigma Tau merged with Tau Beta Pi to form one strong engineering honor society that would best serve the entire engineering profession. At the time of the merger Sigma Tau consisted of 45,000 members across 34 chapters.
Tau Beta Pi has seen continued growth in the association's history. Since its inception, Tau Beta Pi has grown to 257 active collegiate chapters and 51 active alumni chapters divided into 16 districts in the United States.
Tau Beta Pi honors engineering students who have demonstrated that they possess exemplary character and have distinguished scholarship. Tau Beta Pi fosters a community of mentorship and self improvement for its members.
There are several avenues to membership with candidates for membership evaluated by their chapters to see if they possess exemplary character.
Undergraduate students are eligible for membership if they are within the top eighth (12.5%) of their class as juniors or the top fifth (20%) of their class as seniors. Undergraduate students are eligible to hold officer positions within collegiate chapters and spread the association's message to their communities. Undergraduate Tau Bates qualify for the scholarship program and can apply for the fellowship program to support graduate studies.
Graduate students are eligible to pursue membership if they have completed half (50%) of their degree requirements and stand in the top fifth (20%) of their graduate class. Graduate students have access to the Tau Beta Pi job board, a platform that is exclusive to Tau Bates.
Alumni are eligible for membership if they qualified for membership during their studies but were unable to join because they were overlooked for membership, or studied at a time when the chapter was inactive. Alumni members can stay connected with their alma matter through their collegiate chapter and can join local alumni chapters to continue their involvement with the association.
Eminent Engineers are engineers with over a decade of experience in the industry. Someone is eligible for membership as an Eminent Engineer if they have led a distinguished career in engineering and have excellent character. Membership for Eminent Engineers presents a unique opportunity to mentor the brightest engineering students into the leaders of tomorrow.