Notable Members

Was initiated into Tau Beta Pi while completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Mark Dean is a well known inventor and computer engineer. Some of his highlight achievements include developing the ISA bus, the function that enables multiple devices, such as modems and printers, to be connected to personal computers, and leading a design team that produced a one-gigahertz computer processor chip. Additionally, he holds three of nine PC patents for being the co-creator of the IBM personal computer released in 1981. Dean was the first African-American recognized as an IBM Fellow in 1997, which is the highest level of technical excellence achievable at the company, and he served as one of the company's Vice Presidents overseeing the Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. Dean was the interim dean at the University of Tennessee Tickle College of Engineering from August 2018 to July 2019 and is the John Fisher Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. As of April 26, 2019, April 25 is now officially "Mark Dean Day" in Knox County, Tennessee.

Gregory L. Fenves is the 29th president of The University of Texas at Austin. Before he became president in 2015, he served the university as executive vice president and provost and as dean of UT's Cockrell School of Engineering. He began his career in 1984 as an assistant professor in UT's department of civil engineering. He then served more than 20 years on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, where he became an internationally renowned expert on structural engineering for earthquakes. For his research and teaching, Fenves was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2014.

Gast became the 16th president of Imperial College London in 2014. An internationally renowned scholar and researcher, she was named one of the top 100 "Modern Era" engineers in the country by AIChE. Gast served as the vice president for research and associate provost at MIT, before being appointed as Lehigh University's 13th president in 2006, where she served until 2014. The focus of Gast's research career was the study of surface and interfacial phenomena, in particular the behavior of complex fluids.

Hennessy served as president of Stanford University from 2000-16. A pioneer in computer architecture and dubbed the "godfather of Silicon Valley," he is one of the founders of MIPS Computer Systems Inc. as well as the founding board chair of Atheros, one of the early developers of WiFi technology. He has served on the board of Cisco and Alphabet (Google's parent company) and holds numerous honors including 2012 Medal of Honor from IEEE. Read profile from TBP's magazine The Bent.

Dr. Klawe became the first woman president of Harvey Mudd College in 2006 and was previously Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University. She is a renowned computer scientist and international lecturer. She's made significant research contributions in several areas of mathematics and computer science and has served on numerous boards including Broadcom and Microsoft, and was ranked 17 on Fortune's 2014 list of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders. Read profile from TBP's Bent magazine.

Dr. Vest served as MIT president from 1990 until December 2004, and as president of the National Academy of Engineering from 2007-13. He was the provost and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, prior to his appointment as MIT's president. Vest served on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and chaired the task force on the Future of Science Programs at the Department of Energy. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 72.

He is a mechanical engineer and former NASA astronaut and fighter pilot. Aldrin earned an Sc.D. degree in astronautics from MIT making him the first astronaut with a doctoral degree. As lunar module pilot on the Apollo 11 mission, he and mission commander Neil Armstrong were the first two humans to land on the moon. Included among his awards, service medals, and honors is the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1969), and induction into the International Space Hall of Fame. He has appeared in more than 20 movies and television shows.

Graduated from the the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1999 with his B.S in astronautical engineering and engineering science, and then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge as a Draper Fellow, earning his M.S in aeronautical and astronautical engineering. Following completion of his graduate studies, Chari attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. He has been stationed in Elmendorf AFB, Alaska and RAF Lakenheath, England, and Iraq. He served as the project pilot for the APG-63 and APG-82 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar programs, and also attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, serving as a CENTCOM time sensitive targeting officer. At the time of his selection for NASA Astronaut Group 22 in June 2017, Chari was serving as the commanding officer of the 461st Flight Test Squadron at Edwards AFB, California. Chari was a part of the Artemis Team, a group of astronauts to help pave the way for the next lunar missions including sending the first woman and next man to walk on the lunar surface in 2024. He became the first astronaut from Group 22 to be selected for a space mission, of which he is currently in command, SpaceX Crew-3. Chari is the first NASA rookie to command a spaceflight since Gerald Carr, who commanded the Skylab 4 mission in 1973.

She is a former NASA astronaut and previous vice president and deputy general manager of Jacobs Engineering. A veteran of three space flights, Davis logged over 673 hours in space. She received the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive and NASA's Exceptional Service medal (twice), and was a 2016 TBP Distinguished alumna.

He is a former NASA astronaut and senior advisor of space programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. His space flight experience includes two Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions (STS-109 and STS-125), becoming the first person to use Twitter in space during STS-125. He appeared in several movies and television shows, including a recurrent role in six episodes on the CBS TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Massimino is a best-selling author and a professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University.

She was an electrical, software, and biomedical engineer, pilot, and NASA astronaut who died when the Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed during the launch of mission STS-51-L. Resnik was the second American woman in space logging 145 hours in orbit. She was also the first Jewish woman of any nationality in space. The IEEE Judith Resnik Award for space engineering is named in her honor.

He was an American aeronautical engineer, U.S. Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. On June 3, 1965, he became the first American to walk in space. White died along with two other astronauts during prelaunch testing for the first manned Apollo mission at Cape Canaveral. He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for his flight in Gemini 4 and was then awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor posthumously.

Former professional ballet dancer and elite cyclist; she is a freelance technology journalist for Daily Dot, Refinery29, and WIRED. She was awarded the 2010 Tau Beta Pi Laureate for arts.

Professional fast pitch player, USA Softball National team player, and UAB medical student. Graduate of Auburn University where she owns almost every offensive batting record. She was awarded the 2017 Tau Beta Pi Laureate for athletics.

Dennison is an offensive line coach and run game coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL. He served as the special teams coach for the Super Bowl Champion Broncos in 1997 and 1998; and played for the Broncos as a linebacker from 1982-90.

The first person to ascend all of Colorado's fourteeners solo in winter. Subject of the 2019 film 127 Hours. He is a motivational speaker and mechanical engineer.

Co-founder of the band Boston and inventor with nearly three dozen patents. Internationally recognized musician, songwriter, and philanthropist. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT. Tau Beta Pi Distinguished Alumnus (2017).

Is a former American Football player. He started playing football at the University of Michigan where he also received his engineering degree and won outstanding student awards and was a recipient of the NCAA Top Five Award, honoring five outstanding senior student-athletes in the Class of 1984. He then entered the NFL draft and was picked by the Chicago Bears from 1984 to 1986 meaning he was on the 1985 team that won SuperBowl XX and was a member of the "Shuffling Crew" that made famous the SuperBowl Shuffle. After he was traded to the Denver Broncos and played as their starting right guard he retired from Football due to a recurring knee injury. Following his football career Humphries attended the University of Colorado School of Medicine where he completed his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic. He is currently the medical director for Renown Rehabilitation Hospital in Reno, Nevada.

He is a senior partner at Sienna Ventures and a past chairman and CEO of Apple Inc. He has held other leadership roles, including CEO of National Semiconductor and president of Rockwell Communication Systems. His technical contributions include the first practical charge coupled image sensor and charged couple device that is used as the eyeball of the Hubble Space Telescope. He was a recipient of the 2015 Tau Beta Pi Distinguished Alumnus Award.

She is the Chairwoman and CEO of General Motors Company. Her bachelor's degree in electrial engineering was earned from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University).

She is an American engineer, business woman, and Stanford University Alumni with a Masters in Systems engineering. During her time at Stanford University Acevedo also became an engineer at IBM in 1980. She was on the Solar Polar Solar Probe (SPSP) and Voyager 2 teams at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She joined Apple in 1988 overseeing the Asia-Pacific region. Acevedo held other executive roles at Autodesk, Dell, REBA Technologies, and Tandem Ungermann-Bass. Acevedo accredited much of her journey in science and engineering to her time as a girl scout, in which she fell in love with star gazing which you can read about in her memoir "Path to the Stars". Acevedo founded Austin, TX-based CommuniCard and was awarded the Business Award by The Aguila Awards Foundation in 2005. In 2009, Acevedo joined the Girl Scouts of the USA national board of directors. President Barack Obama then appointed Acevedo to the Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in 2011. Acevedo served as a National Board member for the Girl Scouts of the USA for seven years until she was eventually named CEO in 2017. Under her tenure, the Girl Scouts introduced over 100 badges in Outdoors and STEM badges in areas such as robotics, coding, engineering, and cybersecurity. In 2020, she stepped down as CEO and joined the board of directors for Qualcomm.

He is the founder, chairman, CEO, and president of Amazon; founder of aerospace company Blue Origin; and owner of The Washington Post. He graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. In 2018, he was named the "richest man in modern history."

He is a founder, CEO, and owner of Bloomberg, L.P., and served three terms as mayor of New York City beginning in 2002. He is also a philanthropist and made the largest private donation to a higher education institution (Johns Hopkins University).

She is CEO and co-founder of Hearsay and author of New York Times best-seller, The Facebook Era. Clara is a member of Starbucks board of directors and previously served in a variety of technical, product, and marketing roles at Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce.com. She has been named one of Fortune's "Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs." In 2005, she was recognized as a Tau Beta Pi Laureate for diverse achievements. Read her leadership profile from The Bent magazine.

Bose was an inventor, entrepreneur, electrical and sound engineer, and a professor of electrical engineering at MIT for over 45 years, winning numerous teaching awards. His research in the areas of speaker technology and acoustics led to his founding in 1964 of Bose Corporation, a worldwide producer of products for home, car, and professional audio. Dr. Bose earned several honor and awards including IEEE Fellow and induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Dr. Dresselhaus was known as the "queen of carbon science" and her research helped to develop technology based on thin graphite which allow electronics to be "everywhere," including clothing and smartphones. During a 57-year teaching career, she was a professor emerita of physics and electrical engineering at MIT. Dresselhaus received more than 25 honors and awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, National Medal of Science, induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and as the first female recipient of the IEEE Medal of Honor.

She is a business executive, engineer, academic, former government official, and is the 13th chancellor of the State University of New York. Dr. Johnson has been a leader in the development of optoelectronic processing systems, 3-D imaging, and color-management systems. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2015) for polarization-control technology, and elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2016

Kilby was an electrical engineer, who took part in the invention of the first integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments in 1958. For this, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000. From 1978-84, Kilby was a distinguished professor of electrical engineering at Texas A&M. Also the co-inventor of the handheld calculator and the thermal printer, he received the National Medal of Science and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He also has patents for seven other inventions. See an interview with Tau Beta Pi in the Summer 2001 issue of The Bent magazine.

Dr. Langer is heralded as one of the most prolific inventors in the history of medicine, as well as the father of controlled drug release and founder of tissue engineering in regenerative medicine. He is the most cited engineer in history with more than 273,000 citations. Dr. Langer is a professor at MIT and a faculty member of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. Langer is one of four living individuals to have received both the U.S. National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. View his leadership profile from The Bent magazine.

received his bachelors in Mechanical engineering from Brigham Young University and a master's degree from the University of Southern California. Rober is an American YouTuber, engineer, and inventor. He is known for his YouTube videos on popular science and do-it-yourself gadgets. Before YouTube, Rober was an engineer with NASA for nine years where he spent seven of those years working on the Curiosity rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He later worked for four years at Apple Inc. as a product designer in their Special Projects Group, where he authored patents involving virtual reality in self-driving cars. He designed and delivered hardware on several JPL missions, including AMT, GRAIL, SMAP, and Mars Science Laboratory. While at NASA, Rober was one of the primary architects for "JPL Wired", which was a comprehensive knowledge capture wiki. He published a case study about applying wiki technology in a high-tech organization to develop an "Intrapedia" for the capture of corporate knowledge.