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12/7/2000 12:13:00 AM

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.