Our university is home to hundreds of clubs, associations and organizations, providing a community for every student coming to the University of California, Riverside (UCR). Tau Beta Pi (TBP) is no exception. As one of UCR’s honors societies, the club welcomes engineering students striving for excellence.
TBP typically meets on Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. for meet and greet events, though the club has not established general meetings yet. Tau Beta Pi is a selective and competitive club that invites only the most elite engineering students. Getting an invitation from them is an impressive feat.
The original chapter was founded in 1885, at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and has since then spread to university campuses all over the United States, reaching UCR in 2004 and becoming the California District 15 chapter. The honors society prides itself on being a professional development club that strives to support students in their career pathways.
As a professional development club, TBP holds many events for their members. As Shubrha Singhal, fourth year bioengineering major and president of TBP, explained, “The average Tau Beta Pi meeting spans from either professional development or socials. Most of the time we have a keynote speaker come in, and they’re usually a Tau Beta Pi alum, and they talk about their experience going from undergrad to either grad school or into industry.”
Beyond keynote speaker events, TBP also holds socials and workshops that aim to help members along their career development. Singhal mentioned a variety of events, such as resumé building workshops, collaborations with the Career Center and volunteering opportunities. In the past, they have held boba socials, fundraisers and other events for members to mingle. For the upcoming quarter, they planned two to three professional development events.
Tau Beta Pi’s goals for this quarter are to make themselves known to the engineering students of UCR. Charle Charlebois, a third year mechanical engineering student and club correspondence secretary, recounted their experience upon joining TBP: “I remember seeing [the] Tau Beta Pi invites. I got the email and thought, ‘Is this a scam?’ Then I looked it up, and it wasn’t, so I decided to join. They were handing out officer positions right there, and I needed leadership experience, so I took it.”
Although TBP is not the only engineering club on campus, it is the only one that welcomes all engineering students, no matter the specific major. Singhal stated, “[TBP combines] all engineering majors. They come from various degrees, various majors and that fosters a sense of community there, because in my experience, an industry cannot work without all different kinds of engineering brain[s]. So when all those majors are in one room, it really fosters a sense of community between engineers, and it brings everyone together.”
Tau Beta Pi, although competitive, is a great place for students to grow in the different engineering fields, foster connections and learn how to succeed in the real world. On top of being a close-knit community, the club thrives for excellence and exemplary characters, forging open-mindedness in future engineers.
