Tau Beta Pi Program Receives ASEE Award

The Engineering Futures Program of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society, has won the American Society of Engineering Education’s Corporate Member Council (CMC) 2007 Excellence in Engineering Education Collaboration Award. Tau Beta Pi President Dr. Larry A. Simonson, P.E., accepted the award at a luncheon held on February 7 during the ASEE Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration in Palm Springs, CA.

This highest award presented by the CMC recognizes member companies and organizations that demonstrate excellence and innovation in their collaborative efforts with universities to enhance engineering education. The Engineering Futures Program prepares engineering students for their careers by enhancing their technical effectiveness through interpersonal skills and teamwork development. Trained, volunteer Tau Beta Pi alumni present modules on people skills, group process, analytical problem solving, and team chartering to chapter members and other students on their campuses. Participation in the program provides students with valuable skills not taught in a traditional engineering curriculum. Engineering Futures fills this gap and provides industry with more professional graduates who are team players. During 2005-06, 48 volunteer facilitators conducted 223 sessions to a total of 2,940 students from 96 different campuses.

Ms. Letha Hammon, a manager at DuPont and chair-elect of the CMC, cited the Tau Beta Pi EF Program for its work in “developing critical interpersonal skill sets and leadership capability in our future engineering workforce …lifelong skills needed by the employees that the CMC member companies hire.” In addition to DuPont, the 88 corporate and non-academic institutional members of the CMC include several corporate sponsors of Tau Beta Pi conventions (Avago, Boeing, Kaplan, NCEES, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon) and other highly visible companies such as the Aerospace Corporation, Bechtel Corporation, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Merck & Co., Microsoft Corp., Rolls Royce, and Dow Chemical.

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Tau Beta Pi, the world’s largest engineering society, has initiated 489,000 members since it was founded in 1885. Headquartered in Knoxville, TN, the Association has 231 active collegiate chapters and 18 active alumnus chapters.