People, papers and presentations

Luis Duno-Gottberg, associate professor of Hispanic studies, was one of three jurors who selected this year’s winner of Venezuela’s Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize, Puerto Rican author Eduardo Lalo, for “Simone.” One of the leading literary prizes in the Spanish-speaking world, it is conferred every two years in honor of the late Venezuelan politician and novelist Rómulo Gallegos and includes a $100,000 cash award. Previous winners have included Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez and Carlos Fuentes.

Mark Jones, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, professor and chair of political science and fellow in political science at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, presented “Institutional Challenges in Federal Countries” and “No Possibility of the Next President Not Being a Peronist” at Universidad de San Andrés Aug. 7.

The Programmable-Bio-Nano-Chip team led by John McDevitt, the Brown-Wiess Professor of Bioengineering and Chemistry, is one of 12 finalists in the Nokia Sensing X Challenge to accelerate the availability of hardware and software sensing technology for digital health solutions. The Rice team’s affordable lab-on-a-chip system blends nanoscale sensors, microfluidics, noninvasive testing and artificial intelligence to diagnose disease. Judging and an awards ceremony will take place at the Health 2.0 Fall Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., Oct. 2.

Julia Morgan, professor of Earth science, has been named the second winner of the annual Paul G. Silver Award for Outstanding Scientific Service from the American Geophysical Union. The award recognizes a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the fields of geodesy, seismology or tectonophysics through mentoring of junior colleagues, leadership of community research initiatives or other forms of unselfish collaboration in research. Morgan researches the mechanics and deformation of Earth’s shallow crust at subduction zones and rifted margins and the unique tectonics of oceanic volcanic islands. She is the chair of the National Science Foundation-funded GeoPRISMS program. The award will be presented at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco Dec. 9-13.