ALABAMA PI OMICRON

A group of mechanical engineering students elected to start a new. honorary society at the University of Alabama but soon found that PI Tau Sigma represented the ideals which were needed. The National Council was petitioned. Alabama Pi Omicron Chapter was formally installed on May 14, 1948, by National Secretary-Treasurer D. S. Clark.

Immediately, Alabama Pi Omicron Chapter started cooperating in the many functions of the Engineering College, including Engineers' Day and the students section of A.S.M.E. The chapter sponsors many of the activities which have made Pi Tau Sigma a leader on other campuses.

ANNUAL SUMMARY REPORTS

2021-2022 Isabella Gladden, President

This academic year Pi Omicron held two initiation ceremonies. The Fall Initiation was held on November 17, 2021 and the Spring Initiation was held on April 18th, 2022.

After not being able to meet in-person for the past year, we were finally able to have in-person meetings in the fall, although there were some limitations on how many people could be in a room. After our meeting to vote on new members in the spring, we opened up to a discussion about careers and future steps for some of our younger members. 

Our Fall 2021 initiation was “hybrid”. By doing this we were able to accommodate those students who were not able to attend the initiation in-person.

Fall 2021 make-up initiation

Spring 2022 initiation

2020-2021 Jace Aldrich, President

Alabama’s Pi Omicron chapter was able to successfully hold two virtual initiations this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Our initiation ceremonies took place on Tuesday, November 10, 2020, and Wednesday March 31, 2021. As a part of the virtual initiations, all initiates, officers, and the advisor were able to have a social call to compensate for the virtual nature.

While COVID-19 restricted the ability for in person meetings, we were able to host a set of virtual meetings. We held virtual introduction meetings each semester and a large virtual research presentation symposium on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Current members were each invited to host a 10-minute session to present research to other members of Pi Tau Sigma, as well as field any questions. There were a wide variety of presentation topics, including robotics, EcoCar, and even chemical engineering from a cross-discipline member.

2019-2020  Emma Scott, President

Alabama’s Pi Omicron chapter held one initiation (Fall 2019) this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our initiation ceremony took place on Wednesday November 20th, 2019. After the ceremony, all initiates, officers, and the chapter advisors attended a dinner at Olive Garden.

During the Fall 2019 semester, the Pi Omicron chapter held a career fair mixer with other honor societies at the University of Alabama for other engineering majors. We had five companies attend this mixer, and about 30 students. The event was very successful. This year we also held a meeting in which one of our officers presented on graduate school, specifically, admissions processes and how to procure funding. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meetings planned for the rest of the Spring semester were cancelled.

2018-2019  Emma Scott, President

In the Fall semester, Pi Tau Sigma held various meetings inviting faculty to speak and share their wealth of knowledge. The first meeting of the spring semester was Tuesday, February 9th with Dr. Jordon. Dr. Jordon presented on his military research with the Armed Forces. March 1st we had a meeting regarding the GMAT and how students should prepare for that exam. After spring break, Dr. Michael P. Sealy spoke on March 22nd. He is a former UA Pi Tau Sigma President and is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. He discussed his experience at UNL as well as his research in the area of biomedical device manufacturing.

The Alabama Pi Omicron chapter volunteered for the Regional Science Olympiad this year. The Olympiad is a competition for middle schools and high schools around the state and consists of numerous different competitions. The event took place on February 20th. We also assisted the Mechanical Engineering department in the fall for the Engineering wide “E-Day” that introduces high school students to the world of engineering as well as everything the university has to offer.