PBK inducts Class of 2011 members

The Harvard College chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), Alpha Iota of Massachusetts, elected 24 juniors at a private ceremony at Leverett House on April 13.

PBK was first established under a charter in 1779. Shifting from a social and debating club in its early years to an undergraduate honor society in the 19th century, PBK is known as the oldest academic honor society in the country.

Phi Beta Kappa’s national mission is to foster and recognize excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, and election to Alpha Iota of Massachusetts signifies that an undergraduate has demonstrated excellence, reach, originality, and rigor in his or her course of study. The honor society recognizes students whose course work demonstrates not only high achievement, but also breadth of interest, depth of understanding, and intellectual honesty. Twenty-four juniors are elected each spring, 48 seniors each fall, and a further number sufficient to bring the total membership to no more than 10 percent of the graduating class in the final election shortly before Commencement.

Elected juniors include:

Cabot House: Sophie Cai, chemical and physical biology; Eli Jonathan Jacobs, social studies; and Rui Wang, economic.

Currier House: Meng Xiao He, molecular and cellular biology; Marsha Sukach, psychology; Pramod Thammaiah, applied math; and Helen Horan Yang, molecular and cellular biology.

Dunster House: Nicholas Oliver Bodnar, chemical and physical biology.

Eliot House: Darius Sinan Imregun, chemistry and physics; Arjun Ravi Ramamurti, social studies; and Allen Yang, economics.

Kirkland House: Sundeep Subramanian Iyer, government.

Leverett House: Lila Grace Brown, environmental science and public policy.

Lowell House: Alexander Sarkis Karadjian, special concentrations.

Pforzheimer House: Anne Lisbet Goetz, English; and Arnav Tripathy, math.

Quincy House: Edith Yee-Heen Chan, economics; and Marco Chan, Romance languages and literature.

Winthrop House: Ama Ruth Francis, literature; Nell Shapiro Hawley, history and literature; Taylor John Helgren, government; Christopher William Higgins, social studies; Jerry Lai Kung, applied math; and Iya Megre, classics.