About Us

We are the Maryland Beta chapter of the national Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society. We’re a welcoming community of high-achieving engineers at the University of Maryland who strive for a better tomorrow. We work towards this collective goal by fostering meaningful relationships in our chapter, our campus, TBP alumni, and the wider community surrounding UMD. You can learn more about what we do on our Events page.

Our History

Our chapter was founded in 1929. We began as an engineering honor society called Phi Mu Fraternity, established in the fall of 1923. This group was organized to await the time when the conditions for admission to Tau Beta Pi would be satisfied. The major obstacle to establishment of a chapter at that time was a graduation class of fewer than twenty-five engineers.

In the fall of 1929, after six years of growth and patient waiting, a charter was granted to twenty-five members and alumni of Phi Mu. Since that time the growth of Maryland Beta has been continuous except for a brief period during World War II when the charter was discontinued for lack of undergraduates. Since our establishment, we have initiated over 3,400 members.

Maryland Beta is an active chapter, carrying out a full program of activities. Since the establishment of the R. C. Matthews Outstanding Chapter award in 1956, Maryland Beta has received the award 13 times, and has received 16 honorable mentions. The honors bestowed upon our chapter not only recognize the high caliber of past and present Maryland Tau Bates, but also impose an impressive challenge for the future.

About Tau Beta Pi

Tau Beta Pi is the only engineering honor society representing the entire engineering profession. It is the nation's second-oldest honor society, founded at Lehigh University in 1885 by Dr. Edward Higginson Williams, Jr. to mark in a fitting manner those who have conferred honor upon their Alma Mater by distinguished scholarship and exemplary character as students in engineering, or by their attainments as alumni in the field of engineering, and to foster a spirit of liberal culture in engineering colleges.

Dr. Williams, Jr. was head of the mining department of Lehigh University when he was determined to offer technical men as good a chance of recognition for superior scholarship in their field as that afforded by the other society (Phi Beta Kappa) in the liberal arts and sciences.

Working alone he conceived an organization, gave it a name, designed its governmental structure, drew up its constitution, prepared its badge and certificate, established its membership requirements, and planned all the necessary details for its operation including the granting of chapters and the holding of conventions.

Thus, with only a paper organization, he offered membership to qualified graduates of Lehigh and received their acceptances and enthusiastic endorsement. Late in the spring of 1885 he invited the valedictorian of the senior class, Irving Andrew Heikes (HI-keys), to membership and he accepted, becoming the first student member of Tau Beta Pi; but there was no time to initiate the rest of the eligible men from the class of 1885.

Mr. Heikes returned for graduate work, however, and in the fall of 1885, he, Dr. Williams, and two alumni who had earlier accepted membership, initiated the eligible men from the class of 1886 and organized the chapter. The parent chapter, Alpha of Pennsylvania, existed alone until 1892 when Alpha of Michigan was founded at Michigan State University.

There are now collegiate chapters at 245 US colleges and universities, 40 active alumni chapters in 16 districts across the country, and a total initiated membership of approximately 575,000.