Tapia earns humanitarian, cultural awards

Tapia earns humanitarian, cultural awards

BY
LIA UNRAU
Rice News Staff

Richard Tapia, a nationally honored leader and champion
of science and engineering education and outreach, especially
among minorities and women, recently added two more honors
to his list of appreciation.

Tapia, the Noah
Harding Professor of Computational and Applied Mathematics,
received the 2000 International Day of Peace Award for Education
from the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Houston
Sept. 30.

With unity of
humanity as a guiding principle, the Baha’is of Houston
present three awards—for education, for humanitarianism
and for peace—each year to individuals or organizations
for their work in serving the community and breaking down
barriers of culture, race, class and creed. The awards are
presented in association with the International Day of Peace,
a day designated by the United Nations “to commemorating
and strengthening the ideas of peace both within and among
all nations and peoples.”

The Society
for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in
Science (SACNAS) honored Tapia with the 2000 SACNAS Distinguished
Scientist Award. Tapia is internationally known for his
research in the computational sciences.

Tapia feels
the SACNAS award is one of the most significant awards he
has received because of the group that presented it.

“This was
an award that came from my colleagues who are just like
me—in other words, Mexican-American or Native American
scientists, of whom there are many and whom I greatly respect,”
Tapia said. “To me, it was like your brothers and sisters
saying, ‘It isn’t sibling rivalry, it’s to
recognize your accomplishments, and we’re proud to
have you represent us as a group collectively.’”

The theme of
this year’s SACNAS National Conference was “Mentoring
To Change the Face of Science.” Tapia, who was selected
by a committee of his peers, was presented with a special
tribute during the awards ceremony at the conference.

According to
SACNAS, Tapia was selected because the organization “has
been enriched by Tapia’s ongoing commitment to educational
opportunity for women and minority students” and “in
honor of a lifetime of achievement in his field and of dedication
to the future of young scientists.”

Upon accepting
the award, Tapia told his audience, “It is with honor
and pride that I accept this award as a representative of
a class of excellent Mexican-American and Native American
scientists. Any one of you could be up here in my place
tonight. My respect for you is great. You have shared my
path, my dream and my successes.”

Tapia also related
the history of SACNAS, which he helped found in 1972. At
that time, it had eight members. The dream, Tapia said,
was that someday the organization would have a national
meeting that would involve a significant number of students
and large representation of all Native American and Mexican-American
scientists. The recent Atlanta meeting had 2,000 attendees,
of which 1,110 were students.

“We have
become the premier group in promoting science and engineering
among Native American and Latin American groups,” Tapia
said.

To the youth,
Tapia said, “I ask you to be a professional scientist
who happens to be a member of an underrepresented minority
and not a professional minority who happens to be a scientist.
Excellence will guide you in the direction you need to go.
You must be bicultural. You must effectively navigate the
waters of mainstream society. In doing this you will serve
as an example in two ways: One is as a role model for other
minority youth, but equally important, you will show the
majority culture that excellence comes in many colors.”

Tapia has authored
or co-authored more than 80 research papers and two books,
serves on several national advisory boards and has received
acknowledgment for his contributions to mathematics. In
1992, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering,
and in 1996 he was appointed to the National Science Board
by President Clinton. Other honors include the National
Science Foundation’s Presidential Award for Excellence
in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring; Hispanic
Engineer magazine’s Hispanic Engineer of the Year;
and the Quality Education for Minorities Mathematics, Science
and Engineering Network’s Giants in Science Award.