Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society is the international honor society of science and engineering. The society has a distinguished history of service to science and society for more than one hundred and twenty-five years. Sigma Xi is the oldest and largest society of research scientists and engineers in the world. It was founded at Cornell University in 1886 by a faculty member and a student, and from the outset the society welcomed both faculty and students as members. Sigma Xi membership were extended to all who merited the honor by demonstrating ability in research. This inclusiveness was quite unusual for honor societies at this time. For example, in the second full year of the Society’s existence, five women were inducted in a class of 39. Then in 1913—a year before Julian Lewis became the first African-American Ph.D. physiologist—he was inducted into the University of Chicago’s Chapter of Sigma Xi. Today, Sigma Xi chapters can be found at colleges and universities, government laboratories, and industry research centers around the world. More than 200 Nobel Prize winners have been members.