Two Houston Hispanic Community Leaders Win National Awards

Rice University professor Richard Tapia has received the annual Hispanic Heritage Award for Math and Science at a ceremony in the nation’s capital.
Tapia, an engineering professor and director of Rice’s Center for Excellence and Equity in Education, was honored Sept. 29 at a star-studded ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

He was cited for his international reputation for research in the computational and mathematical sciences and is a national leader in education and outreach.
Born in Los Angeles to parents who emigrated from Mexico as teenagers to seek educational opportunities, Tapia was the first in his family to attend college. He was the first native-born Hispanic elected to the National Academy of Engineering and in 2005, he earned Rice’s highest academic title, University Professor, becoming only the sixth person to earn the rank at Rice.
Ten-time world champion boxer Oscar de la Hoya, whose Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Promotions company owns 25 percent of the Houston Dynamo soccer team, received the Achievement in Sports Award, and was recognized for his accomplishments in the ring and his impact on the Hispanic community.
“I feel truly privileged to be receiving this award,” said de la Hoya. “To be recognized along with such influential members of the Hispanic community is a great honor.”
The Hispanic Heritage Awards were created by the White House in 1988.