This summer, three Lafayette engineering students each received a $2,000 scholarship from Tau Beta Pi, the national Engineering Honor Society. Jed Alterman ‘23, Meg Dodge ‘23 and Danielle Lemisch ‘23 applied for the scholarship in the spring and were awarded in early July for their academic and extracurricular achievements, potential for a future in engineering and strong recommendations by faculty members.
Members of Tau Beta Pi are inducted during their junior year, where only the top one-eighth of junior applicants and one-fifth of senior applicants from their engineering class are accepted based on their academic excellence.
Alterman, a mechanical engineering major with a math minor, is Lafayette’s Chapter President of Tau Beta Pi. He is also the current Treasurer of Engineers Without Borders.
“Part of Tau Beta Pi’s mission is to recognize engineers who have demonstrated distinguished scholarship and exemplary character,” Alterman wrote in an email. “Therefore, for both the recipients and Lafayette’s Engineering Division, the scholarship represents recognition by the premier engineering honor society in the country that our community is excelling in both of those regards.”
“It’s a really big honor to be inducted into Tau Beta Pi … it’s definitely an achievement to be proud of,” Lemisch said.
She is a chemical engineering major and part of the Board of Tau Beta Pi. She is also a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICE) Chapter and an Engineering Department Mentor.
“[Winning the scholarship] just really shows that all your hard work in engineering pays off,” Lemisch said.
In addition to scholarships, Tau Beta Pi offers many resources for engineering students, including fellowships, career opportunities, conventions and connections to a wide network of alumni engineers in various fields.
“This [scholarship] sounded really great to me because it was an organization that I was already a part of,” Dodge said. Dodge is a chemical engineering major. She is also a co-president of AICE.
“We [stood out] as applicants because of the opportunities we’ve been given at a smaller program like Lafayette engineering,” Dodge said. “I think it really speaks to the department as a whole … Even though we’re so small … we can go out and win these national [awards].”
Dodge is currently researching the synthesis of plastic from birch tree bark for her thesis and the EXCEL Scholars Program.
Lemisch is also involved in research. She is currently studying the material properties of biodegradable polysaccharides for her thesis. She will be presenting this research at the AICE National Conferences this November.
“This [scholarship] recognizes the work that my peers and I have done both inside and outside the classroom to advance our own pursuit of knowledge and the betterment of our community,” Alterman wrote.
