Upsilon Pi Epsion (UPE) is the international computing sciences honor society, founded at Baylor University in 1967, which now has over two hundred chapters. The UNL Alpha Chapter was originally chartered in 1973, but became dormant after a few years. The "alpha" appellation indicates that this was the first chapter in the state. The Alpha Chapter was rechartered in 2008 following a successful petition drive initiated by UNL student Robert Woodward seeking support from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering.
Due to his contacts with UPE at the national level through conferences and programming contests, Dr. Charles Riedesel facilitated the acceptance and reestablishment of the Alpha Chapter. Dr. Riedesel served as the Faculty Sponsor, a position he continues to hold today.
The Alpha Chapter's student-selected mission is to develop volunteer projects that can be used to showcase the talents of UPE members and can benefit UNL. Completed projects include:
- Online interactive real-time map of classes in Avery Hall, useful for scheduling purposes
- New Student Enrollment (NSE) advising materials on a Wiki
- Online advising notes application (part of UNL's move to go paperless) for the College of Arts & Sciences
A project is currently being developed for Graduation Services, inspired by the idea of projecting each student's name on the big video screens when he/she receives his/her diploma.
In order to keep these special projects from becoming "orphan" after they are completed, efforts are made to coordinate their development and maintenance with UNL Information Services. Kaylei Burke, current UPE President, says that these projects provide experience working with a real client. Tasks may include working with project creep, security issues, sensitive content, and non-negotiable deadlines.
Another major aspect of UPE membership is the opportunity to take a round trip in early March to the annual UPE Convention, part of the larger SIGCSE Symposium (a Special Interest Group of the ACM for Computer Science Education. At the UPE Convention each chapter gives a presentation about its projects and activities and votes for national board members. Recipients of UPE's Abacus Award are often invited as speakers.
As students, UPE members are able to offset their SIGCSE registration costs by volunteering at the Symposium. This gives them an insider's view of an international computer science gathering, and they are offered at least one social event in appreciation of their service.
Dr. Riedesel noted that this experience is a great opportunity for bonding. Not only do the students experience the discussions and the exhibits, they are able to do some sightseeing as part of their trip. Recent conventions have been held in Chattanooga and Milwaukee. This semester, a twenty-one hour road trip is being planned to Raleigh, North Carolina in early March.
Since UPE is an honors society, the lifetime membership is initiated through an invitation from the organization. The requirements for undergraduates are
- Upper 35% of their class
- 3.0+ cumulative GPA (3.3+ GPA in computing)
- 45+ credit hours (15+ credit hours in computing)
Graduate students must have 3.6+ GPA and 18 credit hours in computing. There is only one opportunity to join, because a second invitation is not allowed.
Members choose each year whether or not to be active in the annual projects, trips, and other activities, though not attending meetings result in missing out on frequent servings of pi(e)! President Burke says the organization understands students are busy and projects are undertaken on a volunteer basis. She states how much time and effort the student puts into a project, or whether they participate, is completely up to them. She says that "there is no pressure, just encouragement".
So, if you are one of the fortunate students to have the opportunity to join UPE, do so! You will be provided with many amazing experiences and a recognition that will last a lifetime.