HOUSTON– Rice’s Center for Excellence and Equity in Education (CEEE) is doing its part to get more underrepresented minority youth in the Houston area interested in careers in science and engineering.

CEEE last month hosted about 100 fourth- and fifth-graders — in conjunction with the Houston Independent School District’s Say YES to a Youngster’s Future program.

The Say YES program, which is funded by Shell Oil Co., is designed by the National Urban Coalition to help minority children succeed in math, science and technology.

This year’s visitors from HISD included about 100 students, teachers and parents from Browning, Easter, Houston Gardens and Nat Q. Henderson elementary schools. The visit was orchestrated by CEEE Executive Director Cynthia Lanius with assistance from CEEE staff member Hilena Vargas.

CEEE director Richard Tapia, the Noah Harding Professor of Computational and Applied Mathematics, urged the children to stay in school and attend college.

A working mathematician, Tapia described how he uses math in his everyday life, both in hobbies like building classic and custom cars and in designing an optimal drug regimen for his wife, Jean, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.

“Math is not something that people just use in a classroom. It’s working behind the scenes in everything,” Tapia said.

“You’ve all seen ‘Monsters Inc.’ and ‘Shrek’ and ‘The Matrix,’ right?” he asked, drawing a chorus of “oohs” and “aahs” from the children. “They used mathematics to do all the effects in those movies.”

This is the third year Rice and Tapia have participated in the Say YES program. In addition to Tapia’s talk and a tour of campus, the children were treated to a materials science “magic” show by Enrique Barrera, associate professor of materials science and mechanical engineering.

Barrera’s show, a highlight of the program, contained startling and exciting demonstrations of the properties of various materials, including liquid nitrogen and heat shield tiles from NASA’s space shuttle.

CEEE, which is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation as well as donations from individuals and private foundations, seeks to promote greater participation of underrepresented groups in the sciences and to encourage academic excellence for all.

— Originally published in Rice News, Volume 12, Number 24, March 6, 2003