Rice Magazine 2

14 | Children’s Campus •
| Work of Heart
11 • 4 | Environmental Puzzles • 41 | Emmy Winner
22 THE CENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN

32 GLOBAL HEALTH
36 RICE’S HIGH -TECH ADVANTAGE
44 THE TEXAS BOWL
Hot Coffee
Cool Conversation
BROCHSTEIN PAVILION TAKES OFF
Rice Magazine • No 1 • 2008 1

Contents
6
10 Biological processes
1
promise environmen-
tally friendly meth-
ods for producing
pharmaceuticals.
11 Rice engineers
helped develop the
14 Continued growth marks the Rice campus. world’s first artifi-
cial heart, and once
again they’re going
straight to the heart
of the matter.
38 Take a journey 13 ‘Smart’ shock absorbers
through Rice’s own are built to take the
“Fantastic Voyage.” quake.
42 How they collected 19 Rice students are

“things in which taking the brew-
we believe.” master’s art to new
— and healthier —
levels with BioBeer.
9 Find your path the

high-tech way with
Rice’s new interactive
online maps.
13 You might have more

in common with the
microscopic, sea-dwell-
ing Trichoplex than
you imagine.
On the cover: Build it and they will come. Brochstein Pavilion

has become a favorite campus gathering place.
Students
20 Young heart patients often
Features
face a lifetime of operations to
replace faulty valves. But not if
Elizabeth Stephens has anything
to say about it.
18 And the Austrian Mathematical

22 A Second Century of No Upper Limit Society’s award for best
Much has changed since Rice University master’s thesis goes to. ...
opened its doors in 1912, but the ideals that
have made Rice a powerhouse in education 18 One of the world’s largest
and research continue to drive its endeavors. producers of oil and gas and
By David W. Leebron alternative energy knows how
critical Rice graduates are to its
24 Rice: Living Its Vision For The business.
Second Century
Arts
With the launch of the Centennial Campaign,
Rice strengthens its legacy and looks toward
the future and its second century.
By Christopher Dow
39 Alert! Giant Styrobot and mutant
graphics take over Rice Gallery!
27 Three Big Ideas
40 Life’s ambiguities and the
The Centennial Campaign distills Rice’s future
inevitability of change mark
into three main areas.
filmmaker’s award-winning
work.
28 A Conversation
Centennial Campaign co-chairs Susanne M. 41 Emmy-winning cinematographer
Glasscock and Robert B. Tudor discuss what’s 22 found inspiration at Rice.
important for Rice and how the campaign will
move the university forward.
32 Global Health: Taking the Lead in Bookshelf

Education and Prevention 42 Poems of time, distance and
Solutions to the world’s most pressing health the contours of the American
issues won’t come from technology alone. Southwest
They’ll be driven by people with vision —
people like Rebecca Richards-Kortum and her 43 When navigating unknown
intrepid band of undergraduates. terrain, you need a good
By Deborah J. Ausman guidebook, and few know the
32 Middle East like Edward P.
36 Turning Rice Research into Reality Djerejian.
The Office of Technology Transfer is the
place where Rice-born technologies become
real-world products. Sports
By Mike Williams
44 Did you say, ”Texas Bowl?”
The Owls say, ”Bowl ‘em over!”
48 These two Rice Owls never met

a pass they didn’t like.
36
Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 1

Rice Magazine
Vol. 65, No. 2
FOREWORD
Published by the
Office of Public Affairs
Is my dictionary trying to tell me some- Linda Thrane, vice president
thing? Immediately following the word Editor

Christopher Dow
“campaign” is “campanile.” It’s a serendip- Editorial Director

Tracey Rhoades
itous juxtaposition considering that Rice Creative Director
is embarking on an extraordinary fund- Jeff Cox
Art Director
raising campaign to ensure its legacy in Chuck Thurmon
the century to come, and the “Campanile” Editorial Staff

Merin Porter, staff writer
yearbook represents the personal legacy of Jenny West Rozelle, assistant editor
Photographers
alumni who have attended the university. Tommy LaVergne, photographer
Jeff Fitlow, assistant photographer
The Centennial Campaign is the boldest fundraising challenge in Rice’s history — the plan is to raise The Rice University Board
$1 billion by June 30, 2013, half of which was raised before the campaign’s public launch on Nov. 7, of Trustees
James W. Crownover, chair man; J.D.
2008. You can read about the campaign in this issue, from President David W. Leebron’s call to ac- Bucky Allshouse; D. Kent Anderson; Keith
tion, to campaign co-chairs Susie Glasscock and Bobby Tudor’s reasons for spearheading the effort, T. Anderson; Teveia Rose Barnes; Alfredo
to the specific ways Rice is approaching the future with targeted initiatives that will both strengthen Brener; Vicki Whamond Bretthauer; Robert
and enhance the university and its programs. T. Brockman; Nancy P. Carlson; Robert L.
Clarke; Bruce W. Dunlevie; Lynn Laverty
You’ll also read a lot of reasons to participate and support the campaign, and they’re good rea- Elsenhans; Douglas Lee Foshee; Susanne
sons. But look just as closely at the other stories in this issue — the stories about the researchers and Morris Glasscock; Robert R. Maxfield; M.
students at Rice who are making a real difference in lives of people like you and me the world over. Kenneth Oshman; Jeffery O. Rose; Lee H.
When you get down to it, people are what the Centennial Campaign is really all about. Rosenthal; Hector Ruiz; Marc Shapiro; L.
E. Simmons; Robert B. Tudor III; James S.
There’s no better place to start than the feature titled “Global Health: Taking the Lead in Education Turley.
and Prevention,” which tells how students in Rebecca Richards-Kortum’s Rice 360° program are
generating ideas and using a hands-on approach to create technologies that will help people in Administrative Officers
developing countries prosper in a safe and healthy environment. Or read about Elizabeth Stephens, David W. Leebron, president; Eugene Levy,
provost; Kathy Collins, vice president
whose work to grow replacement heart valves from a patient’s for Finance; Kevin Kirby, vice president
own tissue is showing great promise. And speaking of hearts, you for Administration; Chris Muñoz, vice
might know that Rice engineers had a hand in developing the first president for Enrollment; Linda Thrane, vice
artificial heart pump, but what you might not have heard is that a president for Public Affairs; Scott W. Wise,
vice president for Investments and treasurer;
new generation of Rice engineers is working to create the smallest Richard A. Zansitis, general counsel; Darrow
and most efficient heart pump yet. Zeidenstein, vice president for Resource
There’s much more, including beer that contains anticancer Development.
agents, “smart” earthquake shock absorbers for buildings and
pharmaceuticals manufactured using environmentally friendly Rice Magazine is published by the Office of
production techniques. These stories illustrate just a small fraction of the valuable work going on at Public Affairs of Rice University and is sent
Rice, and they’re exactly the sorts of efforts in which Rice students and researchers excel and the to university alumni, faculty, staff, graduate
students, parents of undergraduates and
kinds of things that the Centennial Campaign will help foster in the university’s second century. friends of the university.
But life — even at Rice — isn’t all work and no play. Be sure to visit the Rice Web site at www.
rice.edu for new interactive maps and amazing virtual tours that give you full 360° views of a num- Editorial Offices
ber of campus locations. For the full 360° effect, click on an image and drag the mouse around to get Creative Services–MS 95
P.O. Box 1892
a dizzying view of how stunning this campus and its surroundings are. And after you recover from Houston, TTX
X 77251-1892
your vertigo, go further to see how the campus is expanding and to check out familiar haunts.
Fax: 713-348-6751
And whatever you do, don’t neglect our coverage of the exciting Texas Bowl — the culmination E-mail: ricemagazine@rice.edu
of one of the Owls’ most outstanding football seasons ever — and the record-breaking efforts of two
players who helped spearhead the effort. Postmaster
Go Owls! Send address changes to:
Rice University
Development Services–MS 80
P.O. Box 1892
Houston, TX 77251-1892
© F EB. 2 0 0 9 RICE UNIVE RSIT Y
Christopher Dow
cloud@rice.edu
2 www.rice.edu/ricemagazine
THROUGH THE Sallyport
Corrosion Control
It’s a slow process that usually occurs out of sight, silently but incessantly
destroying the integrity and life span of buildings, bridges, pipelines and vehicles.
It’s corrosion, and it’s a problem that costs the United States
an estimated $276 billion a year. To fight this nemesis of the nation’s
infrastructure, Rice has established the National Corrosion Center,
which also involves NACE International, an association of more than
20,000 scientists, engineers and technicians concerned with corro-
sion prevention and control.
Learn more:
› › › t i n yu r l . c o m /6qxm 2b

Prof Pursues Pill to
Halt Gaucher’s,
Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s
What if a pill could keep the
effects of Gaucher’s and
similar diseases in check?
That’s the goal of Laura Segatori, who

is working to treat lysosomal storage
disorders (LSDs) like Gaucher’s and
Carrie Masiello and Tibisay Perez
Tay-Sachs in ways that could also help
Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s sufferers.
All four diseases are the result of
genetic mutations or sporadic condi-
tions that disrupt the way proteins,
the body’s basic building blocks, fold
within cells. The way a protein folds
determines its function, and any Fresh Perspective on
problems with the folding or changes
within the structure can compromise
Environmental Puzzles
the protein’s activity.
Segatori, the T.N. Law Assistant
Professor in Chemical and Bio-
molecular Engineering, hopes to make Gathering information is never easy for an en- — which is 300 times as powerful a greenhouse gas as
treating the diseases easier and less vironmental scientist, but it gets harder when carbon dioxide — by adjusting the methods farmers use to
fertilize crops.
expensive by arresting the process monkeys are throwing, uh, stuff at you.
Nitrous oxide is emitted when bacteria digest nitrogen
that causes proteins to misfold. “I was setting up an experiment in the rain forest from broken-down plant matter or from fertilizer that
“The idea is to look at these in Costa Rica. I looked up and saw all these really has not been consumed by crops. Perez and Masiello are
neurodegenerative diseases in a cute monkeys,” recalled Tibisay Perez, professor at looking for ways to properly fertilize corn, switchgrass and
completely different way by enhanc- the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research in sugar cane — all major sources of biofuel — for maximum
ing the cells’ quality-control system,” Caracas. “I guess they were angry, because they all growth and minimal damage to the environment.
Segatori said. “Right now, the therapy started throwing monkey poop at me!” “Worldwide, the nitrogen-applied fertilizer plant uptake
that exists, particularly for Gaucher’s Years later, she’s still laughing about it. She is about 30 percent,” said Perez. “The other 70 percent is lost
disease, is enzyme replacement, in also knows that, while the monkeys might not have by leaching, runoff and soil emission of nitrogenous gases,
appreciated her at the time, her research was good such as nitrous oxide, produced by microorganisms that feed
which the enzyme (aka the protein)
for them and for humanity, too. off that fertilizer.” Finding ways of minimizing that enormous
is synthesized and injected into the
Perez, who is at Rice to continue her study of fertilizer loss by adding microorganism inhibitors or charcoal
patient. It’s extremely expensive, and global warming as an International Visiting Fellow could save money and cut emissions, a win-win mitigation
you need a lot of injections.” in Energy, the Environment and Sustainability, is the strategy Perez hopes will take root among farmers.
Segatori’s treatment consists first of four researchers who will work here this year The issue becomes more important as developing
of regulators that promote the and next. The visiting fellows program, part of Rice’s nations ramp up agricultural production to ensure the
proper folding of LSD proteins, Energy and Environmental Systems Institute, encour- security of their food supply and for the possible expansion
despite genetic mutations that would ages close collaboration with international professors of biofuel crops. “We want to determine the net global
otherwise keep them from doing so. and fulfills a goal of Rice’s Vision for the Second warming potential due to biofuel production in the tropics
The regulators not only would be Century by building relationships with research over long-term scales to evaluate if it is environmentally
institutions beyond our shores. sustainable,” Perez said.
cheaper to manufacture, but they
Perez’s specialty is collecting and analyzing data Masiello, who is seeking funding to continue the
could be administered orally in the
on the emission of the potent greenhouse gas nitrous visiting fellows program beyond 2009, applauded the fresh
form of a pill. oxide, and she’s done so in rain forests and on farms perspective Perez and the others bring to Rice and the
—Mike Williams in South and Central America — areas that are under- issues at hand. “Scientists in the developing world have
represented in current studies of greenhouse gases expertise we need,” she said. “As we think about building a
Read more about the research: and climate. sustainable future, we need to partner with them.”
›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 5 bw9se Perez is a longtime colleague of Rice Assistant
—Mike Williams
Professor of Earth Science Carrie Masiello, whom
Read the research paper in the journal she met while both were earning their doctorates at
Cell: the University of California at Irvine. Perez expects Learn more about the international visiting fellows program:
›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 64o3o6 their work to lead to a better understanding of how ›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 6 f 9 7 f v
to control the atmospheric release of nitrous oxide
Global
Warming’s
Ecosystem
Double
Whammy
James Coleman
Plants and soils act like sponges for atmospheric carbon dioxide, typical of a normal year, and the other half were subjected to
but new research finds that one abnormally warm year can sup- abnormally warm temperatures — on the order of those pre-
dicted to occur later this century by the Intergovernmental Panel
press the amount of carbon dioxide taken up by some grassland on Climate Change. In the third year of the study, temperatures
ecosystems for as long as two years. The findings followed an un- around the warmed plots were turned down again to match
precedented four-year study of sealed, 12-ton containerized grass- temperatures in the control plots. The CO2 flux — the amount of
land plots at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) in Reno, Nev. carbon dioxide moving between the atmosphere and biosphere —
was tracked in each chamber for all four years of the study.
“We confirmed that ecosystems respond to climate change in a The scientists found that ecosystems exposed to an anoma-
much more complex way than one might expect based solely on lously warm year had a net reduction in CO2 uptake for at least
traditional experiments and observations,” said study co-author two years. These ecosystems trapped and held about one-third
James Coleman, Rice vice provost for research and professor the amount of carbon in those years than did the plots exposed to
of ecology and evolutionary biology. “Our results provide new normal temperatures.
information for those who are formulating science-based carbon “Large reductions in net CO2 uptake in the warm year were
policies.”
Scientists found that ecosystems exposed to an anomalously warm year had a net reduction in CO2 uptake for at least two years.
The four-year study involved native Oklahoma tallgrass prairie caused mainly by decreased plant productivity resulting from
ecosystems that were sealed inside four living-room-sized envi- drought,” explained co-author Paul Verburg of DRI, “while the
ronment chambers. To minimize the disturbance of plants and lack of complete recovery the following year was caused by a
soil bacteria, a dozen of the 12-ton, six-foot-deep plots were ex- lagged stimulation of CO2 release by soil microorganisms in
tracted intact from the University of Oklahoma’s prairie research response to soil moisture conditions.”
facility near Norman, Okla., and moved to DRI, where scientists The collaborative study, which also involved scientists from
replicated the daily and seasonal changes in temperature and the University of Nevada, Reno; the University of Oklahoma;
rainfall that occur in the wild. the University of New Hampshire; and the National Center for
Plants and soils in ecosystems help modulate the amount of Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., was funded by the
CO2 in the atmosphere when plants, which need CO2 to survive, National Science Foundation and was published in the journal
absorb the gas during spring and summer growing seasons, stor- Nature.
ing the carbon in their leaves, stems and roots. The stored carbon
—Jade Boyd
returns to the soil when plants die, and it is released back into the
atmosphere by soil bacteria that feed on the dead plants.
This relatively stable cycle was disrupted in the second year of Learn more: ›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 5 gw kz 8
the study when half of the plots were subjected to temperatures

No. 1
Pats on the Back

In the 2008 edition of “America’s Best-Value Colleges,”
published by The Princeton Review, Rice University is
ranked as the nation’s No. 1 best value among private col-
leges. That’s the good news for students, but the good news
Entrepreneuring Program from them can be found in the 2009 edition of Princeton
Review’s “Best 368 Colleges.”
Rice’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate In that survey of 120,000 students attending the
368 colleges chosen for their outstanding aca-
School of Management ranks demics, Rice ranks No. 2 nationally both for best
16th in the U.S. according to a quality of life and for plenty of interaction among
report released by The Princeton students of different races and classes. Rice has
Review and Entrepreneur mag- consistently ranked in the top 10 in both of these
azine. The ranking is based on categories over the past several years and placed
No. 1 in the 2007 edition. The university also
survey data from more than 2,300 ranks No. 15 for “happiest students.” Only about
U.S. undergraduate and gradu- 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and two
ate schools. Canadian colleges are profiled in the book.
It’s the second year in a row that Rice
Complete profile: ›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 5 7 6 j a k
has been ranked in the top 25 in the
nation, and the program moved up six
places from last year. Rice again had Top 20
the only graduate entrepreneurship
program in Texas that made the top Rice University ranks among the top 20 best national uni-
25 ranking. versities on U.S. News & World Report’s list for 2009, and
New academic programs at the it made the top 10 on the magazine’s “Great Schools, Great
Jones School include a concentration Prices” list.
in entrepreneurship, a capstone proj- Rice is 17th among 262 schools classified as “na-
tional universities” — institutions that offer a full
ect in entrepreneurship required of all range of undergraduate majors and master’s and
Executive MBAs and a life science en- doctoral degrees and are committed to producing
trepreneurship certificate program. groundbreaking research.
Rice also did well on several of the other lists
comparing national universities: 10th best value,
Read more about the rankings: 7th in percentage of graduates who have the least
› ›› tinyurl.com/ 5zjyox amount of debt, 15th in economic diversity of
students, 17th in undergraduate programs among engineer-
ing schools whose highest degree is a doctorate, 10th in
Learn more about the graduate biomedical engineering and 15th in computer engineering.
programs at the Jesse H. Jones
Graduate School of Management: Read more: ›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 5 t t 7 b 5
› ›› jonesgsm.rice.edu
Learn more about the Rice Alliance

Top 200
for Technology and Entrepreneurship: Saying you’re in the top 200 might not sound so good, until
› ›› alliance.rice.edu you realize that means the top 200 universities worldwide.
It sounds even better to say you’re No. 78 on that list.
That’s where Rice University stands according
to rankings by Times Higher Education and QS
Quacquarelli Symonds based on a peer review of
more than 6,000 academics and 2,000 employers
around the globe. The organization also looked at
data on research, teaching and the international
orientation of universities and noted that Rice has
had some of the most frequently cited research
in academic papers published around the world
during the past five years.
Complete list: ›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 4 h u t b a
SMALL MATTERS
Big Endeavor
The
he irony of research at the smallest scale is that it often requires the greatest effort. Enter the
International Collaborative Center on Quantum Matter,
a joint venture by Rice University and China’s Zhejiang University intended to enhance long-term
international research in the emerging area of quantum materials and magnetism.
LEARN MORE › ›› tin y url. com /5 s w2 6 q
Tracking
Nanomaterials
With industrial-scale production
of materials that use nanopar-
ticles on the near horizon, it has
become important to understand
how these tiny substances move
through the environment and to
learn what impact they may have
on the health and function of
natural systems. Rice University is
on the right track.
LEARN MORE ›› › tin yur l .com/ 6ow f mw

Making a CAREER of It
Rice University’s appeal to talented young faculty can
easily be quantified with one glance at the National
Science Foundation’s awards list: Rice tied for second
place among private American universities in the num-
ber of CAREER Awards received last year, with funding
given to seven professors who are just beginning to make
their marks here and in the scientific community.
CAREER Awards, which are the most prestigious
grants that young faculty members can get in the ba-
sic sciences, support the early development of junior
faculty who seem likely to become academic leaders
in their fields of study. The five-year grants are worth
up to $500,000 and are among the most competitive
at NSF, which awards only about 400 of the grants
across all disciplines each year.
View the full list of Rice CAREER Award winners:

›› › t i n y u r l .c o m/ 6 4 v 7 q p
Baker Institute Collaborates on Breakthrough in External Funding

Online Archive
Rice University attracted more than $100 million in fiscal year
The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy has become a 2008 for sponsored research and educational initiatives — a
participating organization in PolicyArchive, the nation’s first com- milestone in its 96-year history and an extraordinary 28 percent
prehensive, searchable, open-access online archive of research increase over award funding for 2007.
from foundation-funded and other public-policy think tanks. The funding came from a variety of sources, including founda-
Baker Institute fellows and scholars will be able to distribute, tions and private industry, but the lion’s share was from the
publicize and archive their research through the site, which will federal government.
be a tremendous resource for policymakers, members of the news
media and the interested public. Learn more about Rice’s external funding breakthrough:
›› › tiny url. com /5 6 km qk
Learn more about PolicyArchive:
›› › w w w.p o l i c y a rc h ive . o rg Learn more about the Office of Sponsored Research:
›› › os r. rice. edu
Rice MBA Program Ranks First in the Southwest

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the business-to-business arm
of The Economist magazine publisher Economist Group, the four most important
outcomes to students pursuing an MBA are the ability to pursue new career op-
portunities, the expansion of personal development and educational experiences,
an increase in salary, and networking.
Using those metrics, EIU ranks the MBA program at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate
School of Management among the world’s best. Topping the rankings in Texas and
the Southwest, the Rice MBA program ranked 25th in the U.S. and 44th globally.
The ranking’s global distribution to business professionals gives the Rice MBA
tremendous international visibility.
View survey results and overall rankings:

›› › e c o n o mi s t .c o m
Learn more about Rice’s highly respected MBA program:
›› › t i n y u r l .c o m/ 5 c u ja n
Calling All Facebook Fans

More than 10,000 Facebook members, including students, alumni,
faculty and staff, already identify themselves as part of the Rice
network, and you can join in the fun and show support for the
university on Rice’s newly launched Facebook page.
For Facebook members: Add the Rice Facebook page:
››› t i n y u r l . c o m / 6 5 7 2 a 5
New to Facebook: Create your Facebook page for free:
››› w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m
Find Your Way the High-Tech Way
Experience the Rice virtual tour: ›› › www. rice. edu/v i r t u a l t o u r s
Those who say a map is not the territory haven’t visited Rice’s interactive campus map. Have a look here. Click around there.
Activate a blue dot, and you’ll see a picture of the building it’s attached to. Click a name in the building list, and you’ll be taken to
the building — virtually, of course. Click down to street level under “Related Information,” and drive along the tree-lined lanes.
It’s all part of a grand plan to make the new virtual tour of campus, where
Rice more accessible to everybody. you can find 16 different 360-degree,
The page, which sits atop a Google interactive panoramas taken on and
map and adds building details and nearby campus. Each panorama is
photos to its standard street names and accompanied by a brief text box that
satellite views, allows users to locate explains the scene and provides links
bus stop markers and locate police to other information. The feature
call boxes throughout campus, as well also includes a map showing where
as to get the street views provided by the shots are located. More virtual
Google. High on the list of features vignettes will be added in the future
to come are more descriptive text as new projects around campus are
to go with the building photos, cell completed.
phone access to maps and GPS locator It still may be true that a map is
capabilities so users can pinpoint their not the territory, but the Rice interac-
location on campus. tive map and virtual tour are the next
And if that isn’t enough, check out best thing to being there yourself.
View the Rice interactive campus map: ›› › www.rice.edu/maps

Green Pharmaceutical
Production
Weighing the Effects of
What if you could bring medications to the mar-
ketplace faster and at lower prices? It sounds
CO2 Restrictions on World
even better if your production process is envi-
ronmentally friendly. Those are the goals of two Energy Markets
Rice University researchers whose long-term
collaboration seeks to develop an environmen-
tally friendly bacterial process to replace cur-
rent chemical production methods.
“A chemical factory uses hydrogen gas and

metal to perform a reaction,” said George
Bennett, the E.D. Butcher Professor of
Biochemistry and Cell Biology. But in a bio-
logical system, enzymes are the workhorses
that carry out the process, acting as catalysts
to produce pure chiral molecules, which
serve as pharmaceutical agents that can be
tailored for specific uses in desired areas of If concerns about global warming lead politicians to impose restric-
the body.
“Our group is one of the very first tar- tions on greenhouse gas–producing emissions, natural gas demand
geting what we call ‘cofactor engineering,’” will rise substantially because it is the fossil fuel with the lowest
said Ka-Yiu San, the E.D. Butcher Professor
ratio of CO2 emissions to energy output.
“Our group is one of the very This is one conclusion of research con- Europe, whose natural gas has tradition-
first targeting what we call ducted by Rice economists Peter Hartley ally been supplied by Russia, may see an
‘cofactor engineering.’” and Ken Medlock, whose analysis relied on opening of providers. “Europe is a major
the Rice World Gas Trade Model (RWGTM) consuming market that seeks to import
—Ka-Yiu San
they have been developing for a number natural gas from a variety of sources,”
of years. The model is designed to predict Medlock said.
fluctuations in natural gas supply, demand The RWGTM predicts that gas from
in Bioengineering and Bennett’s partner
and prices over the next few decades, the Middle East will dominate European
on the project. A cofactor is a chemical
taking into account the possible effects of imports after 2020, displacing supplies from
compound that acts as a helper in the
political disturbances as well as technologi- Russia and the Caspian States, and that
process of biochemical transformation. San
cal change. Turkey, because of its geographical location,
and Bennett set up a biochemical reaction
Hartley, academic director of the Shell is likely to become a major transit hub for
that continually replenishes the supply of
Center for Sustainability, and Medlock, a fel- natural gas headed to Greece, Bulgaria and
the cofactor NADPH — critical in forming
low in energy studies at the James A. Baker the rest of Europe.
chiral molecules — inside metabolically
engineered E. coli cells.
“This can be used not only for medical
compounds, but also for other biochemicals
and biofuels,” said San, who notes that Turkey, because of its geographical location, is likely
patents for the process are in the works. to become a major transit hub for natural gas.
—Mike Williams
III Institute for Public Policy, also found The researchers concluded their analysis
that some of the consequences of natural with a note of caution: “Developments (or
gas prices and dependence on Russia and lack thereof) in Russia as well as hindrances
the Middle East could be lessened if the in the Middle East can alter the most ef-
United States opened domestic areas that ficient outcome.”
are currently off-limits to exploration and
production. —Franz Brotzen
“An increase in domestic gas production
will change the elasticity of response of the
market to disruptions and shocks,” Hartley View working paper version of the Rice World Gas
said. However, he concluded, the effects are Trade Model online:
unlikely to be large enough to completely › › › t i nyurl . co m / 5 o 4 rwn
Ka-Yiu San and George Bennett offset the effects of tightened emission
controls.
Heart of the
Matter
Researchers Matteo Pasquali, Dhruv Arora and Bob Benkowski
Heart failure is the leading cause of death in the United States, and the American will mimic the self-regulating function of
the heart in an effort to ensure that the left
Heart Association estimates the direct and indirect cost of heart failure in the and right ventricles stay in sync with each
United States for 2008 at nearly $35 billion. It’s a major predicament whose only other and to make the pumps respond to
the body’s changing needs for blood, such
solution seems to be the creation of a simple and reliable artificial heart. as during exercise.
“The heart has a built-in self-regulating
ability,” Pasquali said. “Since the two pumps,
In fact, Denton Cooley, president and small size will ease implantation and use in
constituting the total artificial heart, bypass
surgeon-in-chief of the Texas Heart Institute children as well as adults.
the whole heart, it’s important to build a
(THI), said, “The availability of an effective, Rice’s role is to develop a computer
mechanism for regulation in the devices.
reliable mechanical replacement for the fail- model to analyze blood flow and any dam-
Otherwise, you could get an accumulation of
ing human heart would have an enormous age to the blood cells and platelets that might
blood in the lungs if the left pump is pump-
impact on health care.” He should know. In result as blood travels through the pump.
ing too slow compared to the right pump.”
1969, Cooley became the first surgeon to im- “Because these pumps will be implanted
plant a complete artificial heart in a human.
Since then, several implantable artificial
hearts have been developed, all of which
were designed to mimic the pulse of the
natural heart. As a consequence, they are
somewhat bulky and mechanically complex,
which leads to issues of reliability. To solve
the problem, the National Institutes of
Health has funded a project to design small-
Rather than mimic the pulse of the natural heart, the ventricular assist device pumps blood continuously.
er and more reliable heart pumps under
the Bioengineering Research Partnership, a for the long term, we have to make sure
The researchers will apply what they
special program to encourage collaborations that blood damage is minimal,” said Matteo
learn from computer simulation to physical
among medical and engineering experts. Pasquali, Rice associate professor in chemi-
models of the pump that are manufactured
Led by THI, the project includes engineers cal and biomolecular engineering and in
and tested in laboratories at MicroMed. This
from Rice University, St. Luke’s Episcopal chemistry.
Houston-based company makes the MicroMed
Hospital, MicroMed Cardiovascular Inc. and Pasquali and his colleagues will monitor
DeBakey ventricular assist device (VAD) that
the University of Houston. the computer models for two main types of
is being used for this study. The pump, which
The researchers are developing two blood damage: excessive release of hemo-
already is used in human patients in Europe,
heart-assist pumps that individually perform globin from the red blood cells, which can
is named for the late heart surgeon Michael
the function of the left and right ventricles. be toxic to the kidneys and liver, and the
DeBakey, who pioneered the development
Rather than trying to mimic the pulses platelet activation process that leads to for-
of heart pumps. In the 1960s, he collaborated
of the natural heart, the devices pump mation of white thrombi, or clots of white
with chemical engineering professor Bill
blood continuously. The one for the left blood cells, which could cause a blockage
Akers, who led Rice’s Biomedical Engineering
ventricle — the heart’s main pumping in the brain or small blood vessels.
Laboratory, to produce the first successful left
chamber — circulates blood throughout “We are trying to understand why and
ventricular heart bypass device — a precursor
the body; the one for the right ventricle where these thrombi form so we can sug-
to the VADs used as the base design in the
pumps blood to and from the lungs. The gest how to change the shape of the pump,”
current research project.
continuous-flow pumps are smaller — about Pasquali said.
—B.J. Almond
the size of a C battery — and simpler than Researchers at the University of Houston
their complex, rhythmic predecessors. Their are investigating the control mechanism that
Learn more: › › › t i nyurl . com/6 3 y c r2

Finding Molecular Clues
to Wilson Disease Agustina Rodriguez-Granillo
protein with that of the nonmutant and

It’s amazing how a single small mutation can have such a large effect. In the case found very little difference, so it was
of a subtle genetic change to a complex protein called ATP7B, the result is Wilson unclear how this small change led to
disease, a genetic disorder that alters the protein’s ability to work, causing cop- the devastating effects that are seen in
per to build up to toxic levels in the liver, brain, eyes and other organs. Wilson disease.”
Rodriguez-Granillo, Wittung-
Stafshede and postdoctoral researcher
Erik Sedlak (now at the University of
Over time the disease can cause life- a small amount for key enzymes Texas at San Antonio) looked spe-
threatening organ damage. Wilson involved in, for example, respiration cifically at the portion of the protein
disease affects as many as 150,000 peo- and brain functions. ATP7B sits in an where the mutation occurs and not
ple worldwide. But a combination of internal membrane and acts something only confi rmed that the protein’s
computer simulations and cutting-edge like a warehouse manager, locking up function was significantly reduced in
lab experiments by physical biochem- bulk quantities of copper and handing the mutant form, but found that the
ists at Rice University may offer some it out when it’s needed. mutation caused structural changes in
hope. The researchers focused on a ge- other sections of the protein far from
“The mutation that causes most cas- netic fl aw that is caused when just one the mutation site. They plan further
“Our study looks at the overall puzzle to see how such a small mutation
can alter the shape and function of such a large and complex protein.”
—Agustina Rodriguez-Granillo
es of Wilson disease is well-known,” of the more than 1,400 amino acids in research to examine these changes
said the study’s lead author Agustina ATP7B is changed. to learn exactly how they alter the
Rodriguez-Granillo, a Rice doctoral “This mutation occurs at a crucial protein’s function.
student in biochemistry and cell biol- location where the protein typically The research was supported by
ogy who carried out the mathematical binds with a molecule that provides The Robert Welch Foundation and is
simulations and laboratory research. the energy the protein needs to move available online from the Journal of
“Our study looks at the overall puzzle copper from place to place,” said study Molecular Biology.
to see how such a small mutation can co-author Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede,
alter the shape and function of such a an associate professor of biochemistry —Jade Boyd
large and complex protein.” and cell biology at Rice and Rodriguez-
Although large quantities of copper Granillo’s adviser. “Past studies have
Learn more: › › › t i nyurl . com/6 zy d lo
can be toxic, the human body needs compared the behavior of the mutant
Recognizing common
genes among many ‘Smart’ Shock Absorbers
Take the Quake
species helps scientists
figure out their To envision what a building undergoes in
an earthquake, Satish Nagarajaiah sug-
lineage, as well gests imagining yourself standing in a mov-
as where they ing bus or train.
diverge. It also “Riders make their bodies and muscles tense when the bus
moves, and they relax as soon as the sudden motion stops,”
might help sci- said Nagarajaiah, professor in civil and environmental engi-
neering and in mechanical engineering and materials science.
entists learn the “The typical steel-framed building or bridge can’t do that,
but we want to find technologies like adaptive stiffness and
ways groups damping systems that can give structures that ability.”
About 100 U.S. buildings and bridges — including the
of genes famed Golden Gate Bridge — have been built or are being
retrofitted with large, passive dampers that use pistons and
function. hydraulic fluid to absorb the impact of sudden shocks the way
that shock absorbers do in a car. But passive dampers are
designed to perform the same way in every earthquake, and
Nicholas Putnam as quake researchers have discovered in recent years, not all
quakes are created equal. The 1994 Northridge earthquake in
California, the 1995 Kobe earthquake in Japan, the 1999 Chi
Tiny Creature Is a Big Subject Chi earthquake in Taiwan and the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in
China are each examples of quakes that delivered a massive
initial shockwave that was particularly damaging for struc-
tures near the epicenter.
We may not look anything like tiny, amoeba-like creatures that live in “Our aim is to create smart structures that can sense
the sea, but what we have in common with them — and with all the what kind of shock is arriving and react with the best possible
creatures on Earth — interests Nicholas Putnam. strategy to minimize damage,” said Nagarajaiah, principal
investigator on the project, which is funded by $1.6 million
An assistant professor in Rice’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary from the National Science Foundation. Nagarajaiah’s past
Biology, Putnam co-authored a study published in the journal Nature that research on smart structures and structural control for seis-
breaks down the genetic code of Trichoplax, a simple saltwater creature one mic protection has led to quake-protection systems that have
might find anywhere in the world — even in household aquariums. been implemented in China and Japan.
“We’re trying to identify genes in the —Jade Boyd
Trichoplax, which Trichoplax that also are found in other animals,” Learn more: › › › t i nyurl . co m / 6 n x h s9
Putnam said. Recognizing common genes among
is a tiny little many species helps scientists figure out their lin-
pancake of cells eage, as well as where they diverge. It also might
help scientists learn the ways groups of genes
you can barely function.
Why Trichoplax?
see without a “Sequencing a genome is a big effort and a
microscope, has a big investment, so we have to choose carefully,”
Putnam said. Trichoplax, which is a tiny little
relatively low place pancake of cells you can barely see without a
in the evolutionary microscope, has a relatively low place in the
evolutionary chain, making it ideal for study. But
chain, making it despite its lowly status, Trichoplex shares genetic
elements with humans. A gene index published as
ideal for study. part of the Nature paper clearly shows many large
collections of genes that group together on both
Trichoplax and human chromosomes.
Putnam hopes to understand the purpose these large, conserved groupings
of genes serve, as well as the reason they’re together and the effects on the
health of the organism if they get separated by a mutation.
The study was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, the University
of California and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
—Mike Williams
Satish Nagarajaiah
Learn more: ››› tinyu r l .c o m/55b8q s

Construction @ rice
Family Matters
New Rice child care center helps keep kids healthy and happy
The new Rice Children’s Campus (RCC) doesn’t just meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental and rest times, children are encouraged to
Design standards — it takes them by the hand and dances a waltz with them. Everything about the satisfy their natural curiosity through learn-
Chaucer Street building is graceful, from its five-point sawtooth roof with north-facing windows to ing and exploration. CECE is also working
its undulating blue entryway ceiling that’s more than a little reminiscent of ocean waves. with the Rice School Literacy and Culture
Project to provide a storytelling curricu-
lum that has been proven to support and
On the exterior, bands of bricks in colors water-efficient fixtures and one of the build- enhance childhood vocabulary knowledge
like robin’s egg blue, bright yellow and sea ing’s most unconventional features — an and literary skills.
foam green are interspersed with 10,000 8,000-gallon underground rainwater cistern “Each classroom environment is
tan bricks salvaged from the homes that fed by collection sites on the building’s roof. equipped to ensure the success of all
once stood on the building site. “I didn’t The collected water will be used to irrigate students, with teachers facilitating learning
anticipate how truly amazing they would the building’s landscape, which show- in five key areas: math, language, science,
look,” Rice Director of Sustainability Richard cases local, low-maintenance plant species. sensory development and everyday living
Johnson said of the recycled bricks. “They “Ordinarily, people don’t view storm water skills,” said Lisa Hall, a consultant with Rice
really help connect the building with as a resource, but we did,” Johnson said,
“Each classroom environment is equipped to ensure the success of all students, with teachers facilitating
learning in five key areas: math, language, science, sensory development and everyday living skills.”
—Lisa Hall
the rest of the street, and that was made adding that Rice saved more than $200,000 University who acts as a liaison between the
possible because we viewed the previous by installing a cistern instead of a storm campus community and the operator. “Life
homes as potential resources. I’m very sewer. lessons of respect, cooperation, appreciation
proud of that outcome.” The RCC is divided into four color- of others, problem solving and responsibil-
But recycled building materials aren’t coded quadrants, with preschoolers in ity are modeled and practiced on a daily
the RCC’s only environmentally sensitive the southeast, toddlers in the southwest, basis by children and staff.”
attribute. Among others are features that infants in the northeast, and the support The campus, which opened last
enable the building to enjoy an energy and teacher areas in the northwest. More September, has a maximum capacity of 86
savings of about 20 percent over buildings than 80 students between the ages of 6 students, who must be the children of Rice
that are simply built to code, including light weeks and 5 years have enrolled at the faculty, staff or students to be eligible for ad-
sensors, programmable thermostats for school, which is operated by Metropolitan mission. To learn more about the RCC or to
each of five separate zones, double-paned Montessori Schools through the Center for fill out a wait-list application, please visit the
energy-efficient windows and overhangs Early Childhood Education (CECE) and CECE Web site at www.discovercece.org.
that block the strong southern sun. Other which employs the progressive Montessori
elements should result in substantial savings method of instruction. With activities like —Merin Porter
in domestic water consumption, such as art projects, songs, stories, lessons, recess
Tower of Power
The holidays at Rice had
a little more sparkle with
the completion of the
South Plant’s 85-foot-
tall glass steam tower
last month. Designed
by renowned architect
Antoine Predock, the
South Plant will provide
the chilled water and
steam necessary to heat
and cool the BioScience
Research Collaborative
at the corner of Main
Street and University
Boulevard, as well as
other buildings that
eventually will make
their home on the south-
west side of campus.
For a more in-depth look at
the South Plant, visit:
› › › t i nyur l. com /73yr qo
Webcam: › › › t inyur l. com /6m m h2q

Construction @ rice
Making a living
New graduate student apartments make life a little cheaper — and a lot more fun
For a building that’s the equivalent of a 40-story skyscraper lying buildings on the north side of Shakespeare Street, which were in
on its side, it’s no surprise that the new Rice Village Apartment much worse condition structurally than the Morningside Square
buildings on the south side of Shakespeare.
(RVA) complex is turning local apartment living on its ear. Not “With the additional acreage, we had the opportunity to demol-
only will Rice graduate students who move into the 137-unit, ish our existing units that were nearing depletion and replace them
237-bed residence enjoy close proximity to campus — only one with a higher-density and better-programmed structure,” said Mark
block west of the university in Rice Village — they’ll also benefit Ditman, associate vice president of housing and dining. “The pri-
from extremely competitive monthly rates, plus amenities like a mary reason we did this was to do our part to strengthen graduate
programs by offering a third community that would help attract and
clubhouse, a laundry room on each of four floors, a study room retain high-caliber graduate students.”
equipped with computers and even a Although the new complex is off
community herb garden. campus, it still maintains the Rice feel
with a brick-and-stucco exterior remi-
Apartments, which range in size from
niscent of Hanszen and Baker colleges.
efficiencies to two-bedroom, two-bath
It also follows the lead of other new
units, are fully furnished and feature free
campus buildings in that it was designed
basic cable and Internet. The complex
and built to Leadership in Energy and
also offers four handicap-accessible units,
Environmental Design standards.
although the entire community complies
“We were really conscientious about
with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
energy conservation in this building
While the facility has fewer parking
because the graduate students pay
spaces than you’d find at a commercial
their own utility bills,” said Director of
apartment building, there are many more
Sustainability Richard Johnson, who
than are typically available at a student
said the new complex is at least 30
housing facility. Still, Rice is hoping there
percent more efficient than a standard
will be plenty of parking spaces to spare.
apartment building. That means that if
“Rice committed to a robust shuttle
a student typically pays $100 per month
schedule and bicycle storage spaces as
for utilities, they’ll only pay $70 at RVA
a means of minimizing the need for
— which creates substantial savings over
residents to have cars,” said Rice Graduate Housing Manager Abeer
the course of a year.
Mustafa. “We also included a bicycle option as part of an early move-
“The project team devoted considerable attention to selecting
in reward program where, in exchange for promising not to bring
ENERGY STAR appliances, developing efficient lighting strategies
a car to the apartments or to park one on neighborhood streets,
and providing ample natural daylight for the apartments,” Johnson
students receive a new bicycle when they move in.”
said. “By offering apartments that are so energy efficient, we are
Rice decided to build RVA — its third graduate student residence
essentially embedding financial aid into the building itself.”
— in 2005, when the waiting lists for Morningside Square and the
—Merin Porter
Rice Graduate Apartments were burgeoning and the purchase of five
lots on Shakespeare Street made the construction feasible. The new
lots were adjacent to nine existing Morningside Square apartment Learn more: › › › g ra d a p t s. ri ce. ed u
Prefab Masterpieces
The Museum of Modern Art in
New York has long served as
home to magnificent pieces by
Vincent van Gogh and Pablo
Picasso, but one of the mu-
seum’s recent acquisitions
may be its most extraordinary:
Rice University’s new college
bathrooms.
Nip, tuck,
Featured in the museum’s Cellophane
House exhibit last fall, the 7-by-7-foot
prefabricated lavatories were built in a
score!
factory and delivered to Rice’s Duncan
College and McMurtry College con-
struction sites as completed units, with
showers, sinks, toilets and even mirrors
in place. That means less traffic to sites,
reduced construction waste and fewer
Autry Court renovation is a net gain for Rice subcontractors — all of which align with
Rice’s goal of achieving Leadership in
After 57 years of accumulated structural wrinkles and sags, Autry Court
Energy and Environmental Design certifi-
was due for a facelift.
cation for every new campus building.
“Using prefabricated bathroom pods
Thanks to $24 million in financial support from Youngkin ’90 and his wife, Suzanne, and it houses actually prevents waste before it is even
generous donors, the site for Owls basketball a study area for student–athletes, a hydrotherapy
created, thanks to the use of lean manu-
and volleyball home games underwent a dramatic room with hot and cold whirlpools, a first-aid room,
transformation that included renovations and up- and staff offices that overlook a weight and train- facturing processes,” said Rice Director
dates to the arena, seating arrangements, sound ing room. The center connects Autry Court with of Sustainability Richard Johnson. “This
and game information systems, restrooms and the existing Fox Gymnasium, and students and fits the spirit of Duncan and McMurtry
concession areas — among many other improve- fans will enter the renovated facility via an all- colleges, where we also are recycling
ments. Now the basketball and volleyball teams new plaza, which provides access to all of Rice’s on the order of 90 percent of all of the
enjoy gleaming new locker rooms; fans can shop at sports venues and offers a feeling of continuity to construction waste that is generated.”
a team store; and donors have access to a luxuri- the campus’s “athletic quadrant.”
ous club room, which offers a balcony overlooking On Nov. 15, just 16 months after renovations
College Way and provides an area to meet, greet began, Tudor Fieldhouse unveiled its new look at
and eat prior to games. an Owls basketball game, where athletes and fans
In addition to a new look, the building also re- alike enjoyed the center-hung LED scoreboard,
ceived a new name. Dubbed the Tudor Fieldhouse crystal-clear sound and new student seating
in honor of major donor and Rice trustee Bobby section on the court’s south side. After nearly six
Tudor ’82 and his wife, Phoebe, it encompasses decades, Autry Court looks better than ever —
Autry Court and the new Youngkin Center, which and has finally taken its place among the nation’s
replaced the facility’s old administrative section. premier athletic facilities.
Youngkin Center was named after donor Glenn —Merin Porter
Construction Web Site Remodel
Looking for news on the many construction projects

around campus? Visit Rice’s recently renovated con-
struction Web site to take advantage of an interactive
map with project locations and descriptions, plus Web
camera views, photos and videos. Also be sure to
check out the latest construction news and alerts as
well as up-to-the-minute notices of road closures, util-
ity outages and much more.
Learn more: ››› cons t r u c t i o n . r i c e. e d u

Energy Scholarships to
Energetic Students
BP, one of the world’s largest produc-

ers of oil and natural gas as well as
one of the world’s largest investors in
“People always
alternative energy, knows how criti-
cal it is to get quality graduates to fill
its workforce.
The company not only is looking to
Rice, but also is helping out with schol-
said the U.S.
arships awarded to 18 select full-time
students who have expressed an interest is a better
place to be,
in energy-related careers. The $10,000
scholarships are intended to help offset
tuition, fees and other expenses.
and I wanted
The scholarships reflect the close
relationship that BP has developed with
Rice. BP also has asked Rice to lead a
consortium of universities in develop-
ing petrotechnical training that will
enhance the dissemination of knowl-
to find out for
edge and skills among BP’s employees
around the world.
—B.J. Almond
myself.”
—Helge Krüger
Learn more: ››› tinyurl.com/6 emtyb
Doctoral Mathematics doctoral student Helge Krüger

has been named winner of the annual
Student Studentenpreis, awarded by the Austrian

Mathematical Society for the best master’s
Wins thesis written in Austria.

He wrote the thesis as a graduate student at the
Austrian University of Vienna. Titled “Relative Oscillation

Theory for Sturm-Liouville Operators,” it was
Math
built on a theorem on differential equations by
19th-century mathematician Charles-François
Award
Sturm, who first calculated the
velocity of sound through
water.
Krüger said that meet-
ing Rice associate profes-
sor of mathematics David
Damanik, now his faculty
adviser, was an important
factor in his decision to come
to Rice, but that the university’s outstanding
reputation and friendly atmosphere were im-
portant, too.
“People always said the U.S. is a better
place to be, and I wanted to find out for my-
self,” said Krüger, an avid reader and Frisbee
aficionado. “The professors here are excellent.
You can talk to people, and they always want
to talk to you. There’s a feeling here of a com-
munity doing things, which I think is great and
BP Gulf of Mexico Chief Financial Officer Peter Zwart which I didn’t experience in Europe.”
spoke during a luncheon honoring BP scholarship
recipients.
Students
Anticancer BioBrew
that the French enjoy relatively low rates of
heart disease despite having a diet that’s rich in
saturated fats.
“I’ve seen studies where resveratrol has
College students often spend their free time thinking about beer, but some Rice University
been shown to activate the same proteins that
students are taking it to the next level. They’re using genetic engineering to create a “bio- are known to play a role in extending the life
beer” that contains resveratrol, a chemical in wine that’s been shown to reduce cancer span of lab animals kept on low-calorie diets,”
and heart disease in lab animals. said junior David Ouyang.
In concocting the brew, the team members
It all began when graduate student Peter same time, and test batches contained some worked with a strain of yeast used commercially
Nguyen made a joke about putting res- unappetizing chemical markers needed for to make wheat beer. They obtained a sample
veratrol into beer, but none of the young the experiments. of the yeast from Houston’s Saint Arnold
researchers took the idea seriously until “There’s no way anyone’s drink- Brewing Company, and they are modify-
they discovered a good bit of published ing biobeer until we get rid of that,” ing it with two sets of genes. The first set
literature about modifying yeast with said Segall-Shapiro, “not to mention allows the yeast to metabolize sugars and
resveratrol-related genes. When they looked that there’s only one genetically modi- excrete an intermediate chemical that the
further, they found two detailed accounts by fied strain of yeast that’s ever been ap- second set can later convert into resveratrol.
teams that had attacked both halves of the proved for use in beer, period. In short, “In terms of educational value,
metabolic problem independently. it will be a long time before anybody the great thing about synthetic biology
“That was when we said, ‘You know, consumes any of this.” research is that it stimulates undergraduate
we could actually do this,’” said junior So why would someone want creativity and gives students an opportuni-
Thomas Segall-Shapiro. to make beer with resveratrol in the ty to work collaboratively at an early stage
The team entered biobeer in the Nov. first place? It’s a naturally occurring of their science and engineering educa-
8–9 International Genetically Engineered compound that some studies have tion,” said the team’s faculty adviser Joff
Machine competition in Cambridge, Mass., found to have anti-inflammatory, Silberg, assistant professor in biochemis-
and came home with a gold medal and anticancer and cardiovascular benefits try and cell biology. “While students work
second place for best presentation. In ad- for mice and other animals. While collaboratively in other undergraduate
dition, their research has become a magnet it’s still unclear if humans enjoy the same research endeavors, they typically are not given
for worldwide media attention. benefits, resveratrol is already sold as a the pie-in-the-sky opportunity to pursue their
Ironically, most of the team’s under- health supplement, and some believe it own ideas.”
—Jade Boyd
graduate members aren’t old enough to could play a role in the “French paradox,”
legally drink beer, but even if they were, the seemingly contradictory observation › › › tinyurl.com/6 f f yu4
Learn more: ››
they probably wouldn’t want to consume
their own product. Their early work
went into creating a geneti-
cally modified strain of yeast
that will ferment beer and
produce resveratrol at the
L–R, top row: Joff

Silberg, Taylor
Stevenson, Thomas
Segall-Shapiro and
David Ouyang; bottom
row: Selim Sheikh,
Sarah Duke, Arielle
Layman and Beth
Beason

MEMS Student Wins Help for Young Hearts
Kennedy Fellowship As a young student shadowing pediatric oncologists, Elizabeth “Libby” Stephens
realized just how hard it is to be around children who are ill. It was all the prompt-
Arta Sadrzadeh, a graduate student in the ing she needed to try to get to the heart of the matter.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
and Materials Science, has won the
The San Diego native, working on com- West, the Isabel C. Cameron Professor and
second annual Ken Kennedy–Cray Inc. chair of the Department of Bioengineering.
bined medical and bioengineering doc-
Graduate Fellowship Award, which sup- torates at Rice and the Baylor College of Stephens’ data will serve as a template
ports graduate students involved in high- Medicine, has received a fellowship from for the process of building heart valves.
performance computing. the National Institutes of Health to pur- “People have been collecting information
sue her research into the development of on valves for a long time, but not with the
replacement heart valves for young patients resolution Libby hopes to achieve,” Grande-
Founded last year with a $150,000 grant from Allen said. “This fellowship gives her the
that will grow as they do.
the supercomputer manufacturer Cray Inc., the Currently, bad heart valves can be opportunity to build on the research she’s
fellowship is named in honor of the late Ken replaced in one of two ways: with a already done.”
Kennedy, a Rice computing pioneer who served bioprosthetic valve (harvested from a pig, Heart valves are complex connective
on Cray’s board of directors and founded the Ken for instance) or with a mechanical device. tissues, Stephens explained, that evolve
Kennedy Institute for Information Technology, Both methods have problems when used throughout a human’s life. Their compli-
which recently was named in his honor. in children. Mechanical valves work well in ance and stiffness, as well as their biology,
Sadrzadeh works in the lab of mechanical en- adults but require anticoagulant medicine to change substantially with age, so figuring
gineering and materials science professor Boris
Yakobson. His research focuses on the geometri-
cal, mechanical and electronic structures and Heart valves are complex connective tissues that
electron-transport properties of nanostructures
such as pure boron fullerenes and nanotubes, evolve throughout a human’s life. Their compli-
which might find applications in targeted drug de- ance and stiffness, as well as their biology, change
livery, neutron cancer therapy and hydrogen stor-
age. Sadrzadeh and Yakobson also have studied substantially with age, so figuring out how to
the use of carbon nanotubes as electro-chemical make a valve that’s appropriate for a patient of a
gas sensors, and they are investigating the po-
tential of quantum wires for long-range energy particular age will be tricky.
transmission. —Mike Williams
thin the blood, and anticoagulants present out how to make a valve that’s appropri-
potential dangers to active children prone ate for a patient of a particular age will be
to cuts. Bioprosthetic valves, which perform tricky.
relatively successfully in adults, rapidly cal- Growing new valves involves both
cify in children. And there is an even more biochemical engineering to create the valve
basic problem with both these treatments: and mechanical engineering to build the
Replacement valves don’t grow with the device that will be used to grow it. Stephens
child, so they have to be replaced every few said the biochemical part involves using
years, at the cost and discomfort of repeated a polyethylene glycol hydrogel, a water-
open-heart surgeries. insoluble polymer that can be used as the
Congenital heart disease, which is found scaffold in which target cells drawn from
in 1 percent of newborns, is relatively easy the patient are suspended. The design of
to diagnose. “The valves are very disorga- this hydrogel is the component being ad-
nized,” Stephens said. “There are none of dressed by her research.
the layers, none of the properly aligned The mechanical part, the bioreactor,
collagen — the connective tissue that gives would contain the scaffold. “A bioreactor
tensile strength — that you’d expect to basically pumps media, the equivalent of
find.” blood, back and forth around the hydrogel
The main challenge is to find a way while putting it through a bending mo-
to make replacement valves that can be tion that causes the cells to produce more
implanted once and for all, and Stephens collagen and extracellular matrix, making
is working to learn how to grow a new it stronger. Finally, when the valve is fully
valve using the youngster’s own cells as developed, surgeons will be able to implant
the source material. To do that, she has it.” Several bioreactors are being designed
called not only on her own medical and by other graduate students in Grande-
bioengineering skills, but also on those of Allen’s lab.
her advisers, Jane Grande-Allen, an assistant
professor of bioengineering, and Jennifer —Mike Williams
Arta Sadrzadeh
Students
Libby Stephens
Stephens is
working to
learn how
to grow a
new valve
using the
youngster’s
own cells as
the source
material.

A Second Century of
No Upper Limit
By David W. Leebron
When President Edgar Odell Lovett spoke in 1912 at the

formal opening of what was then the Rice Institute, he
was unequivocal about his ambitions for Rice’s future.
The new institution, he said, “aspires to university stand-
ing of the highest grade.” He spoke not only of science
and technology, but also of art, literature and architecture.
Although Lovett anticipated substantial growth for Rice, he envi- limit” means there are always new possibilities, new fields of knowl-
sioned that its increase would not be so much in size as in impact, edge, new enterprises and new opportunities for our university. As
leadership, eminence and greatness. And while he noted that limited we stand here on the brink of the university’s second century, our
resources required focus on certain areas at the beginning, he said obligations to Rice can be no less than those set forth by Lovett at
in those words we celebrate today that we must set “no upper limit” our founding: Our aspirations and actions must continue to create a
on our endeavors. “university of the highest grade.”
As we look back, we must say that Rice has experienced a President Lovett wisely observed: “It is not difficult to plan for
remarkable 96-plus years. We have seen our university recognized 50 years, nor is it difficult to plan for five years: Difficulty enters
as among the very best in America and, indeed, the world. Rice has only when it is necessary to plan at one and the same time for the
grown from a handful of buildings to approximately 70. Despite our immediate future and for the next hundred years.”
small size, our faculty wins recognition and accolades that suggest And yet, that very task lies before us. What we seek to accom-
we are indeed a giant. plish with the Vision for the Second Century and the Centennial
Since the founding, we have added new schools and endeavors: Campaign are the things that must be done now to continue our
The Shepherd School of Music, the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School progress while simultaneously laying the foundations for our next
of Management, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, century.
the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, the Richard While this is a time in our country of economic uncertainty
E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, and the and concern, it also is a time of hope and possibility. As we at Rice
Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology, to name only contemplate what we must do, we should do so in the spirit of opti-
a few. Lovett’s dream of a residential college system has become a mism and confidence. Some, perhaps, would say that the Centennial
reality. Two of our faculty (and another of our graduates) received Campaign’s goal of $1 billion is too high. Of course it is not — I
Nobel Prizes, and in the last year alone, seven of our young profes- know President Lovett would say it is not. He might, instead, tell us
sors were given National Science Foundation CAREER Awards, the it is not enough, for no finite amount of resources can ever enable us
second highest number of recipients among private universities. to achieve the goals that reflect no upper limit.
Rice is small but powerful, and we have achieved what we have Those goals are substantial, but even before the end of the
by taking a path that has been unconventional and bold. But we campaign on June 30, 2013, we will witness some of our campaign
must always remember that we are on a trajectory, not at a destina- priorities come to fruition: doctoral students in new programs
tion; our work at Rice is never finished. We recognize that “no upper in art history and sociology; a dramatic increase in international
engagement with Mexico, Latin America and Asia — and, perhaps, the community of Houston; a global health program that brings pre-
Africa — that will produce knowledge and teach students to serve vention and cures to the most impoverished and remote parts of the
a global community; and an even more dynamic interaction with world; and a new opera house that provides a rich medium for the
our home city of Houston, marked in part by the promise of life- new young voices who will become the great talents of tomorrow.
changing research emerging from our enhanced relationships with We must lay the groundwork for these endeavors now to ensure,
the Texas Medical Center. as we look farther in the future, that it will be here, at Rice, where
Physically, we already have seen expansion with the Tudor solutions are discovered to address our energy needs and envi-
Fieldhouse and Youngkin Center and our hugely popular Raymond ronmental challenges; that it will be here where we see new and
and Susan Brochstein Pavilion, and soon we will celebrate the effective solutions for the treatment of cancer; that it will be here
completion of our two new residential colleges, a new physics where insights into human migration and cultural interaction lead
building and the David and Barbara Gibbs Recreation and Wellness us to more effective public policies; that it will be here where we
Center, which will help support a dynamic educational environment unleash the foundational principles of religious tolerance that will
for our students. build greater peace in our world — in short, that it will be at Rice
We will see students who can attend without undue burdens on where our understanding of our planet and our universe reaches
their families because of the generous donation of scholarships, and new heights.
we will see extraordinary professors recruited with the assistance of To accomplish those things, we must continue to set “no up-
newly endowed chairs and programs. per limit” — no restriction on what our students will achieve, no
“We must continue to set ‘no upper limit’ — no restriction on

what our students will achieve, no boundary for the growth and
application of human knowledge and understanding, no limit to
what we can contribute to our world today and in the future.”
— David W. Leebron
These soon-to-be-achieved goals, however, are not the end of boundary for the growth and application of human knowledge and
our aspirations. In the best of worlds — in our world without upper understanding, no limit to what we can contribute to our world
limits — we would see, as well, a new center for continuing studies today and in the future.
and Houston engagement; a new social sciences building that will The universe of knowledge and achievement lies before us. It
become part of a powerful new “policy campus” that encompasses is our chance — our privilege — to educate and explore in ways
the Baker Institute, the School of Social Sciences and the Jones that will create a new and better world. For this great opportunity
School; a revamped undergraduate curriculum that will produce that stands before us, the people of Rice have aspired and worked
leaders even more capable of communicating across disciplines and for almost a century. Let us live up to those aspirations. With your
cultures to address the challenges of our time; a new center for the help, we will.
arts to provide a vibrant link between the talents of our students and

No Upper Limit. Still.
The Centennial Campaign
Rice: Living Its Vision

for the Second Century
By Christopher Dow
Rice University’s Centennial Campaign,
and the viability of institutions that will edu-
cate us, support us, heal us and lead us as
we take that inevitable journey. The viability
which kicked off in November, is the most ambitious fundraising effort in the of institutions like Rice University.
university’s history. Its goal is to raise $1 billion by June 30, 2013, the end of That viability is the central reason for
the academic year that marks Rice’s 100th anniversary. But the campaign the Centennial Campaign, which has its
genesis in President David W. Leebron’s
isn’t really about a milestone birthday or about economic resources. It’s 2005 Call to Conversation. Leebron queried
about value, which isn’t strictly a financial matter because we also have all constituents of the university — alumni,
faculty, students, administrators, staff,
to ask what it means to have value, what is the value of the work we friends of the university and leaders in
do, and what do we value about ourselves and our world? It’s about the the Houston community at large — in an
mission of Rice and the university’s ability to carry out that mission as effort to gain information and opinions
that might help him formulate a plan that
it embarks on its second century — a century that promises fantastic would establish a firm foundation upon
advances in the very disciplines in which Rice excels. And ultimately, which Rice could build in the decades to
come. That gave rise to the Vision for the
it’s about the people who support Rice and inspire others to get involved. Second Century, a 10-point strategy for Rice
to accomplish its goals that, in turn, has
Few universities can claim the kind of constructs that are under way here promise been distilled into three major campaign
loyalty Rice does, and that loyalty comes a greater understanding of how humans initiatives. (See “Three Big Ideas” on the
from the value that Rice has added to behave and interact. Obvious examples are following pages.)
Stephen Klineberg’s Houston Area Survey, The first aims to transform extraordi-
the personal lives of not just its students
the longest-running in-depth demographic nary students into extraordinary leaders.
and alumni, but also its faculty and staff.
survey of a major American urban center; This has long been one of Rice’s deeply
It’s impossible to keep a note of pride
the Center on Race, Religion and Urban held commitments, and the Centennial
out of your voice when you tell someone
Life; and the James A. Baker III Institute for Campaign will continue to fuel under-
that you graduated from Rice or teach or
Public Policy, which has become one of the graduate and graduate education to prepare
work here. It’s also gratifying that Rice’s
the next generation of leaders to make a
excellence is recognized by independent world’s leading think tanks and a magnet
distinctive impact in the world. The second
sources. Organizations that rank universities for global political leaders as well as for
initiative involves facing challenges and
routinely place Rice among the best: among important political and economic research.
generating solutions. This means that the
the top 20 in the United States and among Seasoned researchers aren’t the only
Centennial Campaign will support extensive
the top 100 globally. (See “Top 20” and “Top ones making contributions. Among universi-
investment in Rice’s research enterprise so
200” on Page 6.) ties, Rice has the highest percentage of
that we can put our interdisciplinary and
Rice also is rated a best value among prestigious CAREER Awards, which are
multi-institutional collaborations to work to
universities. Usually, this refers to the quality given to promising young researchers in a
solve problems that face us all. And third
of the educational experience compared variety of fields. (See “Making a CAREER of
is what we refer to as learning and leading
with the amount of money a student has to It” on Page 8.) Equally astounding are our
locally and globally. In a nutshell, the
spend to get that education. By that metric, undergraduate students, who are not just Centennial Campaign will foster partner-
Rice is undoubtedly a best value among winning awards, but who are doing cutting- ships with leading institutions in Houston
its peers. Princeton Review and Kiplinger’s edge research with far-ranging consequences. and across the world that will benefit our
both just rated Rice as the No. 4 best value One example is the students in the Rice students and faculty and extend the univer-
in private higher education. 360º program, who are creating medical sity’s local-to-global reach.
But Rice is a best value in a great number technologies that will revolutionize health We usually think of value as spending a
of other ways, too. One is the quality of the care in the developing world. (See “Global little less, but sometimes it means spending a
research that goes on here — not just quality Health” on Page 32.) Another is Libby little more — at least initially. Buying a prod-
in the abstract, but a tangibly real quality Stephens, who is working to develop a way uct in bulk, for example, requires a larger
that enhances the lives of real people in a to grow replacement heart valves using the initial outlay but saves money in the long
real world. This has recently been attested patient’s own tissue. (See “Help for Young run. And I think of the times I’ve purchased
to by the Patent Board, which ranks patent Hearts” on Page 20.) a product because it was cheap, only to
portfolios held by companies and institutions Every day, you use or depend on discover it didn’t work properly, which forced
of higher education and judges Rice head something that owes its existence to Rice me to return to the store to spend more
and shoulders above its nearest competitor. research, and that situation will only amplify money on a better replacement. Finally, there
(See “Patently Best” on Page 37.) in the years to come. While no one knows is this simple fact: If we expect returns in the
But even patents can seem like an ab- what the future holds, we do know that future — whether financial or of the other
straction, so let’s bring it down to real terms. getting there will cost time and money. We sorts of value — we must invest even when
Cell phones and other wireless communica- may not be able to do much about time, it may be inconvenient.
tions are based on technology developed but the Centennial Campaign will help with Rice has a reputation as a stronghold of
at Rice. ATM machines were pioneered the money, which, in turn, will aid Rice in academic and research excellence precisely
by a Rice graduate. The first heart pump acquiring the resources it needs to move for- because it lives up to its association with
was developed in part by Rice engineers, ward into the next century and to add value all the senses of the word “value”. But it
as is the most recent innovation in the to lives not just here, but around the world. achieved that excellence through adherence
field. (See “Heart of the Matter” on Page What makes it important to raise to the principle of “no upper limit.” As Rice
11.) The discovery of buckminsterfuller- money for Rice in these admittedly difficult enters the 21st century, it will continue that
ene at Rice launched the nanotechnology economic times? The truth is, the current trajectory, not because it strives to be as
revolution. And in-depth studies of social economic malaise will pass. The real issue good as it was in the 20th, but because it
groups, political organizations and cultural is the future into which all of us are moving promises to be even better.

A Vision For Rice
University’s Second
Century
As a leading research
university with a
distinctive commitment to
undergraduate education,
Rice University aspires to
pathbreaking research,
unsurpassed teaching
and contributions to the
betterment of our world.
It seeks to fulfill this
mission by cultivating
a diverse community of
learning and discovery that
produces leaders across
the spectrum of human
endeavor.
Three Big Ideas
Three Big Ideas The Vision for the Second Century can be distilled into three principal areas.
Transforming extraordinary students Facing challenges. Learning and leading

into extraordinary leaders. Generating solutions. locally and globally.
$400 million $310 million $290 million
The next generation of leaders will Rice is small enough to adapt to chang- Great cities and great universities
face incredible challenges that defy ing educational and research environ- must inspire and support each other.
answers from any single discipline ments, collegial enough to ignore the Houston, the fourth-largest city in the
and demand innovative, sometimes usual “silos” of discipline and depart- United States, is a lively urban center
unconventional, approaches. As ment, friendly enough to welcome new that boasts rich diversity, a vibrant
the stakes continue to rise and the ideas, historic enough to have a track business community, distinguished
problems become more urgent, ex- record and young enough to be will- arts and cultural institutions, and an
traordinary thinkers must also being to try new things. For these reasons international center for two particu-
come extraordinary leaders. At the — and because Rice scholars embrace larly critical disciplines — health care
heart of the Centennial Campaign the opportunity to be involved in in- and energy. The city’s geography and
are deep-seated commitments to terdisciplinary, out-of-the-box work — multicultural population make it a
preserving Rice’s distinctive under- Rice has been unusually productive in gateway to the international commu-
graduate and graduate education generating creative solutions to tough nity and an ideal setting in which to
and to preparing our students to challenges. Ultimately, even the most prepare our students for leadership
lead in a rapidly changing world. practical solutions have to be built on in a global workforce. Rice’s multi-
These commitments shine through a solid foundation. The Centennial national and multidisciplinary efforts
in a number of campaign priorities, Campaign looks at building that foun- have laid the foundation for a unique
all of which are designed to give dation by investing in basic research community invigorated by internation-
our students the tools and the confi- and by pooling our considerable intel- al students and faculty, stimulated by
dence to emerge as leaders. lectual resources into idea-percolating, faculty-driven research collaborations
interdisciplinary centers. When the and infused with opportunities for
campaign is complete, our areas of students to explore unfamiliar cultures
promise will become our newest ex- and perspectives, both in Houston and
amples of research preeminence. abroad.

A CONVERSATION
Centennial Campaign co-chairs
Susanne M. Glasscock and
Robert B. Tudor discuss what’s
important for Rice and how the campaign
will move the university forward.
“I’m excited about Rice and want to see Rice continue to be recognized as an integral part of the city of Houston.”
Why Rice? Why Now? reach our goal, almost everyone we’re
asking help from is going to have to
Susanne: I am absolutely fascinated with say “yes”. But I think that speaks to our
the concept of the Vision for the Second aspiration of no upper limit. We could go
Century and Rice’s 100th anniversary
celebration in 2012. I’m excited about Rice
along and be what we’ve been forever,
and it probably wouldn’t take this much “It’s all about
getting better.
and want to see the university continue to money, but I don’t think that’s what Rice
be recognized as an integral part of the is about.
The world
city of Houston.
What does “no upper limit” mean to you?
Robert: Good things don’t just happen.
We should be fighting to make Rice better
every day. That’s what the Centennial
Robert: It’s all about getting better. The
world is changing around us and universi- is changing
Campaign is all about — ensuring that 20
years from now, 100 years from now, this
ties are more competitive than ever. One
of the truly inspiring things about Rice around us and
university is that much better. And we
will. We must.
is that aspirations have always been
and continue to be high. The campaign universities
are more
captures that very nicely.
Susanne: This campaign is certainly an
competitive
ambitious undertaking, particularly given Susanne: This was a radical notion at the
the current economic climate. Our total time, and it set the tone for the university.
than ever.”
alumni base is less than the enrollment There’s a sense of inevitability in Lovett’s
at some major universities, and yet we’re vision, a push to move forward. From the
taking on this major goal. At first, I was beginning, Rice said, “There’s no upper
hesitant about it, but you have to consider limit.” Whatever you want to do, you can
—Robert B. Tudor
that we’re looking forward to another do it.
century. We have the added advantage of
having so many early supporters step up. Why have you chosen to stay involved with
We’re over half way to our goal with five Rice?
years still to go. This is very encouraging.
Robert: Rice has made my life richer. As a
Robert: We’re going to have to dig deeper student, I learned how to think critically,
than most. The truth is, if we’re going to and that changed my life. I owe a lot to

that, and I can tell you it doesn’t hap- If you can imagine talking to a recent
pen everywhere. graduate, how would you help them
understand why their participation is
“For all of us
Susanne: As students, we were chal- just as important as yours?
lenged not only by the faculty, but also
by fellow students. For all of us who
who came out

Robert: Being involved and staying
came out of Rice — there was a sense connected will make your life richer.
of accomplishment and a sense that we
of Rice -- there
It will make your life better. I would
want this to continue. I stay involved also argue that young alums can have
because I want others to have this a truly disproportionate impact on
was a sense of same challenge. Robert and I share a

real sense of duty toward Rice because
the vitality of the campaign and the
university day to day. One of the goals
accomplishment
it has enriched our lives. I went here
is to have more people on our campus
when there was no tuition, and we
more often. We’d like for it to feel like
and a sense that

have a strong desire to say thank you
a vital place teeming with activity of
for all that we’ve received.
all sorts. That happens when young
we want this Robert: Just being around people who

have made their life’s work higher
alumni are involved.
to continue.”
Susanne: We know the product Rice is
education is fun. They are interesting
and passionate, and I find it invigorat- putting out — its alumni are the result
ing. There’s so much intellectual energy of it. We want to maintain and further
—Susanne M. Glasscock
and, for that matter, emotional energy improve it. And with all that is going
that goes into making a really fine on at Rice, it’s much easier to involve
university, and I like having that in my people because they recognize that
life in the same way I like having art the university is truly committed to
and sports. It’s fun. expanding their horizons.
Susanne: And let’s be honest — it’s Robert: One of our country’s very best
really exciting to share these opportuni- products is higher education. It’s one
ties with our fellow alumni and friends. of the most important export items
It’s something I really enjoy: getting to for our nation’s economy, wherever
know people and helping them find you live. But in the same way that
their passions at Rice. manufacturing and financial services
“One of the goals is to have more people on our campus more often. We’d like for it to feel like a vital place teeming with activity of all sorts.”
are becoming more competitive, higher Susanne: The Shepherd School is another FIND OUT M OR E
education is getting more competitive. example of this. By integrating music
We’re being challenged, and we need to students into the student body, Rice
get better. As a citizen, I ask, “Where can enriches the experience for all students.
I make an investment that is important The board has been very supportive, and
to our country and our future?” Higher we’re in phase one of doing the same
education, and Rice, specifically, is a re- kind of thing with the Jones School by
ally great place to do that. introducing the business minor. In time,
we will see a similar impact through the
What is important to preserve? BioScience Research Collaborative.
Susanne: When you read the mission When you think of some of the words that Centennial Campaign Web Site
statement and the Vision for the Second Lovett used to describe the university, he
Century, undergraduate education is the often humanized it, using words like coura- ›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 9 o k 8 m l
first thing you see, and one part of that is geous, brave, and so forth. How would you
the college system, because it reinforces describe Rice in more human terms? Vision for the Second Century
the contact between students and faculty. ›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 8 h u t f 5
A second mission is Rice’s role as a major Robert: It feels to me that Rice is still very
research institution, but we must balance young, particularly if you compare it with “No Upper Limit. Still.”
the two missions so that undergraduate the institutions with whom it competes. The Centennial Campaign Video
education isn’t overshadowed. Being younger is good because it makes
change easier and makes us more ›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 7 g 7 l e 7
Robert: We’re balancing this driving com- flexible.
mitment to education with a desire to be Ways to Give
more outward looking, to be more global Susanne: Lovett has been a vital presence
and to be more a part of the world. When in the life of the university. What he said For information on ways to participate
Rice established the Baker Institute, I in October 1912 still rings true today. He in the Centennial Campaign and to
wondered what is this going to do for the was such a unique person, and his vision learn about the campaign priorities that
average Rice undergraduate. I thought it for Rice remains very much alive. are most meaningful to you, visit
was going to be a very graduate student–
›› › t i n y u r l . c o m / 7 a d x u c
oriented think tank, but I was wrong. It
has dramatically enhanced and broad- or call Resource Development at
ened the undergraduate and graduate 713-348-4600.
experience at Rice.

Global By Deborah J. Ausman
Health
Taking the Lead
in Education and
Prevention
The influence of technology on global health is undeniable,

but it’s clear that technology alone won’t prevent disease, re-
duce infant mortality rates or improve the overall health of
people in some of the world’s poorest communities. This is
something that Rebecca Richards-Kortum knows from per-
sonal experience, but she has some big ideas for solving
global health problems, and they’re all about changing the
world one Rice undergraduate at a time.
Richards-Kortum, the Stanley C. Moore Pro- address these challenges. Beyond Tradi- of Bioengineering. While she enjoyed her
fessor of Bioengineering, has learned a lot tional Borders (BTB), funded by the Howard research projects at Rice, Kamat admits
about the health issues of women in devel- Hughes Medical Institute, began in 2006 she felt rudderless about where she was
oping countries through her work on new and aims to train Rice undergraduates in going after graduation. “I knew I wanted
imaging techniques for diagnosing cervical applying science and technology to global to do research, but I had no clue how I
cancer and its precursors. While in these health issues. Richards-Kortum also is lead- would apply it as a career,” Kamat said.
countries, she saw that many women didn’t ing Rice 360°, a $100 million campuswide “Would I work in industry? Would I go into
have access to basic screening programs initiative launched in 2007 and a priority of academia?”
and other preventative technologies that the Centennial Campaign. Building on the All that changed during Kamat’s se-
women elsewhere take for granted. educational efforts seeded by BTB, Rice nior year, when she enrolled in BIOE 260:
The challenges are deep: How do you help communities prevent waterborne disease if they don’t
know that bacteria and other organisms in water cause disease?
“There have been many radical tech- 360° incorporates faculty research focused Introduction to Global Health Issues. One
nological advances in recent years,” she on inventing new health technologies and of several courses offered through BTB, it
said, “but they are useless if they’re not seeks to create innovative ways to com- also has become the introductory course in
affordable or accessible to the people who mercialize and distribute them in the de- a new global health technologies minor that
need them.” veloping world. Richards-Kortum’s two ini- Rice began offering this fall.
The challenges are deep: How do you tiatives have done more than demonstrate In BIOE 260, students learn about glob-
help communities prevent waterborne dis- the power of this model — they are em- al health challenges — including health de-
ease if they don’t know that bacteria and powering Rice undergraduates to quite lit- terminants and key areas of disease burden
other organisms in water cause disease? erally change the world. — and examine case studies to understand
And how do you deploy modern technology why different interventions succeed or fail.
in remote and often harsh environments, Providing Aid That’s Sustainable The students also work in small groups to
where power sources and spare parts are solve a real-world problem and have the op-
nonexistent? Neha Kamat ’08 spent most of her under- portunity to deliver their solution through
Since arriving at Rice in 2005, Richards- graduate career working in the lab of Jenni- BTB internships offered in conjunction with
Kortum has spearheaded two programs to fer West, the Isabel C. Cameron Professor outside partners such as the Baylor College

of Medicine’s Baylor International Pediatric the global health initiatives championed
Rice 360°’s Funding Priorities AIDS Initiative and SOS Children’s Villages.
Although Kamat is a bioengineering
student, she worked with four other BIOE
by Richards-Kortum, the technical design
experience in bioengineering is being en-
riched with know-how from the social and
260 students to develop a microenterprise political sciences.
Designing Appropriate Science and training program for students at Masiano- Through a new course in the global
Technology Platforms to Improve Global keng High School in Lesotho. Microenter- health technologies minor, nonengineering
Health prise is a relatively new concept in foreign students have the opportunity to participate
aid that calls for training individuals within a on bioengineering capstone design teams.
To generate solutions to the world’s most difficult
community to form businesses that will sell Martel seniors Tiffany Yeh, a cognitive sci-
health challenges, we are leveraging Rice’s lead-
vital commodities such as medicine, clinical ences major, and Katy Miller, double ma-
ing expertise in bioengineering and nanosensors
services or supplies. Microenterprises not joring in English and history, are the first
and its rich partnerships with the Texas Medical only offer necessary resources in a sustain- nonengineers to take advantage of the op-
Center to expand research programs in point-of- able way, they also fuel economic growth portunity. Both bring significant, hands-on
care diagnostics and point-of-use water treatment. by providing jobs to community members. experience in global health issues to the
Incorporating both of these research perspectives, Kamat and Will Rice sophomore Josh course. Last year, they were members of a
which share common materials and questions, Ozer, who launched a microenterprise stu- BIOE 260 team that created an interactive
into the design of new global health technologies, dent club at Rice during his freshman year, module to teach second-grade students in
holds particularly transformative potential for the delivered the microenterprise course in Le- Haiti about basic hygiene and the causes of
future of global health. sotho. The course taught basic principles in infections and illness.
business planning, marketing and account- “Our team exemplified how important
Commercializing and Distributing New ing by dividing students into teams that sold interdisciplinary knowledge is when work-
Technologies solar flashlights in the community. Part of ing on global health problems,” Yeh said.
the proceeds from the sales supported the “We had insights from the humanities,
If we are to lead in improving health and alleviating school shop, and each team kept a percent- science and psychology on our team, and
poverty around the world, we must commercialize age as profit. By the end of the five-week all of those perspectives helped us move
and distribute technologies in the regions where course, students had raised around $500 to forward.”
they are most needed. Local distribution networks start the school shop and had built capital The team ultimately developed an
and partnerships can generate economic growth to invest in their own enterprises. array of activities for its unit. T-shirts with
and innovation in poor regions, while improving Kamat also took the bioengineering pictures of human organs Velcroed to them
health. Rice 360° is drawing on the diverse experi- capstone design course, in which her team helped students visualize what was under
ence of faculty from the Jesse H. Jones Graduate of bioengineers and electrical engineers their skin. A hand-washing song and dance
produced one of the top design projects in taught hygiene. Students also learned how
School of Management, the James A. Baker III In-
the George R. Brown School of Engineer- to purify water and looked at water under
stitute for Public Policy, and the Schools of Social
ing: an intravenous drip monitor and con- a microscope to see microorganisms. Fi-
Sciences, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Engi- troller specifically designed for pediatric pa- nally, students demonstrated what they
neering to determine how to make technologies tients in the developing world. Kamat cred- had learned by performing skits for their
available, meaningful and useful to people around its both experiences, particularly her time in parents that explained how the immune
the world. Lesotho, with providing focus for her gradu- system works. After implementing the
ate work at the University of Pennsylvania. project in Haiti, Yeh and teammate Meagan
Training Students to Solve Global She now plans to stay in academia and, like Barry ’08 went on to work on water sourc-
Challenges Richards-Kortum, find ways to develop sus- ing issues in Guatemala. Miller spent the
tainable global health technologies. summer in Geneva researching the World
As part of Rice’s distinctive commitment to trans-
“Before this program, I only saw the Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS programs
forming extraordinary students into extraordinary
opportunity to make an impact through in the Caribbean.
leaders, Rice 360°’s educational programs, like the technology,” Kamat said. “But the truth is Maria Oden, director of the Oshman
Beyond Traditional Borders initiative, use hands- that technology doesn’t solve problems. You Engineering Design Kitchen and instructor
on activities to engage undergraduates directly have to take into account the social, physi- for the bioengineering capstone design
in solving global health challenges. Rice 360° cal and economic issues that influence how course, noted that bringing together stu-
empowers students to put their ideas into action, the technology will be adopted.” dents from diverse backgrounds can lead
training them to lead efforts to prevent disease, to more relevant and successful project
improve health and reduce poverty in poor com- Undergrad Teamwork outcomes.
munities throughout the world. “Just because the end product needs
The drip monitor developed by Kamat’s to be inexpensive or simple to use doesn’t
team was just one of the global health mean that the technology that goes into
projects undertaken by students in the that product will be easy to develop or in-
bioengineering capstone design course expensive,” said Oden. “Sometimes these
this year. Traditionally, capstone courses low-tech solutions require the most inno-
offer undergraduate engineers the chance vation, and they definitely require insights
to do the type of work they will be charged about the environment and culture in which
with after graduation. But now, thanks to they will be used. By bringing in students
Lab-in-a-Backpack
Lab-in-a-Backpack is a battery-powered
tool kit doctors can literally strap on and carry
in to otherwise inaccessible villages, where
they help provide much-needed testing and
treatment. Eight of the packs have been de-
signed and built over the past two years by 12
students involved in Rice’s Beyond Traditional
Borders global health initiative. The packs
use off-the-shelf and custom-designed
technologies, including a microscope, an
otoscope, a pulse oximeter, a power control
unit, a solar panel, basic medical supplies
and much more. The prototype was tested in
remote locations over the summer, and seven
backpacks remain in the field in Guatemala,
Nicaragua, Honduras, Botswana, Lesotho
and Malawi.
from across the university with expertise “Most of the clinics in Lesotho had how homeless people in Houston utilize
accumulated through global health course electricity — what they didn’t have were health care services. This fall, as a Fulbright
work and associated internships, we en- supplies and equipment,” Hook explained. Scholar, she began studying Toronto’s HIV/
able our design teams to accomplish these “I collected information from health work- AIDS populations at the Center for Re-
innovations and create more relevant and ers everywhere I went because it is really search on Inner City Health.
usable devices.” important to understand the need in order “You can let what you see while work-
to find the best ways to meet it.” ing in this program frustrate you, or you can
Taking It to the Real World Such on-the-fly observations and mod- let it fill you with a stronger drive and a big-
ifications are what make the global health ger purpose,” Kim said. “Working in Leso-
The link between BTB and the design course course work and internships so valuable to tho changed the way I did everything my
also adds reality and urgency to what could students. senior year. I studied harder for exams and
easily be viewed merely as academic exer- “There are many programs around did markedly better in my classes. That’s
cises. Plus, students have the opportunity where students can get experience work- because I had something bigger I was
not only to implement their design projects ing in developing countries, but none of working toward. It wasn’t about getting into
but also to pass on their knowledge to fu- them place so much responsibility, ulti- medical school anymore. It was about help-
ture field and design teams. mately, on you as a student,” said Barry, ing people better themselves.”
One bioengineering capstone design one of the developers of the Haiti educa- Kamat said that sense of ownership
project that has benefited from student co- tion module who is working in Mali this is one of the reasons behind the program’s
operation over time is the diagnostic Lab- fall with a Howard Hughes Medical Insti- success.
in-a-Backpack. Over a span of two years, a tute international research scholar on ma- “There’s no safety net in this program,”
total of 12 Rice undergraduates worked on laria drug resistance. “In the Rice global she said. “If your program doesn’t work, it
the backpack. Initially developed by a five- health program, students are the ones fails. That’s it. I put more time into the mi-
member capstone bioengineering design coming up with the plans and implement- croenterprise project than any other course
team in 2006, the backpack was field-tested ing them, and we report our experiences in my college career, because I knew that
in Honduras by volunteers with the Baylor to others at Rice and to our partners so it was my responsibility. You could call it
Shoulder to Shoulder Program. Last year, a that they can do it better next time. We a burden, but it’s a burden that trains stu-
second group of seven students, including are where the buck stops, and it’s amaz- dents to be global leaders.”
two teams in BIOE 260, made several im- ing to have this type of an impact on the
provements to the backpack and prepared world as undergraduates.”
it for a second field test in Lesotho. One of Sophie Kim ’08 concurred. Kim imple- Learn more:
these seven was Jenna Hook, a Martel se- mented an HIV/AIDS awareness project in › › › r i c e 360. r i c e . e d u
nior who took the backpack to Lesotho and Lesotho in 2007 and this year coordinated a › › › b e yo n d t r a d i t i o n a l b o r der s. r ice. edu
gathered more information on modifying it community needs assessment there. She
to help individuals in the different commu- also worked this summer with Healthcare
nities she visited. for the Homeless — Houston to determine

Turning Research
Into Reality By Mike Williams
“My dad was always telling me to get a patent, the patenting of technologies developed at Mellon University and Harvard.
but I just thought, ‘They’ve already patented Rice, then to help market and manage the “The initial slope of success is not
everything on beer cans!’” process of licensing them and to collect that high, but the slope rises sharply
the associated fees. It’s a complex and ex- once momentum builds,” said James
That was back when Nila Bhakuni, fol- pensive process. Patenting a new idea can Coleman, Rice’s vice provost for research,
lowing in the professional footsteps of her take years, and it costs at least $30,000 who feels the university is well-posi-
father (who has 17 patents), was a research just to fi le with the feds. Then there are tioned for the future. “Our fi rst 10 years
and development engineer for the alumi- ongoing maintenance fees to protect one’s have brought us right to the point where
num manufacturer Alcoa. These days, as intellectual property. I expect to see that sharp increase, and
director of Rice’s Office of Technology “Most patents are black holes,” said I’m really excited.”
Transfer (OTT), Bhakuni is at the very cen- James Tour, who knows fi rsthand the
ter of a whirlwind of information, all part of value of OTT’s assistance. Tour, the Chao Off the Ground and Into the Marketplace
the process by which Rice-born technolo- Professor of Chemistry at Rice, used OTT’s
gies become real-world products. services in co-founding NanoComposites Fees and revenue are only part of the pic-
She mused recently about how wonder- Inc., a Houston company that processes ture. OTT has been increasingly success-
ful it would be if one particular technology nanotubes into a variety of materials ful in guiding industrial research contracts
that has passed through OTT becomes a remarkable for their strength, flexibility to Rice labs, which significantly aids in
reality. It’s a nanotech-based cure for cancer, and durability. the recruitment of excellent faculty. This
and human trials of the treatment are under “Few technologies generate the in- also raises Rice’s profi le as a generator of
way. come it takes to pay back what was spent tech-based businesses.
Such a breakthrough would be a fitting on patenting them,” said Tour. “Once in “Rice is in the top 10 of all universi-
tribute to the progress the office has made a while you get a blockbuster, but that’s ties in the number of startup companies
in pushing discoveries from the lab to very rare.” created based on Rice technologies when
the factory. Established on the foundation Without an office of technology trans- normalized to our size,” Coleman said.
of the late Richard Smalley’s pioneering fer, he said, “professors often will leave to “The university has been recognized as
discoveries in nanotechnology — ever hear exploit the technology they want to de- having the best portfolio of nanotechnolo-
of buckyballs? — OTT has championed velop. Working with OTT, they can have a gies in the country.”
inventions ranging from the sensational to role and maintain their professorships.” Coleman said that cooperation
the sublime. But every one of them has the Despite the fi nancial risk, the potential among faculty researchers, OTT and
potential to make the world a better place, rewards to the university are enormous. the Rice Alliance for Technology and
and as OTT enters its second decade, it The likes of Massachusetts Institute of Entrepreneurship, which holds events that
plans to bring more attention to the marvel- Technology and New York University pull put researchers and their discoveries in
ous research going on at Rice, and then to in hundreds of millions of dollars in li- front of venture capitalists and industry, is
move it beyond the hedges. censing fees, often on the success of just a a real strength. And that kind of interac-
few mature technologies. And while Rice tion is picking up speed as Rice pursues
Research Clearinghouse earned approximately $1.2 million in fees its strategy to become an elite institution
last year, that was more than double the in the realm of commercializing ideas.
Bhakuni explained that OTT functions as a university’s annual licensing revenue four Nanospectra Biosciences Inc. is an
kind of clearinghouse for Rice’s early stage years ago when Bhakuni arrived after her excellent example of Rice’s forward-
research. Its primary function is to facilitate stints in technology transfer at Carnegie looking vision. The Houston company
OTT functions as a kind of clearing-
house for Rice’s early stage research.
Patently Best
Its primary function is to facilitate the When it comes to the impact on in-
patenting of technologies developed dustry of its accumulated patents,
Rice University has proved itself
at Rice, then to help market and pretty inventive. According to the
manage the process of licensing Patent Board, a Chicago firm that
them and to collect the associ- ranks companies for the prowess of
their properties, Rice is No. 1 among
ated fees. research universities in “Industry
Impact.”
“Rice researchers work at the cutting edge

of their fields, so it’s not surprising that their
discoveries are having a large impact on
technological innovation,” said Vice Provost
for Research James Coleman. “The Patent
Board’s analysis confirms that impression.”
Nila Bhakuni
The company gathered and analyzed ref-
erences to universities and their patents in
is hot on the trail of a method to deliver was the entire University of California data from government and industry sources
cancer-killing AuroShells™ right where system. The quality of our patents is to quantify how influential a company’s
they’re needed in a patient’s body. The second to none.” patent portfolio is on the development of
technique is based on nanotechnology Though OTT sometimes says “no”
to a researcher, Bhakuni said there
technologies in other companies, compared
research led by Rice professors Naomi
Halas and Jennifer West. “The trial we’re also are times the office will pony up to the rest of the industry.
in now, which is focusing on head and to patent an idea that seems unlikely The Patent Board noted that while Rice
neck cancers, allows us to treat up to 15 to return the investment, just because
has “the lowest volume of patents, they
patients,” said Nanospectra Biosciences “it’s the right thing to do” and there is
CEO J. Donald Payne. “We expect it to be a defi nite need that the idea addresses. are influential, which is not surprising
completed by early 2009.” This willingness is especially important considering the majority are nanotechnol-
Nanospectra would not exist without in light of President David W. Leebron’s ogy related.” It specifically cited research
the Office of Technology Transfer. “They vision for bolstering Rice’s ability to
help solve the world’s problems. into optically activated nanoshells being
were instrumental in the formation of
the company and really helped carry it “Maybe that means we make a ton used in human cancer trials by Houston’s
through those difficult early years,” Payne of money, or maybe it means we have Nanospectra Biosciences Inc., a company
said. just a couple of well-known products
that really make an impact,” Bhakuni
founded on Rice technology.
OTT continues to provide support by
protecting the patents and, as a share- said. “And there is that potential. “Rice has only been doing the patent
holder, helping to refi ne the company’s Nanospectra’s technique to kill cancer game really seriously for the last de-
might work as well as hoped. That
mission. “Once we’ve proved the technol- cade,” said Wade Adams, director of Rice
ogy works in humans and move to the really would be marvelous, and I’d
love for them to say that Rice was the University’s Richard E. Smalley Institute
marketing phase,” Payne said, “we expect
to work further with Rice to expand the catalyst.” for Nanoscale Science and Technology,
development portfolio.” “and this recognition is a real testimony to
Learn more about the Office of Technology the inventiveness of the nanotechnology
The Right Thing to Do
Transfer: faculty and students here at Rice. It also
Wade Adams, director of the Richard E. › ›› ott.rice.edu demonstrates the aggressiveness of the
Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science university’s Office of Technology Transfer
and Technology, appreciates OTT’s ability For a list of technologies currently available for
licensing, visit: in getting patents issued and doing it in
to take patent pressures off his plate.
“OTT gives us more time to focus on the › ›› rice.wellspringsoftware.net a way that they’re rated the most power-
research,” he said. ful of all the portfolios. That’s a fantastic
It’s telling, said Adams, that by 2005, achievement.”
“the number of patents submitted by —Mike Williams
nanotechnology alone gave Rice the most
valuable patent portfolio of all other
universities in the country. It’s really
remarkable when you consider that No. 2

Journey Within
In the 1966 science fiction film “Fantastic Sprite bottles found their way into the
Voyage,” a team of doctors were minia- mix, but when Robson wanted to vary
turized and injected into a patient to
repair a blood clot in his brain. Along the Robson took the hues of the clear bottles she took
out her airbrush to give her construc-
low-tech
way, they journeyed through alveoli and tions smooth, translucent tints.
arteries and fought off white blood cor- Ribbed water bottles were linked
puscles. The special effects were kitschy together to create arching tubes that
by today’s standards — materials like
Cheerios and strawberry milk were used rubbish and resemble ringed tracheas. Smaller tubes
looked like capillaries. Networks of
to achieve the film’s biological visuals —
but for its day, “Fantastic Voyage” was transformed bottle bottoms created clusters of cells
and other physiological features, and
incredible, creepy and fascinating. “The
Great Indoors,” an installation at Rice
Gallery by Aurora Robson, achieved a
it into a organic tunnels led to a domed center
chamber where a glowing red, heart-like
organ dangled. Other vaguely spherical
similar effect as the artist took low-tech
rubbish and transformed it into a discon-
disconcerting constructions resembled giant viruses,
many of which were, like the “heart,”
certing wonderland.
Using 15,000 stacked, shredded
and riveted plastic bottles, Robson
wonderland. illuminated by solar-powered LED lights.
There was an unobtrusive environ-
mental angle to Robson’s work. Eight
crafted an environment of translucent out of 10 plastic water bottles become
tunnels and chambers. Walking through landfill waste, and even when they are
it felt like an exploration of the body of recycled, the recycling process itself
a giant organism. To find inspiration for consumes energy. Robson not only
her work, Robson researched medical il- recycled the bottles in a creative way,
lustrations and explored the Centers for she also used nontoxic water-based
Disease Control Web site. The colors of paint and solar-powered lights to further
her constructions — visceral reds, pinks “green” her art. She used her materials
and greens — lent a fantastical feel to so beautifully and transformed them so
the work as light passed through the effectively, however, that “eco-art” was
vibrant plastic forms. the installation’s least obvious aspect.
In creating her work, Robson had In creating a world that evoked the
to wash each plastic bottle and remove amazing internal environments of our
its label and any residual adhesive. She bodies, Robson gave visitors tickets to
then cut the bottles and used heat to a fantastic voyage they could take for
bend and stretch them and rivets to fas- themselves.
ten them together. Green ginger ale and —Kelly Klaasmeyer
38 www.rice.edu/ricemagazine Photos: Nash Baker © nashbaker.com

Arts
Mutant Graphics
On the walls of Rice Gallery, an angry ice
cream cone sported boxing gloves, an atomic
mushroom cloud erupted from a baby car-
riage and a turtle wore a human skull as
his shell.
Over the last eight years, artist Michael A. Salter

has collected more than 300 oddball logos, absurd
pictograms and bizarre product images. He also scav-
enges consumer leftovers — in particular, Styrofoam
formed to protect electronics. Salter brought his finds
together in unexpected ways in his Rice Gallery in-
stallation, “too much,” in which a giant robot made
from cast-off Styrofoam occupied most of the floor
space while the gallery walls were strewn with the
collected images.
Salter’s collection of graphic icon oddities was
transformed into monochromatic vinyl appliqués
that he adhered to the gray gallery walls like bizarre
wallpaper. The host of conceptual misfires raised in-
triguing questions about their purpose and those who
designed them. Why is an ant being injected by a hy-
podermic needle? Why does a bare foot wear a cow-
boy hat on its big toe? What in the world are these
images trying to communicate? The drawings looked
like mutant graphics cobbled together by a designer
who has only recently arrived on our planet.
In the midst of this, Salter’s giant white “Styrobot”
slumped against the wall in a corner of the gallery. Its
scale was menacing: 16 feet in height while seated,
it was far too tall to actually stand within the gallery.
It looked as if Salter’s creation was temporarily de-
activated, or maybe it was just overwhelmed by the
gallery’s visual cacophony.
Salter constructed the “Styrobot” from 3,000 cu-
bic feet of Styrofoam packaging, much of it saved and
donated by Rice University employees. All the divots,
bumps, indentations and cavities of the Styrofoam
were specifically designed to accommodate particu-
Salter constructed
lar products. Removed from their intended purpose,
they conveyed the same sense of bewilderment as
Salter’s collected images. The bizarre logos read
the “Styrobot” as frustrated attempts to communicate, while

the enormous robot, crafted from leftovers, had a
from 3,000 cubic Frankenstein-like quality.

“too much” made the point that, while visual
feet of Styrofoam
overload is grating, the physical overload of the junk
we make, buy and toss is much more than a psychic
assault: It is a tangible environmental threat. In draft-
packaging, much of ing the Styrofoam into service for his art, Salter gave
it a new purpose — at least until it was recycled at
it saved and donated the close of the exhibition.

Salter also gave new life to his collection of dys-
functional iconography by using it to confront us with
by Rice University the excesses of our consumer culture. “too much”

reads as a cautionary tale in which seemingly innocu-
employees. ous things become a gargantuan monster beyond our

control.
—Kelly Klaasmeyer

From Easy A to A+ Career
Premed major Chris Eska ’98 wasn’t looking for
a complete change of direction. He was simply
looking for a class that would be a good way
to blow off steam and help boost his GPA. A
film course looked like just the ticket, but he
quickly discovered that it was anything but an
“easy A.” And by the time it was over, he knew
he was going to have to change his major.
Eska’s passion for filmmaking fueled him to write, direct

and edit “August Evening,” an award-winning feature
film about an undocumented Mexican farm worker in the
United States and his young, widowed daughter-in-law as
they navigate life changes. The film’s dialogue is entirely
in Spanish.
Eska and crew were able to keep the budget low by
filming in his hometown of Gonzales, Texas. The entire
community came together to support Eska’s film, donating
on-set meals and appearing in supporting cast roles. He
also kept costs down by using relatively unknown actors
who were sold on the beauty of the script and the chance
to be part of an important project.
Eska also found help in his Rice connections. His co-
producer, Jason Wehling ’98, left his job at PBS to work on
“August Evening” and brought his PBS colleague Connie
Hill with him. Wehling also called on Joseph McKeel ’02 to
operate the boom microphone, Joseph Maloney ’98 to help
with graphic design and Andrew Hughes ’00 to do some
voice-over work.
Eska said that most films are wrapped up in tidy pack-
ages that don’t reflect life, and he tries to infuse his films
with emotions not often seen in feature films.
“Emotions, the human elements, the family drama —
they’re a common thread,” Eska said. “Things are ambigu-
ous or unfinished in life, in family. There’s an inevitability
of change.”
There’s a certain inevitability, too, about the many
awards the film has won. Among them are the John
Cassavetes Award for Best Feature Under $500,000 at
the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards, the Target Filmmaker
Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2007 Los Angeles
Film Festival, the Maverick Award for Best Narrative
Feature at the 2007 Woodstock Film Festival and the
Opera Prima Jury Award at the International Latino Film
Festival — San Francisco Bay Area.
Eska attributes the success of “August Evening” to “Emotions, the
its ability to capture true-to-life themes and relate them
across cultures.
human elements,
“I didn’t make it exclusively for the Latino community,” the family drama –
he said. “I didn’t make it to be political. However, if it
changes the way people think, then I’m happy.” they’re a common
While Eska continues to promote “August Evening,”
which has been picked up by distributor Maya Entertainment
thread. Things
group, he’s also hard at work on scripts about cave diving, are ambiguous or
the Mexican mafia and rural life in India.
“I want to change and do something radically different
unfinished in life,
with my next film,” Eska said. in family. There’s
—Jessica Stark
an inevitability of
For more information on “August Evening”:
change.”
—Chris Eska
›› › www.augustevening.com
Arts
“You try to capture things that few have ever

witnessed before. I’ve seen the Pacific Ocean
where it’s seven miles deep – it’s a color blue
you can’t describe.” —Mark Brice
Rice Alum
Wins Emmy
Mark Brice ’80 has slept under the stars in Africa, crossed through war zones medium rarely takes comfort and safety into
account.
in Burundi, trailed an anti-kidnapping unit in Brazil and lived aboard an aircraft “The challenge of making a documen-
carrier in the Persian Gulf. tary is finding a way to do your best work
and be open to discovery when you are
uncomfortable, when you’re not eating right,
Last fall, Brice’s trajectory brought him to Brian Huberman, chair of the Department when it’s 110 degrees and there’s no shade
Hollywood to accept an Emmy Award for of Visual and Dramatic Arts, “and it was in sight, when the weather is fogging up
Outstanding Cinematography for Reality clear that he was committed to filmmaking.” your goggles on an aircraft carrier and you
Programming for his work on the PBS film Sometimes that commitment has taken have no way of knowing exactly what kind
“Carrier.” A 10-hour series produced by Mel extreme forms. In making a film about ra- of picture you’re shooting.”
Gibson, “Carrier” follows a six-month de- cial violence spurred by an incident on the But Brice doesn’t complain. Instead
ployment of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier Texas coast, Brice, Huberman and a cam- he talks about the awe he’s felt and the
during the Iraq War. eraman drove around back roads at night, privileges he’s had.
The documentary medium rarely takes comfort and safety into account.
Brice’s remarkable journey began when unarmed, to film a Ku Klux Klan induction “If you really like what you’re doing,
Rice Media Center Director James Blue rally. Upon arriving, they were immediately those trying conditions are all worth it for
walked into his high school classroom some surrounded by men with rifles. the chance at the best pictures ever,” Brice
30 years ago. “Blue showed us a 16-millime- “I had a really good chance to see him said. “You try to capture things that few
ter film he shot in Africa and talked about in action,” Huberman said with a laugh, have ever witnessed before. I’ve seen the
what he did,” Brice recalled. “I thought, ‘I adding that it was one of the most memo- Pacific Ocean where it’s seven miles deep
want to do that.’ The Media Center at Rice rable experiences he’s had as a teacher. — it’s a color blue you can’t describe.”
was my launching pad.” Since then, Huberman has had other
Spending hours and hours synching au- opportunities to see Brice in action — most —Jessica Stark
dio and video wasn’t without pressure, but recently when they worked together on
Brice loved it, and his dedication attracted A&E’s “First 48,” which Brice has produced Read more about Mark Brice’s work on the
attention. for two years. The series follows homicide PBS reality series “Carrier”:
“I would see him late at night in the detectives as they try to solve murder cases.
›› › www.pbs.org/weta/carrier
editing room focused on his work,” said Brice admits that the documentary

Desert Light and Distance
“There’s nothing out there,” my friend said, referring to the
great arid reaches of the American West and Southwest.
I couldn’t have disagreed more. There’s time and distance
and the contours of the Earth that show an incredible vari-
ety to the discerning eye. And over it all, there is an almost
mesmerizing interplay of shadows and light.
If Catharine Hill Savage Brosman’s new volume of poetry,

“Range of Light” (Louisiana State University Press, 2007), is
any indication, she would agree wholeheartedly with me.
Brosman ’55, a professor emeritus
of French at Tulane University
The full-bodied who has produced a number of
outstanding academic works in her
poems in “Range of field, has been equally prolific in

writing poetry and essays about
Light” vividly and her travels, particularly through

the regions of America where the
gracefully capture a environment seems to dominate

the people who live there.
The full-bodied poems in
physical landscape “Range of Light” vividly and grace- Gifts of Art
fully capture a physical landscape
that is humanized by that is humanized by signs of pres-
ent and past habitation. If those
It might seem odd to devote the lush opulence of a coffee
signs of present and signs often show the imperma-
nence and frailty of humankind,
table art book to a couple of art connoisseurs, but when
the connoisseurs are John and Dominique de Menil, the
past habitation. they also show its diversity as
well as its tenacity. Most of all, the
format makes perfect sense.
poems evoke contemplations of
eternity and meaning that seem to be crucial elements in sur- The de Menils spent several decades collecting “things in which
viving and making sense of such long distances, vast spaces we believe,” as John phrased it, to develop one of the world’s
and inhospitable conditions. most inspired art collections. Luckily for Houston, the majority of
For those of us who already love the American West and their art is housed here in The Menil
Southwest, “Range of Light” will be a fond return. For others, it Collection, but the de Menils also were
might provide an illuminating experience. extraordinarily generous in donating Many are repro-
artworks to museums elsewhere. That
process of collection and dissemina- duced in large-
—Christopher Dow
tion is traced admirably by “A Modern format, full-color
Patronage: de Menil Gifts to American
images that are
and European Museums” (The Menil
Collection/Yale University Press, interspersed with
2007), by Marcia Brennan, associ- engaging text that
ate professor of art history at Rice;
Alfred Pacquement, director of the describes how
Musée National d’Art Moderne in the de Menils
Paris; and Ann Temkin, the Marie-
built their collec-
Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator
of Paintings and Sculptures at the tion and then gave
Museum of Modern Art in New York. it to the world.
The book showcases some 50
works from such diverse artists as
Max Ernst, Jackson Pollock, Claes
Oldenburg, Andy Warhol and Christo, among others, as well as
numerous pieces from the de Menils’ outstanding African, Oceanic
and pre-Columbian collections. Many are reproduced in large-
format, full-color images that are interspersed with engaging text
that describes how the de Menils built their collection and then gave
it to the world.
—Christopher Dow
Bookshelf
An American shift in U.S. foreign policy in the region
from conflict management to conflict
Ambassador in the resolution.
Middle East Discussing the book at a Baker Institute
event, Djerejian said that the overarching
goal of U.S. foreign policy in the Arab and
To navigate the complexities of any envi- Muslim world should be to strengthen
ronment, you need a good guidebook. When moderates and marginalize extremists. The
it comes to a region like the Middle East, best way to achieve that, he said, is to avoid
however, the socio-political landscape is imposing solutions from the outside and to
adopt policies that promote solutions that
arguably more convoluted than the geo- stem mainly from the people in the region.
graphic terrain, so it’s critical to get solid But we also must be aware of unintended
information from someone who knows consequences.
the territory. That’s what makes Edward “We should not be so naïve in
P. Djerejian’s new book, “Danger and Washington,” Djerejian said, “to think that
we can promote democracy in the Middle
Opportunity: An American Ambassador’s East without Islamist groups coming into
Journey Through the Middle East,” such power.”
a valuable contribution to the literature While supporting moves to spread
on international relations. democracy in the Arab and Muslim world,
Djerejian cautioned against a “fixation on
Djerejian, founding director of Rice “We should not elections.” He relayed an anecdote from his
time as ambassador in Damascus. Then-
University’s James A. Baker III Institute for
Public Policy, wrote the book to encapsulate be so naïve in Syrian President Hafez al-Assad had just
been re-elected with 99.44 percent of the
his experiences as an American diplomat
who served under eight United States
Washington to vote. Djerejian said he congratulated Assad
on his overwhelming victory and then
presidents and administrations, from John F.
Kennedy to Bill Clinton. William Martin, the
think that we asked about the .56 percent that had voted
against him. “I have all their names,” Assad
Harry and Hazel Chavanne Senior Fellow
for Religion and Public Policy at the Baker
can promote assured Djerejian. The point, Djerejian
said, is that “elections alone do not make
Institute and professor emeritus of sociolo-
gy, collaborated with Djerejian on the book.
democracy in democracy.”
The book begins with an open letter the Middle East “Danger and Opportunity” includes
chapters on Djerejian’s time in Beirut,
to the next president of the United States.
Djerejian, who served as U.S. ambassador without Islamist Damascus and Jerusalem, as well as on the
geopolitics of energy and on his roles as
to both Syria and Israel as well as assistant
secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, groups coming senior adviser to the Iraq Study Group and
chairman of the bipartisan U.S. Advisory
calls for immediate involvement in efforts to
stabilize the region. Furthermore, he urges into power.” Group on Public Diplomacy in the Arab
and Muslim World. It is aimed at audiences
the incoming administration to engage its ranging from historians to policy analysts to
—Edward P. Djerejian
adversaries. Finally, he backs a fundamental casual readers.
—Franz Brotzen
“California Romantica: “Lord of the Loincloth,” “Financial Reporting and “The Legend of Mar “Interfacial Phenomena:
Spanish Colonial and by Christopher Dow, Global Capital Markets: A Qardagh: Narrative Equilibrium and
Mission-Style Houses,” Rice staff (Phosphene History of the International and Christian Heroism Dynamic Effects,”
photos by Paul Hester Publishing Co., 2007) Accounting Standards in Late Antique Iraq,” by Clarence A. Miller,
’71, lecturer in visual and Committee, 1973–2000,” by by Joel Walker ’91 Louis Calder Professor in
dramatic arts at Rice, and Stephen A. Zeff, the Herbert S. (University of California Chemical and Biomolecular
Lisa Hardaway; created by Autrey Professor of Accounting, Press, 2006) Engineering, and P. Neogi
Diane Keaton, text by D. and Kees Camfferman (Oxford (CRC Press, 2007)
J. Waldie (Rizzoli, 2007) University Press, 2007)

Bowl ’Em
Over
Sports
Dec. 30, 2008, was a day Rice football fans will remember well. In a near-
perfect performance in Reliant Stadium, the Owls defeated the Western
Michigan University Broncos 38–14 and ended more than 50 years of postsea-
son frustration by winning their first bowl game since the 1954 Cotton Bowl.

The season also marked the first time
Rice reached 10 victories since 1949,
and the players hope they’ve set a higher
standard for the future.
“When you look back and see how
everything has unfolded, it’s a special op-
portunity,” said quarterback Chase Clement.
“It really sets this program in the right
direction. Hopefully, those guys who are
younger than us have seen what it takes to
win and what it takes to be successful and
keep that going.”
The victory hinged on Clement, who
threw three touchdown passes, ran for a
score and caught a touchdown pass from
wide receiver Jarett Dillard. Clement went
30-for-44 for 307 yards and was the game’s
Most Valuable Player. Dillard caught his
nation-leading 20th touchdown of the
season and finished his Rice career with 60
career TD catches — an NCAA record by
10. He also tied former Memphis running
back DeAngelo Williams’ Conference USA
record for career touchdowns.
Usually, the passing goes from Clement
to Dillard, but in a dramatic role reversal,
Clement passed to Dillard, who threw back
to a wide-open Clement for a touchdown
and a 31–0 lead. It was Dillard’s first
career completion and the 51st touchdown
produced by the duo. Then, Dillard caught
an 18-yard pass from Clement in the fourth
quarter to give Rice a 38–0 lead. In eight
previous bowls, the Owls never scored
more than 28 points.
“I was just surprised at how well we
were executing,” Dillard said. “It was a team
effort, and we really stepped out on the
field and played as one.”
The performance by Rice’s defense was
just as remarkable. Although the Owls gave
up an average of 467 yards and 35 points
per game during the season, they shut out
the high-scoring Broncos — who ranked
24th in total offense coming in — for more
than three quarters before Bronco quarter-
back Tim Hiller threw a 2-yard touchdown
pass to Kirk Elsworth with 6:33 left in the
game.
The Rice win was the result of a sea-
son’s worth of discipline and teamwork.
“We just needed time to grow,” said
linebacker Brian Raines. “We had the
chance to work and have some chemistry
going into this game.”
For more coverage and photos of the

game, visit:
›› › tinyurl.com/ 8m6qdt
Sports
“With the Texas Bowl

and Rice’s winning
season, you can
feel a sense of pride
on campus and in
Houston. It gives
others exposure to
this great university.”
—David Bailiff
Coach of the Year

After a season for both the record books and the storybooks, Bailiff’s players aren’t strangers to rewards — or hard work. Since taking the
Rice Head Football Coach David Bailiff has been named the reigns in 2007, Bailiff has demanded focus and dedication from his players on and
Conference USA (C-USA) Coach of the Year. But Bailiff isn’t off the field. When he first arrived at Rice, he didn’t have the players’ names put on
taking it personally. the backs of their jerseys.
He told them, “If you want your names on the backs of these jerseys, you will
“Coach of the Year is a tribute to this whole football team,” Bailiff said. “It lets you have to earn them.” At the time, he was thinking that his players would earn them
know how hard the players have worked and how much everyone has given — from on the gridiron. But when his players achieved the program’s highest ever cumula-
the assistant coaches to the Athletics Department to the staff that keeps our build- tive GPA, he had the names added.
ing in shape. It might be my name on it, but it represents Rice and Rice Athletics.” “That was an accomplishment that had to be significantly marked and hon-
This year, Bailiff led the Owls to a 7–1 conference record, a share of the West ored,” Bailiff said. “Being a student–athlete is not just about winning, it’s about be-
Division title, a 9–3 overall record and a win in the Texas Bowl against Western ing involved in the community. It’s about graduating. It’s one thing I like most about
Michigan University. Rice. Academics are valued, and student–athletes are expected to be students.”
“With the Texas Bowl and Rice’s winning season, you can feel a sense of pride They’re also gentlemen.
on campus and in Houston,” Bailiff said. “It gives others exposure to this great “When you leave a hotel and the staff says what a class act your guys are, that
university.” means something,” Bailiff said. “People always stop to tell me that they’ve never
Bailiff’s 2008 Rice squad set more than 30 school, conference and NCAA seen such character in football players.”
team and individual records. The Owls’ offense ranked 10th in the Football Bowl Bailiff said he saw that character when he took the job at Rice. He also be-
Subdivision in total offense, fifth in passing offense and eighth in scoring offense. lieved that the Owls could be a winning team athletically as well as academically.
“You break records when you don’t worry about records,” Bailiff said.
“You break them when you’re not concerned about yourself. You’re doing it A Texas Treasure
for your team.”
“Growing up in this state, I always thought Rice was a Texas treasure. But it’s not
Players’ Honors just a Texas treasure. This is a school that is known from coast to coast as one of
the best. I just hope it will soon be known as one of the best for athletics, too.”
Under Bailiff’s guidance, five Rice players earned All-Conference USA recognition To ensure that the football program continues down that successful path,
by the league’s coaches, including three first-team selections. Included are quar- Bailiff and his staff are working hard to recruit top talent who also will fi t in
terback Chase Clement and wide receiver Jarett Dillard, who became the NCAA’s at Rice.
most prolific scoring duo. Dillard, Rice’s record-setting receiver, has been named “Our players are smart. They can look 50 years into the future and see
to the Football Writers Association of America All-American team, the first Owl to what that Rice degree can do for them — they’re not just thinking about the
earn the honor since Buddy Dial received it in 1959. Clement, the team’s standout next four or fi ve years on the field,” Bailiff said. “We tell every recruit that fi ve
quarterback, was recognized as the C-USA Most Valuable Player. Both expect to be years after graduation, we expect him to be the boss. In 10 years, we expect
chosen in next year’s National Football League draft. Additionally, four Rice players him to have paid back his scholarship. And in 40 or 50 years, he should have a
earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District recognition this fall, with sopho- building named for him.”
more tight end James Casey being named an Academic All-American. While Bailiff’s players strive for those goals, he strives for another one.
“If you ask Chase how he did it, he’ll credit the offensive line,” Bailiff said. “I hope they leave with a love for Rice and a love for each other,” he said. “I
“If you ask Casey, he will give praise to Dillard. It’s the whole football team that hope they always stay involved and that they will rely on each other in the good
contributes, and I’m so proud of them. It’s nice when good guys work hard and get times and the bad, just like they’ve done on the field.”
—Jessica Stark
rewarded.”

Rice prides itself on the better-
than-passing grade point averages
of its student–athletes, but quar-
terback Chase Clement and wide
receiver Jarett Dillard also have
made the grade with better-than-
average passing points for their
record-breaking achievements in
pass–reception.
Clement and Dillard came to Rice as unheralded

recruits from San Antonio, Texas, their prosaic
high school football careers holding no hint that
they’d eventually become the most productive
duo in NCAA history. But the proof came on Sept.
26, 2008, when the two seniors established an
NCAA record of 41 career scoring passes as Rice
blasted North Texas 77–20. They knocked down
the former record of 38 established in 1997–98
by Tim Rattay and Troy Edwards of Louisiana
Tech University and matched last season by Colt
Brennan and Davone Bess of the University of
Hawaii at Mãnoa.
The game also allowed Dillard to tie Edwards
for the NCAA career record for touchdown recep-
tions, with 50, and Rice’s score set a Conference
USA record and was the highest point total by an
Owls’ team in the modern era and Rice’s largest
margin of victory since 1944. The only Owls foot-
ball team to score more points in a game was the
1916 unit, which defeated Southern Methodist
University 146–3.
But Rice’s dynamic duo wasn’t finished. By
the time the season and the Texas Bowl were
history, they’d chalked up a total of 52 successful
pass receptions. Technically, the next-to-the-last
instance in the Texas Bowl was a case of role
reversal, with Dillard throwing to Clement for a
touchdown. With one last shot from Clement,
Dillard wound up his career with 60 touchdown
Dynamic
catches, besting the former record by 10.
For their outstanding efforts, Clement and
Dillard have received a number of honors, both
individually and as a pair, including being named
Duo
San Antonio Sportsmen of the Year.
View Chase Clement’s stats at:

›› › tinyurl.com / 8 q f man
View Jarett Dillard’s stats at:

›› › tinyurl.com / 7 7 2 sn5
Read a Q&A with Chase Clement and

Jarett Dillard:
›› › tinyurl.com / 9 r 6 3 3 o
ON THE Bookshelf
Dr. Teresa J. Vietti
Medical Pioneer Honors Mother’s Passion for Art

Dr. Teresa J. Vietti ’49 has never been one to shy away from a challenge. As an undergraduate student
at Rice during the 1940s, she was one of only a handful of female students enrolled. She also began
studying and treating cancer in children before the field of pediatric oncology even existed.
Educational achievement and a pioneering spirit seem to be part of the Vietti family genes.
Dr. Vietti’s father held a Ph.D. in physical chemistry and was a successful exploratory geophysi-
cist, while her mother, Grace, earned a degree in art history at a time when even fewer women
pursued postsecondary studies.
Now, through several planned gifts, Dr. Vietti will honor her mother’s passion for art by estab-
lishing the Grace Vietti Endowed Chair in Visual Arts. Her gift not only will help to secure an
important faculty position in the humanities, but also will benefit Rice students for years to come.
To learn more about this fund or about making charitable gifts to Rice through your estate,
please contact the Office of Gift Planning for gift illustrations and calculations tailored to your situation.
Phone: 713-348-4624 • E-mail: giftplan@rice.edu • Web site: www.giving.rice.edu/giftplanning

Nonprofit Organization
U.S. Postage
PAID
Permit #7549
Houston, Texas
Rice University
Creative Services–MS 95
P.O. Box 1892
Houston, TX 77251-1892
T H E C E N T E N N I A L C A M PA I G N
Fun, food and enthusiasm

abounded at Centennial
Campaign kick-off events
held in New York and
San Francisco and on the
Rice campus.
Visit the photo gallery › › › tiny url.com / 8 z 3 nz z

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14 | Children’s Campus •

22 THE CENTENNIAL CAMPAIGN

Rice Magazine • No 1 • 2008 1

42 How they collected 19 Rice students are

9 Find your path the

13 You might have more

On the cover: Build it and they will come. Brochstein Pavilion

18 And the Austrian Mathematical

32 Global Health: Taking the Lead in Bookshelf

48 These two Rice Owls never met

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 1

thing? Immediately following the word Editor

“campaign” is “campanile.” It’s a serendip- Editorial Director

is embarking on an extraordinary fund- Jeff Cox

the century to come, and the “Campanile” Editorial Staff

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 3

That’s the goal of Laura Segatori, who

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 5

Pats on the Back

Learn more about the Rice Alliance

LEARN MORE ›› › tin yur l .com/ 6ow f mw

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 7

View the full list of Rice CAREER Award winners:

Baker Institute Collaborates on Breakthrough in External Funding

Rice MBA Program Ranks First in the Southwest

View survey results and overall rankings:

Calling All Facebook Fans

Find Your Way the High-Tech Way

Experience the Rice virtual tour: ›› › www. rice. edu/v i r t u a l t o u r s

View the Rice interactive campus map: ›› › www.rice.edu/maps

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 9

“A chemical factory uses hydrogen gas and

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 11

protein with that of the nonmutant and

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 13

Webcam: › › › t inyur l. com /6m m h2q

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 15

Construction Web Site Remodel

Looking for news on the many construction projects

Learn more: ››› cons t r u c t i o n . r i c e. e d u

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 17

BP, one of the world’s largest produc-

Learn more: ››› tinyurl.com/6 emtyb

Doctoral Mathematics doctoral student Helge Krüger

Student Studentenpreis, awarded by the Austrian

Wins thesis written in Austria.

Austrian University of Vienna. Titled “Relative Oscillation

L–R, top row: Joff

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 19

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 21

When President Edgar Odell Lovett spoke in 1912 at the

“We must continue to set ‘no upper limit’ — no restriction on

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 23

Rice: Living Its Vision

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 25

Transforming extraordinary students Facing challenges. Learning and leading

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 27

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 29

who came out

was a sense of same challenge. Robert and I share a

and a sense that

we want this Robert: Just being around people who

Rice Magazine • No. 2 • 2009 31

The influence of technology on global health is undeniable,