The awards committee of the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference 2005 is seeking nominations for the Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award for Scientific Scholarship, Civic Science, and Diversifying Computing. This award recognizes an individual with outstanding achievements in scientific scholarship, a strong civic presence within the scientific community, and a dedication to the attainment of true ethnic diversity in computing and related disciplines. The ideal recipient will be devoted to the principle of equity in both theory and practice, and will have demonstrated leadership in applying creative solutions to the difficult social, cultural, technical and political problems of diversifying computing.

The award will be given at the 2005 Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing conference, which will take place October 19-22, 2005 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Tapia conference is a biennial event that provides a unique forum for researchers and students to share technical advances while honoring and celebrating diversity. This year's theme is "A Diversity of Scholars - A Tapestry of Discovery," which will be a focus in all aspects of the conference.

Nominating letters for the Richard A. Tapia Achievement Award for Scientific Scholarship, Civic Science, and Diversifying Computing should include the following information:

• Nominee's name
• Nominee's affiliation
• A summary of the nominee's scientific contributions (300 words)
• A summary of the nominee's civic contributions (300 words)
• A summary of the nominee's leadership in diversifying computing (300 words)
• Nominator's name, affiliation, e-mail address and contact phone number

• E-mail: Mail pdf-formatted nominations as an attachement to Pamela Williams, Sandia National Laboratories (pwillia@sandia.gov)

The conference honors the contributions of Richard A. Tapia of Rice University for the growth of diversity in computing and related disciplines. Tapia, an internationally acclaimed scientist, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the first recipient of the Computing Research Association's A. Nico Habermann Award for outstanding contributions to aiding members of underrepresented groups within the computing community, and recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring from President Clinton.

The Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing 2005 conference is being planned by the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC) whose mission is to increase the visibility of people of color in computing research. CDC is a joint organization of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Computing Research Association (CRA), and the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS). Tapia 2005 is sponsored by the ACM and IEEE-CS in cooperation with CRA.