Undergraduate Student Groups
Undergraduate Organizations
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IEEE is the world’s leading professional association for the advancement of technology. Through its global membership, IEEE is a leading authority on areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics among others. Members rely on IEEE as a source of technical and professional information, resources and services.
Eta Kappa Nu
Eta Kappa Nu is a unique membership organization dedicated to encouraging and recognizing excellence in the electrical and computer engineering fields. Student members are selected on the basis of scholastic standing, character, and leadership. Through a variety of service programs and leadership training, student members develop lifelong skills that earmark them for prominent positions in industry and academia.
BU Energy Club
The BU Energy Club is a broad-based multi-disciplinary group consisting of undergraduates, graduates, alumni and faculty that serves as a link between scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and business people at Boston University and at other schools and universities in the greater Boston area. Its aim is to synthesize energy-related ideas from multidisciplinary educational and professional sources in order to advance understanding of energy and its role within society, industry, technology and policy through empirical, objective energy-related education and outreach.
Engineers Without Borders
Engineers Without Borders is a nonprofit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. This partnership involves the implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while involving and training internationally responsible engineers and engineering students.
FIRST Robotics Team
FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology” and is a national organization (www.usfirst.org) that aims to encourage high school students to get excited about science and technology. Every spring hundreds of teams across the country design and build robots to play in a game specified by the FIRST organization. The robots compete in regional competitions in March/April; winners then go to Atlanta, Georgia, for the national competition at the end of April.
The BU FIRST Robotics team (Team 246) has been in existence since 1998. The team is run by BU undergraduates who work with high school pupils from the BU Academy and other area high schools. Students can be involved in a number of activities within the team including: fund-raising, mechanical design and fabrication, electrical design and fabrication, software design, and management.
Minority Engineers Society
The Minority Engineers Society is a student organization founded to foster the academic and social development of minorities by informing them of opportunities open to them. The society sponsors a guest speakers series, a career fair, various workshops, an academic reference library, tutoring services and tutorial study sessions, industrial field trips, a résumé book, and the annual awards banquet where scholarships are presented. MES is a chapter of the National Society for Black Engineers and is open to all students of Boston University.
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
The society promotes the development of Hispanics in engineering, science, and other technical professions to achieve educational excellence, economic opportunity, and social equity. Its objectives are to increase educational opportunities; promote professional and personal growth; implement the social responsibilities related to education, business, and government issues; and enhance the reputation of, and students’ pride in, the organization and its vital contributions.
Society of Women Engineers, Student Section
This professional society is a nonprofit, educational service organization of graduate women engineers and women with equivalent engineering experience. The objectives of the society are: to inform young women, their parents, counselors, and the general public of the qualifications and achievements of women engineers and the opportunities open to them; to assist women engineers in readying themselves for a return to active work after temporary retirement; to serve as a center of information on women in engineering; to encourage women engineers to attain high levels of educational and professional achievement. Membership is open to all students in the College of Engineering.
Student Government Association
The Student Government Association represents the College of Engineering undergraduate population. Its purpose is to promote School and class interest. The Engineering Student Government Association is comprised of class officers and the executive board. It is a subgroup of the University’s Student Union.
Tau Beta Pi Association
This national engineering honor society was founded in 1885 to offer appropriate recognition for superior scholarship and exemplary character to engineering students and professional persons. Tau Beta Pi has collegiate chapters at 205 institutions and a total initiated membership of more than 358,000.
Undergraduate Research Programs
Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)
The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) assists Boston University undergraduates who are interested in conducting research projects under the supervision and guidance of BU faculty members. Students may participate in the program for academic credit, for a stipend, or on a volunteer basis. All UROP research projects must be of a caliber that is worthy of academic credit, and of a duration of at least one semester (or ten weeks during the summer).
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)
The Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering is proud to host a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site program in Photonics. If you are currently a sophomore or junior in any engineering, mathematics or natural science discipline, we encourage you to consider joining us this summer for an exciting ten-week research opportunity in the heart of Boston. Students will receive a stipend of $3,920, as well as free on-campus housing.
Boston University and the National Science Foundation strongly encourage women and underrepresented minorities to apply to this program.
Summer Term Alumni Research Scholars (STARS)
The goal of the STARS program is to promote faculty-mentored, full-time research experiences for College of Engineering undergraduates during the summer.
STARS will receive a stipend, and up to 12 weeks of housing in a BU residence hall, coincident with the summer term calendar. To be eligible for the STARS program, students must receive a weekly stipend of at least $300 from an engineering faculty mentor to participate in full-time research activities during the summer. Note that full-time research means that students may NOT enroll in summer courses. The length of housing support will coincide with the period the student is actively engaged in full-time research and receiving a stipend.