Tatiana Toro, the Craig McKibben and Sarah Merner Professor in Mathematics at the University of Washington, has been named the recipient of its 2020 Blackwell-Tapia Prize given by the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute.
The institute, called SAMSI for short, was established in 2002. Its mission is “to forge a synthesis of the statistical sciences and the applied mathematical sciences with disciplinary science to confront the very hardest and most important data- and model-driven scientific challenges.”
The Blackwell-Tapia Award was established in 2002. Given in even-numbered years, it is named for mathematical and statistical experts David Blackwell, the first African American elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and Richard Tapia, winner of the 2010 National Medal of Science. The award recognizes “excellence in research among people who have promoted diversity within the mathematical and statistical sciences.”
Dr. Toro joined the faculty at the University of Washington in 1996. Earlier, she served on the faculty at the University of Chicago. Recently, she was named to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Dr. Toro earned a Ph.D. at Stanford University.