Sigma Pi Sigma

Sigma Pi Sigma (ΣΠΣ) is a US honor society specialised in physics, and member of the Association of College Honor Societies, founded in 1921. Its stated aims include to honor outstanding scholarship in physics, to encourage students' interest in physics, and to provide a fellowship of persons who have excelled in physics. This society has some 75,000 historical members. Election to Sigma Pi Sigma leads to membership for life. In 1968 the student sections of the American Institute of Physics and Sigma Pi Sigma merged to create the Society of Physics Students.

Membership

Sigma Pi Sigma chapters are restricted to colleges and universities of recognized standing that offer a strong physics major. The chapters receive into membership undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members, and a few others in closely related fields. Students elected to membership must attain high standards of general scholarship and outstanding achievement in physics. Certain high numerical standards for admittance are established by chapter bylaws and the national constitution. Undergraduate candidates must be in the upper one-third of their class in general scholarship to meet the minimum standard that chapters may use. A higher minimum average is often established for physics courses. Undergraduate candidates must have completed at least three semesters of full-time college work and at least three semester courses in physics that can be credited toward a physics major. Graduate students and faculty members may be elected at any time. Students who are not physics majors can be elected, provided that they meet the standards and have demonstrated an interest in physics. A chapter can elect to active membership qualified students and faculty members in nearby colleges that do not have a Sigma Pi Sigma chapter. Physicists in industry and government laboratories, as well as secondary school physics teachers, can be elected on the basis of their professional record.