The Greek letters ΗΚΝ were chosen from the first, fourth, and last letter of the Greek word for electron: ΗΛΕΚΤΡΟΝ.
IEEE-HKN chapter activities offer many opportunities to learn, grow, and contribute to the profession. This chapters goals are to develop activities to improve the operation of the academic departments where members study, improve faculty-student communication and collaboration, aid fellow students in their studies, and help the local community.
The organization offers a variety of service programs and leadership training to help student members develop lifelong skills that differentiate them from others seeking prominent positions in industry and academia.
IEEE-HKN has approximately 100,000 members and more than 100 years of history, recognition, and tradition. It is no coincidence that many of today’s prominent leaders in our professions were inducted into IEEE-HKN while they were students.

Membership is by invitation to undergraduate students, graduate students, alumni, and other industry professionals who exemplify exceptional scholastic and intellectual merit.
Membership may be granted to only the respective majors top (by Department Chair)
25% of the junior undergraduate class, 33% of the senior undergraduate class, all graduate students, and members of the faculty.

IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu (HKN) is the student honor society under IEEE dedicated to encouraging and acknowledging excellence in the fields of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and other IEEE fields of interest. The organization offers a variety of service programs and leadership training to help student members develop lifelong skills that differentiate them from others seeking prominent positions in industry and academia.

The Outstanding Chapter Award honor recognizes excellence in chapter activities and leadership. Each year, chapters are judged based on the number of activity hours per member and the number of new students and faculty members inducted into IEEE-HKN.

The Key Chapter Award recognizes chapters that participate in engagement and outreach activities. These activities include Founders Day (celebrating the founding of Eta Kappa Nu), STEM outreach events, community service activities, and many more.