Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society Holds 118th Convention in Rapid City
More than 450 engineering students, alumni and professionals will be in Rapid City this week for the 118th annual Tau Beta Pi national convention.
The three-day event, hosted by the South Dakota Alpha Chapter at South Dakota Mines, runs from Thursday, Oct. 24 to Saturday, Oct. 26 at The Monument.
“Our students have been working hard with officials from the Tau Beta Pi organization to make the event run smoothly,” said Cassandra Birrenkott, Ph.D., Mines associate professor of mechanical engineering and chief advisor for the Mines Tau Beta Pi chapter.
Owen Stenstadvolden, a Mines graduate student and president of the Tau Beta Pi chapter, is thrilled to see their hard work pay off. “We’ve been planning this convention since last semester, and it’s been a great opportunity,” he said.
Stenstadvolden is eager to network with engineering students from across the nation. “One of the best parts of attending the convention is learning what others are doing at their universities.”
He’s also excited to highlight Mines and the Black Hills, quoting Theodore Roosevelt: “There is delight in the hardy life of the open.” Stenstadvolden added, “The beauty of South Dakota is what drew me to Mines, and I’m excited to share that with others.”
Tau Beta Pi, established at Lehigh University in 1885, is the nation's oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society. It is the only organization that represents the entire engineering profession, recognizing students who demonstrate both academic excellence and a strong commitment to personal and professional integrity.
This is the second time the national convention has been held in Rapid City. The South Dakota Alpha Chapter at Mines, one of more than 250 collegiate chapters over 16 districts, also hosted the convention in 1996.
“It’s a big deal to get the convention,” said Larry Simonson, Ph.D., alumni ambassador to the president and Mines alumnus. Simonson has been integral in organizing this week's events along with the 1996 convention, which he said was one of the most memorable ones. “A big snowstorm blew in on the last day, stranding many attendees,” he said.
The three-day event includes a recruiting fair, business meetings, professional development sessions, district meetings and model initiation, which inducts new members into the honor society.
A full schedule of events can be found here.