In celebration of National Pi Day, Hispanic Engineer is featuring one of the most influential Hispanic leaders in math education. Early in his career, Dr. Richard Tapia was given the College Level Educator of the Year Award by Hispanic Engineer. Tapia has authored or co-authored books and over 80 mathematical research papers. He has delivered numerous addresses at mathematical conferences.
Tapia’s current Rice University positions are Maxfield-Oshman Professor in Engineering; and director of the Center for Excellence and Equity in Education. Due to Tapia’s efforts, Rice has received recognition for its programs and the Rice Computational and Applied Mathematics Department has become a national leader in producing women and underrepresented minority Ph.D. recipients in the mathematical sciences.
Thirty-five mathematics students have received, or are currently working on, the Ph.D. degree under his direction or co-direction. Of these 35 students, 15 have been women and 8 have been underrepresented minorities.
Under Tapia’s direction, Rice’s NSF-funded Alliances for Graduate Education in the Professoriate (AGEP) Program provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in science, mathematics, and engineering to participate in university activities and work for the summer under the guidance of researchers at Rice. Over the years Tapia has impacted hundreds of teachers through a summer program, TeacherTECH.
Tapia was born in Los Angeles to parents who, separately, immigrated from Mexico as young teenagers in search of educational opportunities for themselves and for future generations.
The first in his family to attend college, Tapia earned B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics from University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1967 he joined the Department of Mathematics at UCLA and then spent two years on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin. In 1970 he moved to Rice University where he was promoted to associate professor in 1972 and full professor in 1976.
In 2009, Congress passed Pi Day. The Greek letter “π” is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Since Pi can be approximated as 3.14, March 14, 2009, was thought to be a good day for National Pi Day.
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