Nearly 90 University of Delaware undergraduates, almost all of whom are students in the College of Arts and Sciences, were inducted into UD’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa on April 25. Their names can be found in the program on the chapter’s website.

Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for arts and sciences disciplines. The Alpha of Delaware chapter was founded at UD in 1956.  

Each year the chapter bestows several student awards. Five students were honored at the induction ceremony.

Aili Inquito, a sophomore honors student from Newark, Delaware, received the Clift and DeArmond Award. Inquito is double majoring in environmental science and French studies, with minors in computer science and history. She is also a Climate Scholar. This award recognizes the second-year undergraduate at the University of Delaware who shows the most outstanding scholarly potential in a Phi Beta Kappa curriculum.

Zoe Hassett, a junior honors student from Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, received the Herbert Ellis Newman Award. Hassett is majoring in biology, with a minor in public policy. This award recognizes the third-year undergraduate at the University of Delaware who shows the most outstanding scholarly potential in a Phi Beta Kappa curriculum.

Two students, Mikul Duggal and Alexandra Misikova, shared this year’s L. Leon Campbell Phi Beta Kappa Distinguished Senior Award. This prize is given to a graduating natural or physical sciences major who has demonstrated outstanding intellectual promise and a commitment to scientific research. 

Duggal is an honors student from Wilmington, who is triple majoring neuroscience, computer science and liberal studies, with minors in medical humanities and biological science. After graduation, he will attend the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University.

Misikova is from Martin, Slovakia, and is a biological sciences major. She is also a swimmer on the UD Varsity Swimming and Diving Team. She was a 2023, 2024, and 2025 CAA Swimming Championship finalist. After graduation, she plans to attend medical school.

Marcus Beardsley, a senior honors student from Wilmington, Delaware, received the DeArmond Phi Beta Kappa Graduate Scholarship. Beardsley is a history, and Ancient Greek and Roman Studies double major. This fall, he will begin the doctoral program in Classics at Cornell University. This scholarship supports graduate study in history (including the history of art) or literature (in English or another language) at an institution outside the state of Delaware.