Rice University recently celebrated the newest class of The Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) honor society, during a virtual induction ceremony. HKN is the national electrical engineering honor society, the Rice chapter (Theta Rho) is a part of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) chapter at Rice University.
HKN wanted to ensure students did not miss out on the opportunity to celebrate their academic achievements with their peers and Rice faculty. Connection, community, and networking have always been a part of IEEE, and members wanted those core values to be apparent, even if students were off campus.
The faculty and staff who work directly with HKN and IEEE were also a part of the ceremony, including Rice ECE faculty members Joseph Cavallaro, Gary Woods, and Gene Frantz and undergraduate administrator for ECE courses, Norma Santamaria. With their support during this unprecedented year, IEEE and HKN continued to provide undergraduates a network of fellow students who are striving to excel in the field
After learning about the history and values of HKN, each new inductee was able to speak about their plans for the summer with many students undertaking virtual and in-person internships within the ECE field.
While the students hope to be able to return to in-person ceremonies soon, this virtual induction was a welcome event to other end of the year programs. For them, the online induction ceremony was not just a chance to recognize their achievements, but a chance to connect over their shared experiences over the past year.
List of 2021 IEEE HKN Inductees
- Mahmoud ‘Farouk’ Badawi
- Junzhe ‘Bob’ Bao
- Robert Chen
- Justin Cheung
- Daniel DeGrasse
- Kevin Dix
- Daniel Fay
- Nicholas Glaze
- Katrina Ji
- Josh Kowal
- Jaanita Mehrani
- Mit Mehta
- Anderson ‘Roy’ Phillips
- Daniel Rothfusz
- Duncan Salmon
- Yufei Shen
- Zhanyi Sun
- Nicole Tan
- Qixuan ‘Maki’ Yu