UT Dallas IEEE Honor Chapter

Will Lumpkins (second from left), a member of IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu, and faculty advisor Dr. Nasser Kehtarnavaz (right) are shown with the new student officers for the Kappa Kappa Chapter at UT Dallas. They are (from left) Eric Chen, Joseph McFarland, Kendra Mock, Garrett Staas, Zach Stokes and Erick Narvaez.

The University of Texas at Dallas has re-established its chapter of the student honor society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

The Kappa Kappa Chapter recognizes engineering and technology students in the top third (seniors), top quarter (juniors) or top fifth (sophomores) of their class who also have shown qualities of character, leadership and service. Membership is by invitation.

“It’s a prestigious membership for students who have distinguished themselves not only academically but have also shown character and a good attitude,” said Dr. Nasser Kehtarnavaz, professor of electrical engineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and the society’s faculty advisor. “They will represent the University with integrity and quality, as well as through their accomplishments.”

The Kappa Kappa Chapter is one of more than 200 university chapters in IEEE’s honor society, IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (IEEE-HKN). Originally established as Eta Kappa Nu in 1904, the society merged with IEEE in 2010.   

UT Dallas had an Eta Kappa Nu chapter in 1995, but it became inactive over the years, Kehtarnavaz said. As the University relations chair for the IEEE Dallas Section, he was asked to help re-establish the honor society chapter on campus.

It’s a prestigious membership for students who have distinguished themselves not only academically but have also shown character and a good attitude. They will represent the University with integrity and quality, as well as through their accomplishments

Dr. Nasser Kehtarnavaz,
professor of electrical engineering and faculty advisor for the Kappa Kappa Chapter at UT Dallas

Student officers were inducted in January, and are beginning to identify fellow students whom they will invite for membership in the next few months.

IEEE is the world’s largest association of technical professionals, with more than 400,000 members incorporating various engineering and computer science disciplines.

The student honor society membership is a lifetime designation. Membership includes many who are on the board of directors at tech companies, including Texas Instruments, National Instruments, Google, IBM, Yahoo, Motorola, GE, Qualcomm, Apple, Boeing, Facebook and Microsoft.

Newly inducted president Garrett Staas, an electrical engineering senior, said the chapter is planning professional activities that include tutoring and mentoring of other UT Dallas students.

“We hope our mentoring will help engineering students learn how to get where they want to go,” he said. “Sometimes, students aren’t aware of all the career choices they have.”

Officers also want to model community outreach and service. Staas has been a judge for the Austin Regional Science Fair since 2009 and has coached children in Special Olympics for seven years.

“It’s a good way for me to give back,” he said.

Student officers for the Kappa Kappa Chapter include: electrical engineering senior Zach Stokes, vice president; electrical engineering senior Joseph McFarland, treasurer; computer science and engineering junior Erick Narvaez, recording secretary; electrical engineering junior Eric Chen, corresponding secretary; and electrical engineering senior Kendra Mock, news correspondent.