[1] Its purpose was an interdisciplinary one concerning the sciences: to stimulate "mutual interest" among graduate students from "the various scientific departments of Cornell University.

[8][1] Although the makeup of the organization has thus changed greatly since its inception, it is still dedicated to promoting an interdisciplinary fellowship among graduate students, in large part through its cooperative living arrangements.

After presenting the candidates with their certificates of membership, the president of the chapter would inform them that:The letters ΓΑ denote our motto: Gnothe ten Aletheian – Know the Truth.

More informally, the shared living space of the society's houses provide its members with a forum for a regular exchange of ideas across disciplines.

The Cornell chapter was the founding branch of the organization and contributed several illustrious members like Hans Bethe, the German-American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1967 for his work on the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis.

According to early records, it was through the "untiring zeal" of F. H. Krecker and R. E. Sheldon of the Cornell chapter that graduate students in the sciences at the University of Chicago petitioned Gamma Alpha for a charter in December 1907.

"[16] Finally, in a forced move in the latter half of 1958, the chapter settled into its longest-lived home to date, the former residence of the famous American sociologist, David Riesman, at 5621 S. University Avenue, across the street from the campus (see below).

Like many residential institutions during World War II, the Chicago chapter lost many men to the armed forces and was hard-pressed to fill the house with enough members to make ends meet.

[17] Supplies like roofing tiles were "unattainable at any price" that the chapter could afford and the pipes also fell into disrepair, dripping "dismally" through the winter of 1943.

In recruiting new members for its 15 rooms, it seeks to maintain a balance between the sexes and admit students from as diverse a set of academic fields as possible.

It has thus come to conceive of itself more as a graduate student cooperative than a scientific fraternity, though it remains both active in the national organization and invested in the welfare of its sister chapters.

This luckily changed over time—the house now offers single rooms for thirteen graduate students, both female and male, and from all departments.