People, papers and presentations

Jan Odegard, executive director of Rice’s Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology, delivered a “Lunch’n Learn” speech at the Norwegian Consulate General in Houston Jan. 29. Odegard’s talk was titled “How Heaps of Sand Transformed Society: Will the Information Technology Race Continue Unabated?” and focused on the achievements of the IT industry and the challenges and opportunities it will face this decade.

The science outreach efforts of Patricia Reiff, professor of physics and astronomy, are featured on Page 44 of the latest issue of Spinoff, NASA’s annual publication that features examples of the broad impact of NASA innovations. The article describes Reiff’s collaborative efforts with the Houston Museum of Natural Science to create three world firsts: an Internet-accessible museum kiosk, a fully digital planetarium and a portable planetarium.