Purdue Beta

During World War I, mechanical 'engineering students at Purdue organized the "Oilers" and later changed the name to "Carzeuran" (from Carnot, Zeuner,and Rankine). The ideals of this group were identical with those of Pi Tau Sigma and the Purdue Beta Chapter of Pi Tau Sigma was installed May 13, 1922. At present Purdue Beta has the largest total membership and has always remained active, cooperating with faculty in supporting plans for the advancement of the students in the M. E. school. Some of the major activities are: sponsoring of a test file system, the presentation of graduate school information seminars and literature, sponsoring a senior class picture composites, and the coordination of may interdepartmental student-faculty activities. Purdue Beta obtained much of its national reputation largely through the efforts of Prof. David S. Clark who not only provided guidance and leadership for over fifty years, but served as an inspiration to many generations of mechanical engineering students.

ANNUAL SUMMARY REPORTS

Purdue Beta 2023-2024 by Charlie Sledz, Secretary

Purdue Beta had a very successful year with many new events and collaborations. We held two initiations, welcomed a total of 54 new members, began new collaborations with the mechanical engineering department, performed hundreds of hours of community service, hosted two end-of-semester trivia nights for mechanical engineering students, held several industry partner collaborations, and promoted the mechanical engineering profession to the greater population. 

In addition to welcoming 54 new members across two initiation ceremonies, Purdue Beta also welcomed its first honorary initiate in many years: Department Head, Dr. Eckhard A. Groll. All new members have already had a profound impact within the organization. Each new initiate performed a service hour and had a weekly lounge shift where they ran the mechanical engineering student lounge. The new members met the active members and learned about opportunities that Pi Tau Sigma and Purdue Beta offer. From the fall semester initiates, six new members were elected into leadership positions for the spring and have been making notable contributions to the chapter.

Purdue Beta organized two ME Undergraduate Research Symposiums for students and faculty to showcase and learn about each other’s careers in academia and R&D. During these events, students were to participate in a discussion with panels of student researchers and professors relating to the benefits and requirements associated with participating in research at Purdue.

Purdue Beta continued to hold review sessions for all core mechanical engineering classes. Many of the review sessions held this year were filled to capacity, prompting review sessions to be held in larger lecture halls, capable of hosting over 200 students. In addition to review sessions, Purdue Beta continued to offer its tutoring services to students at Purdue, further helping the student population thrive.

Purdue Beta runs the mechanical engineering student lounge, and it underwent some of the most change it has seen in recent years. Increased attention from mechanical engineering faculty and staff drove menu and service upgrades. The student lounge also saw significant change in its function, shifting from a counter service to a more open concept, similar to a grab and go. This change prompted reworking the overall organization of the lounge and increased accessibility to and the visibility of our product. New, healthier items were added to our menu, including fruit, yogurt, and bagels, and a toaster and pastry box were purchased to accommodate the sale of these new menu items.

Purdue Beta participated in and hosted several other service events over the past year. In the Fall, several members came to what is known in the area as Winterization. At this event, volunteers are assigned houses at which they are to complete outdoor tasks, such as leaf raking and weed pulling in order to prepare the home for Winter. In the Spring, Purdue Beta’s service chairs organized a volunteer opportunity at a wolf sanctuary in Battleground, Indiana. 25 members participated in this project, contributing several hundred more service hours to our community. At this event, members cleared vegetation for bison grazing land and prepared the park for the Summer.

 

Purdue Beta 2020-2021 by Corin Smith - President

This year was a unique year as the full duration of both semesters were impacted by the covid-19 pandemic. The Beta Chapter officers decided meetings and most service activities would be held online in order to maximize safety and encourage participation from members located all across the globe.

In both semesters, the Mechanical Engineering department did not allow us to access our ‘lounge’ and office. In a normal semester, we would have triple the amount of service hours because we would volunteer to staff our lounge in the Mechanical Engineering building, hold office hours, and participate in many more department activities which did not happen this year due to covid-19. That being said, our chapter still volunteered ~100 hours of service and participated in many fundraisers. We participated in Purdue’s Winterization event, wrote letters of gratitude to veterans, hosted exam review sessions, had fundraisers for Girls Who Code and the Lafayette Transitional Housing Center, and several more events.

Another important event put on by the Purdue Beta chapter which was impacted by the covid-19 pandemic was the twice-annual Mechanical Engineering forum. The forum is an open discussion between students and professors to discuss the successes and shortcomings of the ME department each semester. Despite the inability to host an in-person forum, we were able to smoothly transition to an entirely online medium for both pre-forum data collection and the presentation and discussion of results.

We have meetings for ‘active’ members every other week, and ‘pledging’ members every week. We also had social events several times per month to try and encourage new members to get to know older members. We had intramural teams, sent members to the Pi Tau Sigma National Conference, and had sponsored recruiting events with Cummins Inc. 

Overall, it was a very busy semester. We welcomed 50 new initiates into the club, and said goodbye to 39 seniors. Pictures from the initiations are shown below. Although it was an unconventional semester, our new initiates were very enthusiastic about actively participating in our chapter events. Covid-19 dramatically changed many things about Purdue and our Beta Chapter, but as a graduating senior, I can confidently say that the core values of scholarship, service, and friendship will be upheld moving forward.

Fall 2020 (11/19 and 11/20):

32 initiates

< missing image from initiation >

Spring 2021 (4/19 and 4/21): 

18 initiates

 

Purdue Beta 2018-2019 by Kaan Ardic - President

Purdue Beta had an outstanding year of involvement and service. While the chapter maintained its practices of meetings, leadership, social events, and initiations (33 initiates), emphasis was placed on expanding our influence beyond our own organization. 

Mechanical Engineering Department Involvement

Purdue Beta supports the Purdue ME department in numerous ways, however supporting students academically and initiating department improvements are the most prominent.

The chapter provides academic support to students by holding review sessions, making practice exams and study guides available, and connecting students with tutors. Review sessions are held for each introductory level mechanical engineering course (statics, dynamics, thermodynamics I) before major exams. PTS members who have excelled at the course lead students through a practice exam and answer questions. These sessions were quite popular as attendance would reach almost 50 students per review session. Beyond review sessions, practice exams and solutions as well as newly added study guides are available for sale from Pi Tau Sigma. In an effort to keep up with the digital age, the year was spent digitizing the exams to allow practice exams to be available online. If students request further help, Purdue Beta maintains a list of qualified tutors including PTS members and ME graduate students. This list is posted on our website and distributed by the advising office to any student that is struggling. Around 30 students were impacted by this service.

Purdue Beta’s largest impact came from hosting the Mechanical Engineering Forum both semesters. This forum offers students and faculty a unique opportunity to have an open discussion at the end of the semester about how the department, curriculum, and classes can be improved. The initial talking points are gathered from school wide polls asking about students’ experiences in classes. For students, the forum is a chance to voice their concerns and have them addressed directly by the faculty in charge. This event allows faculty to understand how changes they make to their courses and teaching methods affect students and further improvements. Examples of issues raised during this year’s forum include timely grading, more feedback for incorrect answers, easier access to online resources from class (lectures, past exams), and more power strips in certain areas of the ME building. Faculty members present include the department head, the head of undergraduate courses, and professors. 

Community Involvement

In the local community, Purdue Beta members participated in many service events, however two stand out as the most impactful. Boiler Blast is an event that takes place every semester and allows Purdue students to make a positive impression in the community by fulfilling the yard work needs of local residents including raking, mowing, and weeding. This year, 26 Purdue PTS members participated. The second main service event is the Boys & Girls Club Carnival sponsored by PTS at the Lafayette Club, which features a bounce house, inflatable obstacle course, and a number of small carnival games. 7 PTS member participated as one member ran each station and distributed candy.

2017-2018 Margaret Graham - President

Purdue Beta had an outstanding year of involvement and service. While the chapter maintained its practices of meetings, leadership, social events, and initiations (37 initiates), emphasis was placed on expanding our influence beyond our own organization. 

Mechanical Engineering Department Involvement

Purdue Beta supports the Purdue mechanical engineering department in numerous ways, however supporting students academically and initiating departments improvements are the most prominent.

The chapter provides academic support to students by holding review sessions, making practice exams available, and connecting students with tutors. Review sessions are held for each introductory level mechanical engineering course (statics, dynamics, thermodynamics I) before every exam. PTS members who have excelled at the course lead students through a practice exam and take questions. These sessions were quite popular with attendance reaching almost 80 students per review session. The chapter estimates that approximately 300 students attended at least one session. Beyond review sessions, practice exams and solutions are available for sale from Pi Tau Sigma at 25 cents per exam. In an effort to keep up with the digital age, the year was spent digitizing the exams to allow practice exams to be available online. If students more direct further help, Purdue Beta maintains a list of qualified tutors including PTS members and ME graduate students. This list is distributed by the advising office to any student that is struggling. Around 50 students were impacted by this service.

Purdue Beta’s largest impact came from hosting the mechanical engineering forum both semesters. This forum offers students and faculty a unique opportunity to have an open discussion at the end of the semester about how the department, curriculum, and classes can be improved. The initial talking points are gathered from school wide polls asking about students’ experiences in classes. For students, the forum is a chance to voice their concerns and have them addressed directly by the faculty in charge. This event allows faculty to understand how changes they make to their courses and teaching methods affect students and further improvements. Examples of issues raised during this year’s forum include  homework weight, student machine shop culture, and access to online resources (lectures, past exams). Faculty members present include the department head, the head of undergraduate courses, and professors. 

Community Involvement

In the local community, Purdue Beta members participated in many service events, however two stand out as the most impactful. BoilerBlast is an event that takes place every semester and allows Purdue students to make a positive impression in the community by fulfilling the yardwork needs of local residents including raking, mowing, and weeding. This event occurs on a Saturday. This year 28 Purdue PTS members participated. The second main service event involves working with local elementary school teachers to develop a hands on project involving science and engineering. The chapter organizes the activity, purchases the necessary materials, and provides volunteers for an afternoon. This year’s projects were creating popsicle catapults and a paper plate speakers. 15 members volunteered for these elementary school events this year.