Nominations are solicited for the sixth Blackwell–Tapia Prize, which will be awarded at a conference to be held at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM) on November 9–10, 2012. Nominees should be active mathematical scientists who have (1) contributed and continue to contribute significantly to research in their fields of expertise; and (2) served as role models for mathematical scientists and students from underrepresented minority groups or contributed in other significant ways to addressing the problem of the underrepresentation of minorities in mathematics. Nominations should include a letter addressing both eligibility requirements, along with a CV of the nominee. Additional letters supporting the nomination may be included, but are not required. Nominations should be sent by e-mail to Robert Megginson at meggin@umich.edu by February 12, 2012.

The biennial Blackwell–Tapia Prize was established in 2002 by the Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in honor of David H. Blackwell and Richard A. Tapia, distinguished mathematical scientists who have been inspirations to more than a generation of African American and Latino/Latina students and professionals in the mathematical sciences. A consortium of U.S. mathematics institutes, which host the conference in turn, supports the conference at which the prize is awarded. Previous hosts have been MSRI (2002), IPAM (2004), IMA (2006), SAMSI (2008), and MBI (2010). Prior to the first awarding of the prize, an initial Blackwell–Tapia Conference was held at Cornell University in 2000, supported by MTBI and MSRI. The prize itself is funded by a generous donation from Cornell. Previous recipients of the Blackwell–Tapia Prize are Arlie Petters (2002), Rodrigo Bañuelos (2004), William Massey (2006), Juan Meza (2008), and Trachette Jackson (2010).

event website: http://icerm.brown.edu/blackwell-tapia-2012