All projects undertaken by Ohio Alpha fall into one of five categories: Community / Liberal Culture; University / College; Profession / Engineering; Chapter / Social; Education / Professional Development.
This page contains overviews of our projects in each of these areas. For more information about a specific project, click on the appropriate link in the sidebar.
These events are those which "foster a spirit of liberal culture in the engineering colleges" as specified in the Preamble to our Constitution. Service projects also fall under this category.
The Pi Mile Run is an annual race, approximately 3.14159 miles in length, designed to benefit the projects being undertaken by Engineers Without Borders.
These events are intended to provide a service to the campus community.
The Bookswap was established in the 1980s to provide students an easy and convenient means of buying and selling textbooks to one another rather than through the campus bookstore. Books are collected from students during finals and displayed in Nord 310 during the first week of classes each semester. Sellers can set their book's price and Tau Beta Pi will keep the book until it sells. Once the book sells, Tau Beta Pi notifies the seller and pays them the price of the book, minus our small commission. We have found that the Bookswap allow students to "Buy 4 Less and Sell 4 More." To learn more about the Bookswap or to browse our inventory, check out bookswap.case.edu
Srinivasa P. Gutti was a member of Tau Beta Pi and an exceptional member of the Case community. In order to commemorate his loss, Tau Beta Pi has created the Srinivasa P. Gutti Memorial Engineering Teaching Award in a partnership with the Case School of Engineering. This award acknowledges those members of the engineering faculty that show an exemplary commitment to undergraduate teaching. The award will be presented each year to one member of the Case School of Engineering faculty.
Case engineering students (not just freshmen) are required to take core courses in computer programming, materials and polymer science, statics, circuits, and thermodynamics. Large freshmen courses have large end-of-year study sessions such as the Math Gala and Chem Fiesta, but no similar event occurs for engineering courses. Tau Beta Pi created the Engineering Core Cram in an effort to fill this void. During one of the Reading Days, Tau Bates make themselves available to provide tutoring and last-minute assistance for the engineering core. In so doing, we have created an open forum for students in the core classes to ask questions of senior and junior engineering honor students.
Events under this category are those which involve some type of workshop that would help develop engineering or professional skills
This is a fall event designed to introduce freshmen students to the different engineering departments on campus. Tau Bates and select professors from each department will be available to answer any questions you might have. Come learn what it takes to become a Case engineer! Food and drinks will be provided.
After the sessions fifty year hiatus, Tau Beta Pi brought back its instructional program on the use of the slide rule. In Spring 2004, participants received a lesson from Professor Thomas Kicher on the use of a slide rule with nine scales, followed by friendly competition relating to their calculating prowess. For photos of the event, visit our photo gallery.
These are fun events put on either for the members of Tau Beta Pi or for the campus community as a whole. If you have a suggestion for a social event, please let us know!
Every fall, Tau Beta Pi puts on a banquet to recognize our new inductees. The past two years, this event has been successfully held at the Rock Bottom Brewery. All Tau Bates are invited and encouraged to bring a friend.
Every spring, Tau Beta Pi holds a picnic to celebrate the close of the academic year. We usually go to a nice park off campus to grill food and play games. All Tau Bates are invited and encouraged to bring a friend.
These usually involve speakers on campus. The most prominent examples is the Engineering Futures program, a national program but on by the national Tau Beta Pi office.
The Engineering Futures or E-Futures sessions are free workshops on important skills for the workplace. Facilitators from National Tau Beta Pi that run the workshops have been trained by a company that provides the same types of workshops to Fortune 500 companies. Topics of the workshops include people skills, analytical problem solving skills, team chartering and group process. Certificates are provided for completion of one or all of the workshops. To learn more about the E-Futures sessions, check out the National Tau Beta Pi website.
Over the past century, the Ohio Alpha chapter has initiated more than 3000 members. In an effort to maintain connections with many of these alumni, Ohio Alpha created a newsletter in spring 2004, and with the generous assistance of the Case Alumni Association, sent an update on our projects to more than 1700 of our alumni members.
Every semester we hold three general orientation meetings for eligible candidates, one covering general information, a second covering history, and a third covering engineering ethics. Anyone interested in joining Tau Beta Pi should attend all of these meetings. Interviews for potential members will also be scheduled.