Every year, Upsilon Pi Epsilon – an International Honor Society for the Computing and Information Disciplines – holds a national convention, during which chapters have the opportunity to be recognized by the national board.

This year, out of the 200 chapters of UPE, the UCLA chapter of UPE was awarded with the Best Large Chapter Award again. With over 120 new members each year, UCLA UPE is one of the largest chapters of UPE, and one of the largest computer science organizations on campus. UCLA’s UPE chapter was awarded the Best Large Chapter award in 2018 and in 2017, had been awarded the Outstanding Chapter Award.

In the past year, UPE has made extensive efforts to broaden opportunities for students by providing events that help students develop both their academic and professional careers. For instance, UPE offers extensive quarter-long tutoring in computer science, physics, and mathematics courses, and also hosts a number of company infosessions, tech talks, and tours with companies like Amazon, Google, Uber, etc. Their events regularly receive an impressive turnout, with one of their past Google infosessions attracting nearly 400 students.

The organization also aims to help students build skills that are not necessarily taught in academic courses. In the past year, UPE has offered workshops on resume building, interview preparation, and navigating career fairs.

Given the large size of lower-division computer science courses, crowded office hours are the norm. UPE aims to alleviate some of this demand by offering regularly held events specifically oriented toward these lower division CS courses, such as hack nights, review sessions, and trivia nights. During these events, students are able to meet their peers and work together to understand difficult concepts, with UPE mentors available to help guide students towards the right direction.

UPE recruitment is held during Fall and Spring quarter, during which eligible candidates are sent an invitation to join. Eligible undergraduate candidates are required to be in the top ⅓ of their class, have at least a 3.5 GPA, have Junior/Senior standing, and be one of the following majors: Computer Science, Computer Science and Engineering, Linguistics and Computer Science, or Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in Computer Science.

For more information on UPE and their events and recruitment, follow the UPE Facebook page and website.