Richard Tapia ’61, M.A. ’66, Ph.D. ’67

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Dr. Richard Tapia, the son of Mexican immigrants, grew up in the barrios of Los Angeles to become the first member of his family to attend college. He received a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in mathematics from UCLA. In 1970, he became the first Hispanic faculty member in Science and Engineering at Rice University and served as chair of the Mathematical Sciences Department for five years. Tapia's current Rice positions are Noah Harding Professor of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Associate Director of Graduate Studies, and Director of the Center for Excellence and Equity in Education.

Tapia is clearly recognized at the national level for his many technical and scientific accomplishments. He became the first native-born Hispanic to be elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering. President Clinton appointed him to the National Science Board, the governing body of the National Science Foundation. He is arguably the best-known Hispanic in the mathematical sciences today in the United States.

But what sets Tapia apart is his deep and continuing commitment to helping the community and, in particular, addressing the issue of under-representation of women and minorities in the sciences. He is recognized for his nationally acclaimed efforts at promoting educational outreach and diversity in computing and related sciences. Over the years Tapia has impacted hundreds of teachers through two summer programs, the Mathematical and Computational Sciences Awareness and TeacherTECH workshops.

For the fourth year in a row, Hispanic Magazine has ranked Rice University among the top schools in the nation that are succeeding in recruiting and retaining Hispanic students. Tapia is one of the main reasons that Rice has received this distinction. Under Tapia's direction, Rice's NSF-funded Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) Program provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate women and minority students in science, mathematics, and engineering to participate in university activities and work for the summer under the guidance of researchers at Rice.

Tapia insists on "broadening the pool" not only with underrepresented minorities, but with women, as well. The national average for Ph.D. production in the mathematical sciences is 27% for women and less than 5% for underrepresented minorities. Yet in Tapia's department of the 23 Ph.D.s produced in the last five years, 13 were women and eight were underrepresented minorities, over 50% women and 35% underrepresented minorities. No mathematics department in the country can match this productivity of women and underrepresented minorities doctorates.

His work at improving representation has been celebrated with an on-going symposium entitled "The Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing" and a lecture series entitled "The David Blackwell and Richard Tapia Lecture Series " which also honors African-American mathematician David Blackwell from the University of California, Berkeley. Each conference is held on alternate years at various locations. The Blackwell-Tapia Lecture Series will be held this year in November here, at UCLA and will be hosted by IPAM, the UCLA Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics.

His numerous service awards include the Lifetime Mentor Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, Professor of the Year by the Association of Hispanic School Administrators of the Houston Independent School District, and recent induction into the Texas Science Hall of Fame.

This year alone Tapia will receive, in addition to this current award, an Honorary Doctorate from The Colorado School of Mines an Honorary Doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University, The American Mathematical Society Award for Distinguished Public Service, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Award for Distinguished Public Service.

Richard's numerous students have spread out across the world and many have established themselves as leaders in their fields, spanning academia, industry, and national labs across several continents.