The first floor of Engineering Hall fairly hums at times. Conversations and laughter drift out of offices. Colorful posters announce community service projects, tutoring services, and corporate visits. Clusters of students move through the hallway. Offices for the Engineering Council, National Society of Black Engineers, and Society of Hispanic Engineers anchor the east end, while offices for the Society of Women Engineers, Tau Beta Pi, Alpha Omega Epsilon, and Society of Business and Management in Engineering anchor the west end.

Engineering students can choose from more than 50 societies organized around needs, interests, and commonalties within the 5,000-plus engineering student body. For minority and women students, engineering societies also provide a sense of community and cultural connection. Within these societies, students find study aids and tutoring, social and volunteer activities, and mentors and friends.

Although the main focus is on academics, the societies also offer activities that encourage students to be involved and to have fun. They pull together to clean highways, serve in soup kitchens, raise funds for causes, and work on other service projects. They reach out to public schools and host student visits to campus, inspiring younger students by example to consider science and engineering at the University of Illinois. Defying the stereotype of engineers, they organize socials that range from kickboxing workshops and salsa lessons, to movie nights and ski trips.

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is one of the largest African-American organizations on campus and was the largest NSBE chapter in the region last year. Although this society caters to engineering students, anyone can join. With about 100 members, the chapter is organized in "families" of majors with similar coursework to accommodate focused study groups and smaller social and service activities.

Named Distinguished Chapter of the Year 2002 at the national convention, the students had an especially good year, according to emeritus president Ryan Lowry, a Peoria, Ill., senior in industrial engineering. Members attended regional and national conventions to participate in an academic technical bowl, winning at the regional level and placing second at the national convention. One member took second place for undergraduate technical research at the national convention.

In addition, about 30 members graduated. Many of them will stay connected, noted Nicole Jackson, a Park Forest, Ill., senior in civil engineering serving as president now. "Our alumni come back to speak at meetings and to recruit. They offer a lot of support to us and are great role models."

The commitment to giving back is a distinguishing feature of NSBE. One of the newest goals is to establish an NSBE junior chapter at the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora and high schools around Champaign-Urbana. This project will put NSBE members in email contact with students interested in engineering. The chapter also has plans to become active in T.O.R.C.H., a national NSBE initiative to help under-served community members learn to use computers and other digital technology.

"The outreach is fun and important," Jackson said. "People do not know the great things taking place in this university. They do not understand their access to this fantastic institution."

Some members of NSBE are also members of the smaller National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). With 20 to 30 members, it offers a "family" atmosphere, according to Chemia Cooper, a Dolton, Ill., senior serving as NOBCChE chapter president.

"In the whole student body, the few can be overlooked," she said. "We create an environment that brings the focus back to the individual–students see upperclassmen and alumni pursuing similar goals and being successful, and they know they can be successful, too."

Besides being inspiring, these contacts can lead to internships and research, added former chapter president James Eugene Jones, a chemistry senior from the Washington, D.C., area. He said many society members valued the conferences for opportunities to travel, meet people, and learn about student research projects. In recent years, NOBCChE meetings took students to Baltimore, Indianapolis, Miami, and New Orleans.

This year, the U of I Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) chapter hosted their 2002 regional conference, which included seminars, workshops, and a career fair. Chapter members managed the event, from planning, to raising corporate sponsorship, to coordinating the 600-plus attendees, said Melissa Gamez, a Chicago mechanical engineering senior serving as SHPE president. The opportunity to develop leadership skills is a particular strength of SHPE.

"I never saw myself as a leader," Gamez said, "but I was encouraged by upperclassmen, and that helped me grow as a person and as a student. The feeling of what we call ‘familia’ is very important in SHPE. Many of us are first-generation college students, and being around people and having activities that remind us of home makes it easier to adjust to being here."

The camaraderie and professionalism of SHPE holds appeal beyond the Hispanic community, drawing students from many ethnic backgrounds. "We’re a network of engineers," Gamez said. "We want to expose more people to our culture as well as learn about other cultures, enjoying the fact that we also share interests in the math, science, and engineering fields."

In fact, most students hold memberships in multiple societies, and the societies often collaborate on meetings and activities. The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) encourages its members to be active in other societies, while also offering programs, projects, and activities that address the needs of women students.

"We want women to have all kinds of experiences," said Samantha Szymczak, a Lemont, Ill., junior in general engineering serving as president. "The range of activities is one of the great strengths of our organization. It’s a way to meet people who have common goals and interests and are going through the same things. We support each other--I think SWE makes a difference in that way."

A particular focus of SWE is on encouraging young women to consider careers in science and engineering. In addition to visiting schools to show how exciting engineering can be, the society collaborates with SHPE to bring college-bound women to campus during Little Sisters Weekend. During national "Take Our Daughters to Work Day," SWE members shepherd daughters and sons of faculty to campus labs.

One of the newest society chapters in engineering is Kappa Theta Epsilon (KTE), an honor society for students interested in work experiences in industry (co-op positions). Although new, the society was named Chapter of the Year 2002 at the KTE national convention. As the society grows, former president Meghan Meharry, a Cornelius, N.C., senior in aeronautical and astronautical engineering, anticipates it will bring more companies to campus, which means more opportunities for students who want work experiences.

"Meeting work responsibilities helps you become assertive and confident, and that translates to the classroom, to projects, and maybe even to approaching a faculty member about doing research," said Meharry, who is serving as secretary for the KTE national executive board this year.

During semester and summer co-op positions with NASA, Meharry flew simulators, worked on a spacecraft mission proposal review for a discovery program, and helped develop heating data code. "A co-op can be a nice break from school. It’s great to see, too, that all the hard work in school is going to pay off--that’s motivating," she said.