Richard A. Tapia

American mathematician

Richard Alfred Tapia (born March 25, 1938) is an American mathematician and University Professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas, the university's highest academic title. In 2011, President Obama awarded Tapia the National Medal of Science. He is currently the Maxfield and Oshman Professor of Engineering; Associate Director of Graduate Studies, Office of Research and Graduate Studies; and Director of the Center for Excellence and Equity in Education at Rice University. Tapia's mathematical research is focused on mathematical optimization and iterative methods for nonlinear problems. His current research is in the area of algorithms for constrained optimization and interior point methods for linear and nonlinear programming.

He received his B. A. in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1961. He then earned his M. A. in mathematics, also from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1966. He received his Ph. D. from University of California, Los Angeles, 1967 in mathematics with the dissertation: "A Generalization of Newton's Method with an Application to the Euler–Lagrange Equation" under the advisors: Magnus Hestenes, Charles Tompkins

Tapia also holds honorary doctorates from Carnegie Mellon University and the Colorado School of Mines.

In 2004, he received the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Prize for Distinguished Service to the Profession, in Portland, and Distinguished Public Service Award, American Mathematical Society, in Phoenix. In 2009, he received Hispanic Heritage Award in Math and Science and he was chosen to have a "Celebration of Diversity in Computing" [conference] named after him (usually held annually or biennially). In 2014, the Blackwell Tapia prize and conference were named for Tapia and David Blackwell. In 2021, he received the award Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.