Bustoz Scholarship

The Joaquin Bustoz Memorial Scholarship is named in honor of Professor Joaquin Bustoz. Joaquin died in August 2003 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Many donors contributed to the establishment of this scholarship in honor of Professor Bustoz, who taught mathematics at ASU from 1975 to 2003.

Joaquin was born in 1940 in Tempe, Arizona, one of the five children of Joaquin and Ramona Bustoz. They were farm workers and long time employees of the Tempe Elementary School District. Joaquin\x{2019}s parents were honored for their years of service with the naming of an elementary school in their honor, Joaquin and Ramona Bustoz Elementary School.

Joaquin Bustoz achieved his Ph.D. in Mathematics at Arizona State University in 1967 and returned to ASU in 1975 after serving on the faculty at the University of Cincinnati. In addition, he was a Senior Fulbright Lecturer at the Universidad Nacional de Columbia, a Visiting Professor of Mathematics at Universidad Coimbra in Portugal and a Visiting Mathematician at the Mathematical Association of America. His mathematical research was in analysis, most recently in Orthogonal Polynomials and Special Functions. Since 1985, Dr. Bustoz was deeply involved in enhancing the number and quality of minority students in the fields of mathematics and science. In 1985, he created and directed the Summer Math-Science Honors program, which became the national model. Since 1993, he also served as the Director of the Institute for Strengthening Understanding of Mathematics and Science (SUMS). In addition to this work, Dr. Bustoz directed the National Institute of Health\x{2019}s MARC program (Minority Access to Research Careers). For his many successes in encouraging minorities to earn degrees in mathematics and science, the National Science Foundation honored Dr. Bustoz individually in 1996 and his institute in 2003 with the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. He received numerous teaching awards, including the Wexler Award at ASU, and, in 1996 and 2002, the ASU Alumni Association\x{2019}s Outstanding Faculty Service Award.

Joaquin\x{2019}s defining characteristic was his passion not only for the field of mathematics but also for helping talented minority students achieve their full potential. He recognized the hard work and long study required to achieve an understanding of mathematics and sciences, and he taught his students how to rise to the challenge of mastering those demanding fields of study. He was given many awards for his successes in encouraging minorities to earn degrees in mathematics and science. This scholarship continues his passion and is a fitting tribute to carry on his quest for making it possible for first generation undergraduate students to explore and excel in the field of mathematics.

The scholarship should be supportive of the recruitment and retention of ethnic minority students who are U.S. citizens with financial need and academic qualifications. The recipient should be a full-time undergraduate student, majoring in mathematics, who has successfully completed the ASU Summer Math-Science Honors program.

The scholarship amount was $750 for the 2005-06 academic year.