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March 13, 2006 Vol. 77, no.
9S
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| DRIVEN:
Rice University mathematician Richard Tapia is well known for his
scientific contributions, his advocacy for underrepresented
minorities, and his cars. He and his family participate in
car shows and are involved in drag racing. (Photo provided
by Rice University)
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“I’m here and I belong”
Diversity expert to discuss underrepresentation issues in engineering
Acclaimed mathematician and Rice University professor Richard Tapia’s
list of “firsts” is long. First member of his Mexican-American
family to graduate from high school. First to graduate from college.
First Hispanic named to the nation’s highest scientific governing
body, the National Science Board, appointed by President Clinton. First
Hispanic elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Yet even with these accomplishments, he’s also the first to admit
he still occasionally doubts himself. “When I’m around
all these really good people, especially as an underrepresented minority,
I sometimes ask myself, ‘Do I belong here?’” he says. “It’s
the ‘great impostor syndrome.’ So I talk to myself and
convince myself, ‘Yes, I do belong.’ We always have that
extra baggage of the need to convince ourselves that we belong.”
On Thursday, March 16, Tapia will be on campus to share his experiences
and inspire Berkeley students when he delivers the Regents’ Lecture.
His talk is entitled “Successes and Challenges in Diversifying
Research Universities and the National Science and Engineering Workforce.” Tapia’s passion for diversity issues is personal. He grew up
in Los Angeles, the child of parents who emigrated from Mexico. In
school, he discovered he was good in math and, despite high school
counselors who recommended otherwise, decided to study it at the local
community college. There, two professors recognized his talent and
urged him to go to UCLA. Within a big university setting, Tapia wasn’t
at the top of his class, but he persisted. “I learned that I
didn’t have to be a star, that I could be a solid contributor
and be happy,” he says. Tapia went on to a prestigious mathematics
career at Rice, reaching the national science stage with his presidential
appointment in 1996.
Tapia credits his success to people like his two community college
professors. They took the time to mentor him, he says, boost his
confidence and help him to the next professional level. Now Tapia is
helping others.
For several decades, he’s made it his mission to convince underrepresented
minorities that they have a role to play in science and engineering.
As a young professor at Rice, he started the university’s first
cultural support organization for Hispanic students. He helped found
the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in
Science. He runs three outreach programs at Rice and mentors many underrepresented
students. Efforts like these have earned him national accolades.
Tapia’s message is simple: Don’t give up. “It’s
like a junior high dance,” he says. “If you say to yourself, ‘Those
people are dancing so well, I’ll never dance like that,’ you’ve
already given up. But if you go there and dance that first dance, you’re
saying, ‘I’m here and I belong.’”
Come hear Richard Tapia deliver the Regents’ Lecture on
Thursday, March 16, at 4 p.m. in Sibley Auditorium. A reception will
follow in
Garbarini Lounge. For more information about Tapia, go to www.caam.rice.edu/~rat/.
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