Shiley School of Engineering: Professional Societies & Student Clubs

Student chapters of the following professional societies currently are active on campus:

• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapter offers a wide variety of opportunities for students, ranging from social events to talks by local professionals. ASCE holds a regional competition each year where colleges and universities compete against each other in a concrete canoe or steel bridge competition. Other projects throughout the year include various engineering site tours, volunteer projects, and guest speakers. ASCE is also a great way to meet civil engineering professionals. (faculty advisor: M. Kennedy; president: Nathan McCarty, mccarty15@up.edu)    

• Mechanical Engineering Club is for students interested in mechanical engineering.  There are four professional societies that ME majors typically join: ASME, SAE, ASHRAE, and ASM (see description of each below). Members of these societies combine their interests within the ME Club. They organize field trips, invite guest speakers, and have social activities such as movie night and camping trips. (faculty advisor: T. Doughty; president: Zach Nye, nye13@up.edu)
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers' (ASME) purpose is to enhance the education of mechanical engineering students and to provide a social setting for its members. ASME also organizes the Chili Cook Off during Engineering Week, and the local professional chapter sponsors an ASME students-meet-industry day, where students spend the day with a practicing engineer. (faculty advisor: T. Doughty; vice president: James Magas, magas13@up.edu)
  • Society of Automotive Engineers' (SAE) purpose is to provide its members opportunities to gain broader insight into the transportation fields within the engineering profession.  It sponsors meetings that bring practicing engineers to the campus, arranges field trips to research and engineering establishments, sponsors student projects of engineering interest, and participants in local SAE Section activities.  Students often participate in SAE projects such as the Baja Competition and Aero-Design Competition. (faculty advisor: K. Lulay; vice president: Marcus Hughes, hughes13@up.edu. Pilots Racing!
  • American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers' (ASHRAE)purpose is to advance the sciences of heating, refrigerating, and air-conditioning engineering, the education of members through lectures, demonstrations, and publications, the rendition of career guidance to students, and the encouragement of scientific research. The web page for the national organization is www.ashrae.org. (faculty advisor: H. Dillon; vice president: Stephanie Paustian, paustian13@up.edu).
  • ASM- International Collegiate Chapter's purpose is to provide its members opportunities to gain broader insight into engineered materials and processes.  It sponsors meetings which bring practicing engineers to the campus, arranges field trips to local industry, and participates in local ASM professional chapter meetings. Every April the University of Portland organizes an ASM Student Night, hosting students from UP, PSU, OSU, and WSU-Vancouver to present papers on research and applications. (faculty advisor: K. Khan; vice president: Brendan Klennert, klennert14@up.edu)

• Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is the oldest professional organization for software professionals. The 650 worldwide student chapters offer a variety of invaluable resources for students including tutoring, learning materials, project experience, leadership development opportunities, and industry exposure. Each year, the chapters also compete against one another for the coveted Chapter Excellence Awards and in the internationally known ACM Programming Contest. (faculty advisor: S. Vegdahl; president: Kelsey Abe, abe13@up.edu)  

• Engineers without Borders (EWB) The mission of the national organization is to partner with disadvantaged communities to improve their quality of life through implementation of environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects, while developing internationally responsible engineering students. Our multi-disciplinary chapter has worked on projects in Nicaragua and Honduras with at least one student trip to the project site each year. This is one of the best opportunities to work on real engineering projects before you graduate under the guidance of an industry adviser. And, you are using your engineering skills to help those less fortunate. This Club is open to all majors. There is a local chapter of EWB, with more information at http://www.ewbportland.org. (faculty advisor: M. Kennedy/J. Male; president: Olivia McCracken, mccracke13@up.edu)
  • Our Chapter's blog

• Engineering World Health (EWH) works to improve the quality of health care in hospitals in the developing world by installing donated and newly-designed medical equipment, carrying out repairs and building local capacity to manage and maintain the equipment. The multidisciplinary student chapter contributes by assembling electro-surgery unit testing devices, informing students about travel opportunities to help developing countries, and other activities.  (faculty advisor: J. Hoffbeck; president: Garrett Gustafson, gustafso13@up.edu)

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an international non-profit technical association dedicated to promoting the engineering process for electrical, electronic, and information technologies and sciences. The Student Branch provides a forum for students to meet and learn from fellow students, faculty members, and professionals in the field. It also arranges talks with knowledgeable speakers, field trips to industrial sites, and promotes participation in engineering competitions. Student members receive two magazines that help them learn of exciting developments the field – IEEE Potentials, the magazine for up-and-coming engineers, and IEEE Spectrum, a trade magazine about current events and issues. (faculty advisor: W. Lu; president: Kyle Mauer, mauer13@up.edu)

• Robotics Club is a multidisciplinary engineering and computer science club that explores the capabilities of autonomous and remote-controlled robotics. Currently, the club travels to Florida each May to compete in the NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition, where the goal is to dig as much moondust as possible within a given time period and deposit it in a receptacle. All of the engineering and computer science disciplines are critical to success, from the mechanical design to the wireless communication. There are significant community outreach efforts, including field trips to local schools for education and demonstration purposes, and the club also works hard to raise sponsorship money and donations. All students of all class years are welcome, even majors outside of engineering. General meetings and subsection meetings are decided each semester by the club members. (faculty advisor: D. Munro; president: Adrian Gorman, gorman12@up.edu)

• Society of Women Engineers (SWE) encourages women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expands the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in the quality of life, and demonstrates the value of diversity.The student section is an active engineering club on campus, hosting the annual career job fair for over 15 years and volunteering their time in the community to enhance the positive image of engineering as a profession for everyone. SWE welcomes all (male and female) engineering and computer science students as members. (faculty advisor: T. VanDeGrift; president: Jena Graham, graham14@up.edu)

• Tau Beta Pi is the National Engineering Honor Society that recognizes those engineering and computer science students and alumni who have conferred honor upon their Alma Mater through distinguished scholarship and exemplary character. Additionally, Tau Beta Pi seeks to foster in engineering programs a spirit aligned with a liberal arts education. The UP chapter is very active in tutoring math, physics and chemistry. In order to be selected for membership, students must be of good character, be accepted by the current membership, and have a GPA in the top 1/8^th of the class (for juniors), or have a GPA in the top 1/5^th of the class (for seniors). (faculty advisor: P. Osterberg; president: Noa Yates, yates13@up.edu). The University of Portland, Oregon Gamma Chapter of Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society, offers admission to the top upper-division engineering students.

All students are encouraged to join organizations of interest to them as early as their first semester!