Clubs & organizations
Student clubs are an integral part of the College of Engineering. These student-led groups organize campus events, coordinate speakers or other professionalization activities, and develop outreach activities.
Participation in a student club can be a great way to build your resume, network with local engineering professionals and faculty, and impact the College. Clubs are also actively involved in engineering social events such as E-Week, and they also sponsor the College's award-winning competition teams.
Browse our student clubs and get involved in the groups that interest you.
Faculty advisor: Mike Kivistik
Contact: nevadaaiche@gmail.com
AIChE (American Institute of Chemical Engineers) is a pre-professional student organization that prepares students for their careers as chemical engineers by connecting them with the professional world. Once a member of our local chapter, students can become national members, granting them access to the AIChE eLibrary and exclusive scholarship opportunities. Regional and national conferences serve as platforms for a variety of competitions including Chem-E-Car and Jeopardy along with a multitude of workshops and networking events. Our chapter actively engages in tours, fundraisers, public outreach, and community-building social events. For paying club dues, members receive priority on all events and an awesome T-shirt!
Faculty advisor: Jeffrey LaCombe
Contact: aiaaunr@gmail.com
AIAA is a professional society centered around aerospace engineering and promoting the field. Members can participate in multiple national conferences per year and have the opportunity for individual and group research to be funded. Members also have access to all of AIAA's national journals, competitions, and scholarship opportunities.
Faculty advisor: Dev Chidambaram
Contact: nevadanuclear@gmail.com
The American Nuclear Society is an international professional organization with the mission to advance, foster, and spur the development an application of nuclear science, engineering, and technology to benefit society. The University of Nevada, Reno student chapter provides students with professional development opportunities, interesting expert speakers from a variety areas of nuclear science, outreach opportunities, and camaraderie with other students interested in nuclear science and technology.
Faculty advisor: Kelly Keselica
Contact: unrasceagc@gmail.com
Website: ASCE - University of Nevada, Reno chapter website
ASCE is a bridge between the students at the University and professionals in the community. We have plenty of networking events, socials, and workshops to help you in your professional and academic career.
Faculty advisor: Daichi Fujioka
Contact: asmeofnevada@gmail.com
ASME is a not-for-profit membership organization that enables collaboration, knowledge sharing, career enrichment, and skills development across all engineering disciplines, toward a goal of helping the global engineering community develop solutions to benefit lives and livelihoods. Founded in 1880 by a small group of leading industrialists, ASME has grown through the decades to include more than 100,000 members in 140+ countries. Thirty-two thousand of these members are students.
Faculty advisor: Josette El Zaklit
Contact: nevadabmes@gmail.com
Website: Biomedical Engineering Society website
The Biomedical Engineering Society is dedicated to introducing all students, regardless of their major or background, with the STEM field. A majority of the current members are either biomedical or chemical engineering students, and that is why we are inviting all of you to consider joining the team. There is no fee to join, we only meet about once every couple of weeks, and we would love for you to come explore science and engineering with us!
Faculty advisor: Kelly Keselica
Contact: nevadacanoe@gmail.com
Website: Concrete Canoe at the University of Nevada, Reno ASCE chapter website
Concrete Canoe is designed to teach innovative problem solving with a exceedingly difficult task - designing and building a boat out of concrete. The final competition grades each team on the aesthetics of their boat, a technical design report, an oral presentation and five races in the canoe.
Faculty advisor: Kelly Keselica
Contact: unr.geowall@gmail.com
GeoWall designs, builds, and tests a mechanically stabilized earth retaining structure that must hold back 500 pounds of sand using only paper. We take our designs and sandbox to compete annually at the ASCE Mid-Pacific Conference against other universities.
Faculty advisor: Zong Tian
Contact: itenevadaunr@gmail.com
The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) is an international membership association of transportation professionals who work to improve mobility and safety for all transportation system users and to help build smart and livable communities. The ITE currently has 11 districts, and the ITE University of Nevada, Reno student chapter is one of 14 student chapters in the mountain district. The goal of our chapter is to expose student members to the exciting world of transportation and provide them with professional development and career advancement.
Faculty advisor: Charles Kocsis
Contact: unrjohnmackayclub@gmail.com
Student chapter of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration. The club serves to connect students with industry, promote professional development, and provide a social outlet for students. Each year the club sends members to the SME Annual Meeting, where they compete in a mine design competition and have traditionally placed very well.
Contact: unrmaterialsadvantage@gmail.com
The goal of the University of Nevada, Reno Material Advantage Student Chapter is to generate student interest in materials science and engineering. The chapter serves as a platform for its members to network with materials scientists in industry, academia, and governments worldwide. Members have access to professional development opportunities such as guest speakers, seminars, conferences, and social events. The chapter also works to provide interested members with the opportunities to travel to conventions for related fields.
The University of Nevada, Reno Material Advantage Student Chapter is a local branch of Material AdvantageTM student program supported by the materials science and engineering professional’s most preeminent societies: ACerS (The American Ceramic Society), AIST (Association for Iron & Steel Technology), ASM International (The Materials Information Society) and TMS (The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society).
Faculty advisor: Shamik Sengupta
Competition coach: Bill Doherty
Contact: nevadacyberclub@gmail.com
Website: Nevada Cyber Club website
Our objective is to teach cyber skills to students and provide community outreach that will connect members to jobs in the field of cybersecurity (and cyber topics in general) upon graduation. As a club, we are dedicated to conducting research that will help to make advancements in policy and serve to better inform our community and the cyber world at large.
Faculty advisor: Ann-Marie Vollstedt
Contact: phisigmarho.unr@gmail.com
Website: Phi Sigma Rho - University of Nevada, Reno chapter website
Phi Sigma Rho is a social sorority for women in technical studies serving members and the community by promoting high standards of personal integrity, respect, and character; lifelong bonds of sisterhood; and academic and professional excellence with a social balance through shared experiences, common bonds, and recognition of service and achievement.
Joining Phi Sigma Rho will be one of the greatest decisions of your college career! We have recruitment during the fall and spring each year and would love to connect with you!
Faculty advisor: Daichi Fujioka
Contact: pi.tau.sigma.unr@gmail.com
Our mission is to strive to create better engineers through commitment to academic excellence and dedication to service. Pi Tau Sigma prides itself in the core values: Integrity (soundness of character and moral conduct), Service (serving the mechanical engineering profession and the community), and Leadership (fostering initiative through example in a professional manner).
Faculty advisor: Victor Vasquez, Ph.D.
Contact: unr.shpe@gmail.com
Website: Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers - University of Nevada, Reno chapter website
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers is a nonprofit organization that changes lives by empowering the Hispanic community to realize its fullest potential and to impact the world through STEM awareness, access, support, and development. The University of Nevada, Reno chapter focuses on building community on campus, career readiness, networking and outreach.
Faculty advisor: Indira Chatterjee
Contact: swe.unr@gmail.com
Society of Women Engineers is a nonprofit organization that aims to reach out to women and help them pursue a career in engineering. Our local chapter does community outreach with local high schools, attends club fairs at the university, and organizes networking and professional development events such as evening with industry or how to make an effective business card meetings. We have also done professional panels in which we bring engineers from various companies in to talk about their experiences in engineering, and answer any questions that students may have. We're a group of girls with a passion for engineering, and a desire to share that passion with other male and female students.
Faculty advisor: Kelly Keselica
Contact: unr.steelbridge@gmail.com
Each year, a small group of students design and construct a bridge of steel material in regards to a set of specifications created by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Institute of Steel Construction. The rules come out in the fall, and by spring a bridge must be constructed and ready to be loaded. The bridge is then judged based on display, construction speed, lightness, stiffness, construction economy, structural efficiency, and overall performance.
Faculty advisor: Ann-Marie Vollstedt
Contact: Regent.ntt@gmail.com
Website: Theta Tau - University of Nevada, Reno chapter website
A professional co-ed engineering fraternity with the goal of developing and maintaining a high standard of professional interest among its members and to unite them in a strong bond of fraternal fellowship.
Theta Tau is the oldest, largest and foremost fraternity for engineers. Since its founding at the University of Minnesota in 1904, over 40,000 have been initiated over the years. Theta Tau started at The University of Nevada, Reno on December 10th, 2011, and initiated as the Rho Delta Chapter on November 9th, 2013.We forge lifelong bonds of fraternal friendship, a journey that develops and delivers a network of lasting personal and professional relationships. We foster an inviting, safe, and social environment in which our members become lifelong friends.
The UNR Aerospace Club was founded on the love and passion for aviation and aerospace.
Contact: UNRAerospaceClub@gmail.com
Website: UNR Aerospace Club
Faculty advisor: Eric Marchand
Contact: UNRWaterTreatment@gmail.com
Water treatment team is a club that focuses on... you guessed it, treating water! Although it is mostly environmental engineering concepts, all majors are welcome in the lab as we take dirty, contaminated water and try to make it clean using physical and chemical processes. We participate in the Mid-Pacific Conference through ASCE once a year and compete against other schools where we design and build a water filtration system.