Students revive campus’ electrical engineering honors society

Dormant for years, Lehigh’s electrical engineering honors society has been revived due to the hard work and dedication of the students among its membership.

Eta Kappa Nu (IEEE-HKN) is the student honor society of the global Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). With more than 430,000 members across some 160 countries, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. IEEE-HKN is dedicated to encouraging and recognizing individual excellence in education and meritorious work, in professional practice, and in any of IEEE’s focus areas.

At Lehigh, the small honors society – an offshoot of the larger IEEE chapter at Lehigh -- was recently named one of 22 chapters selected for the Outstanding Chapter Award due to its members’ outstanding performance and the value they’ve continued to bring to their peers and the university.

“These students have truly distinguished themselves as a very special group,” says Doug Frey, associate chair of electrical and computer engineering and IEE-HKN faculty advisor. “It’s truly unusual for students to have so much motivation. The fact that [the chapter] is coming back strong is impressive recognition of the students’ dedication and involvement.”

The chapter has taken many strides to increase their productivity across campus and especially in Bethlehem. In the past few years, Lehigh’s HKN chapter has organized a variety of speakers, social and community events offering tutoring to both Lehigh students and those in local high schools.

“We try to support the ECE department however we can,” says Brendan Huber ’17, vice president of Lehigh’s IEE-HKN chapter. “Every few weeks, we’ll organize a lab clean up among our memebers. We also have a homework room to help people struggling in certain classes.”

“We're always looking for different community service opportunities in the area,” he continues. “We have an awesome service committee and they are constantly looking for new ideas in and around campus.”

Read the full story at the Lehigh University News Center.

-Simona Galant '18 is a student-writer with the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.

During a recent clean-up of an electronics lab, Eta Kappa Nu members Genevieve Shafer ’17, Jacob Kim ’18 and Correll French ’17 sort through piles of resistors left on lab benches. (Photo by Christa Neu/Lehigh University)