What is Pi Tau Sigma?
Pi Tau Sigma is the National Mechanical Engineering Honor Society and is a member of the Association of College Honor Societies. With 142 chapters installed, all but two currently maintain active status. There are chapters at universities in almost every state of the United States.
The concept of Pi Tau Sigma was initiated simultaneously at the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin in 1915. Pi Tau Sigma was formed in 1916 by these two schools. Purdue University and the University of Minnesota were chartered in 1922, and growth has continued.
Objectives of Pi Tau Sigma:
1. Foster high ideals in the engineering profession
2. Stimulate and support departmental activities
3. Promote professional welfare
4. Develop leadership and citizenship
Criteria for people to get invited to become Pi Tau Sigma Members:
Seniors: Top 35th percentile (approximately 66% of our body)
Juniors: Top 25th percentile (approximately 25% of our body)
Sophomores: Sophomores are invited to participate in Pi Tau Sigma activities as part of the application process
Freshmen: Freshmen are not admitted into Pi Tau Sigma
Graduate: Written Recommendations from 2 faculty members. Cannot have done undergraduate at another school. If they were not invited as an undergraduate then they cannot be accepted as a graduate student
We highly recommend you apply to be in Pi Tau Sigma even if you don't meet these requirements. If you believe you will make an excellent engineer based on previous experiences we will review your application.
Pi Tau Sigma consists of students with a strong scholastic record in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Illinois at Chicago. This organization extended memberships to students willing to work beyond the academic scope of engineering and contribute to the community as a whole.
Seriously consider membership in Pi Tau Sigma, as it is both an honor and potentially an important asset to your career. Employers and graduate schools often need something to distinguish you among a large field of candidates and an honors society is just that. Besides being a part of the only nationally recognized Mechanical Engineering honor's society, the Alpha Sigma Chapter offers many other benefits to its members:
• Life-time membership
• Networking opportunities with top fellow ME students and faculty
• Many officer and chair positions available each year
• Volunteer opportunities that relate to engineering and education
• Free copies in the MIE department business office at UIC
• Eligibility to wear the Pi Tau Sigma stole at graduation
• Recognition by faculty and peers as one of the top students at UIC
• Opportunity to increase the representation of mechanical engineering at UIC
• Eligibility for the annual Pi Tau Sigma Scholarship
Members are expected to contribute a minimal set of hours each semester of participation and volunteering to engineering. Such hours documented include, going to general meetings, fundraising, engineering week, campus tours to prospective students, recruitment, extracurricular engineering events, and many other powerful opportunities.
There is one initiation each semester where the recruitment chair and officers nominate the top students of Mechanical engineering in the sophomore, junior, and senior brackets. The nominees are sent a congratulations letter and application in the mail and to their university e-mail account. These are sent early in the semester.