Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society (ΣΞ) is a non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest and most prestigious honor societies.[2][3][4][5] Membership in Sigma Xi is by invitation only, where members nominate others on the basis of their research achievements or potential.[6] Sigma Xi goals aim to honor excellence in scientific investigation and encourage cooperation among researchers in all fields of science and engineering. Many of the world's most influential scientists have been members of Sigma Xi, such as Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling, Barbara McClintock, and Sally Ride.[7][8]
Sigma Xi
Active
International
To enhance the health of the research enterprise, foster integrity in science and engineering, and promote the public's understanding of science for the purpose of improving the human condition.
Companions in Zealous Research
350 Active in the United States, 170 Inactive, 20+ International
60,000[1] collegiate
3200 East NC Highway 54
Ste 300
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
United States
Overview[edit]
Sigma Xi has nearly 60,000 members[9] who were elected to membership based on their research achievements and potential. It has more than 500 chapters[10] in North America and around the world. In addition to publishing American Scientist magazine, Sigma Xi provides grants[11] annually to promising young researchers and sponsors a variety of programs supporting ethics in research, science and engineering education, the public understanding of science, international research cooperation and the overall health of the research enterprise. The Society is based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Sigma Xi was one of six honor societies that co-founded the ACHS on December 30, 1925. Its participation was short lived, with the decision to withdraw and operate again as an independent society made just over a decade later, effective in 1933.[12]
Today, Sigma Xi participates in a more loosely coordinated lobbying association of four of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honor societies, called the Honor Society Caucus. Its members include Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Xi, and Omicron Delta Kappa.[13]