Mendelsohn, who has been involved with the selection process on and off for the past six years, said he was looking forward to meeting the new members.

"I'm always fascinated by how much I learn from new PBK students as I meet them at receptions and dinners. They're a stunning group of students," he said.

This round of elections is the first of three PBK holds for each class. Forty-eight members of the class of 2001 will be elected in the fall of their senior year, and about 100 students will be elected just before graduation. In all, the chapter accepts the top 10 percent of each graduating class.

The new members are Jesse M. Shapiro and Benjamin D. Tolchin of Adams House; Eli L. Diamond, Angie D. Heo, Andrew J. Kin and Michael K. Thomas Tan of Cabot House; Andreea S. Balan, William H. Kitchens and Ciprian Manolescu of Currier House; Andrew J. Heckerling and David M. Shapiro of Eliot House; Peter Ciganik, David E. Landau, Kevin S. Schwartz, Shanyah A. Wang and Dorothy Weiss of Kirkland House; Michael A. Levin of Leverett House; Margaret S. Soper of Lowell House; Paola Y. Tartakoff of Mather House; Nadarajan Chetty of Pforzheimer House; Emma R. Burbank-Schmitt and Davesh Maulik of Quincy House; Jennifer Belli and Catherine M. Taylor of Winthrop House.

Founded in 1781, Harvard's Alpha Iota chapter is the oldest continually operating chapter in America. Iota was originally the PBK chapter of Radcliffe College, but merged with Harvard College's Alpha chapter five years ago.

The induction ceremony will take place tomorrow at Dudley House at 5:30 p.m.