Tapia to be honored, continues efforts for minorities

Tapia to be honored, continues efforts for minorities
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BY JADE BOYD
Rice News Staff

Richard Tapia,
the Noah Harding Professor of Computational and Applied
Mathematics, will be one of the guests of honor this week
at the second Blackwell-Tapia Conference at the University
of California–Berkeley.

The two-day conference
honors Tapia and mathematician David Blackwell for both
their academic achievements and their longstanding efforts
to create, support and maintain opportunities for minority
scientists, statisticians and mathematicians across the
nation.

The conference
is sponsored by UC–Berkeley’s Mathematical Sciences
Research Institute and Cornell University.

The conference
begins Nov. 1 and will include the awarding of the first
Blackwell-Tapia Prize to Arlie O. Petters, professor of
mathematics at Duke University. The Blackwell-Tapia prize
honors a mathematical scientist who is not only a noted
researcher but also a mentor and a champion of efforts to
overcome the underrepresenta-tion of minorities in mathematics.

Tapia has received
numerous honors for his efforts to mentor students and promote
mathematics education for underrepresented minorities, including
the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics
and Engineering Mentoring in 1996.

Blackwell, the
first African American named to the National Academy of
Sciences, is professor emeritus of statistics at UC–Berkeley.

In related news,
Tapia and other members of the blue-ribbon panel Building

Engineering and
Science Talent (BEST) appeared before Congress in September
to present the report “Quiet Crisis,” which documents
the supply and demand imbalance the nation faces regarding
scientists, engineers and other technical professionals.

In his testimony,
Tapia said research institutions need to examine their culture
to ensure that efforts to increase participation of underrepresented
minorities will succeed. He emphasized that success in promoting
these minorities in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics at research institutions requires a champion,
a respected senior faculty member who understands university
culture and the demands of a research career.

“This cannot
be done by a diversity officer who has never had a research
career,” Tapia told Congress. “Faculty won’t
listen to them, and faculty buy-in is absolutely critical
to this effort. Top-level university administration support
is important, but the work of producing graduate students
is done at the faculty level.”