The UNI chapter of the Society of Physics Students has received a 2021 Outstanding Chapter Award from the Society of Physics Students National Council. This award is typically received by less that 15% of all SPS chapters across the nation. This year, this honor has been bestowed on just 80 of 844 chapters.

The award is based on criteria including: 

• The chapter's involvement in local, zone and national SPS meetings and other professional meetings
• Participation in SPS programs
• Outreach efforts to the grades K-12 or the general public
• Participation in community service
• Contributions to student recruitment and retention
• Participation in social events, and
• Interactions with the department's alumni

This is UNI's SPS chapter's fifth Outstanding Chapter Award in the last decade and has won the award for three years straight.