Tau Beta Pi is the most prestigious honors society of which an engineer can be a member. It is made up of over 600,000 member ... s, notably astronaut Buzz Aldrin, double Nobel Prize winner John Bardeen, and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. The Illinois Alpha Chapter, which has its office in 111 Engineering Hall, has more than 10,000 alumni and is well-known for its member scholarships and fellowships, numerous service events, and outreach activities. The Illinois Alpha chapter was founded in 1897, being the 5th oldest Tau Beta Pi chapter. The Illinois Alpha chapter has inducted more than 10,000 of the 500,000 Tau Beta Pi members and boasts the second largest chapter alumni network among all the Tau Beta Pi chapters. read more