Honor societies are associations of primarily collegiate members and chapters whose purposes are to encourage and recognize superior scholarship and/or leadership achievement either in broad fields of education or in departmental fields at either undergraduate or graduate levels.
      Tau Beta Pi is the National Engineering Honor Society. It was founded in 1885 at Lehigh University by Dr. Edward H. Williams Jr. with the following goal:
      "to mark in a fitting manner those who have conferred honor upon their Alma Mater by distinguished scholarship and exemplary character as undergraduates in engineering, or by their attainments as alumni in the field of engineering, and to foster a spirit of liberal culture in engineering colleges."
       Tau Beta Pi has a world-wide reputation because of its high standards for membership. Among its members are seven postage stamp honorees, two Draper prize winners, nine winners of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 12 Nobel laureates, 25 recipients of the National Medal of Technology, 24 honorees in the National Inventors Hall of Fame, 41 astronauts, 65 recipients of the National medal of Science, hundreds of members of the National Academy of Engineering, hundreds of corporate CEOs, two U.S. congressmen, and even a few Olympic athletes and NFL football players. Thousands of members have received top awards in their national engineering societies. Tau Bates are known to be leaders in their profession.
       Tau Beta Pi is a founding member of the Association of College Honor Societies, an association member of the American Society for Engineering Education, an associate member of the American Association of Engineering Societies, and an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Junior Engineering Technical Society.
 
 
 

History of Tau Beta Pi.

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