Dateline Rice for Aug. 19, 2015

FEATURED ITEM

A cardboard canoe regatta for girls in science
Fifty girls capped a three-year experience in the Rice University Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering’s Girls STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Initiative June 25 by designing and building cardboard canoes for a regatta race.
National Public Radio’s “Here & Now” (This broadcast also appeared on Daily Mail and 24 other media outlets.)
http://bit.ly/1hMn02F

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Nissan in Mexico: Japanese automaker exports 5 millionth car from its Mexican manufacturing base
Mexico is quickly becoming a major automotive manufacturing hub, producing at least 307,000 units annually. Tony Payan, the Baker Institute for Public Policy’s Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and director of the institute’s Mexico Center, is quoted about the North American automobile industry from his interview with Fox News Latino last month.
International Business Times
http://bit.ly/1fp0Mlw

HOUSTON/TEXAS

Rice University’s secret symbols, inside jokes and elaborate pranks
Rice’s architectural details are full of secret symbols created by its first president, Edgar Odell Lovett. Stephen Fox, lecturer of architecture, is quoted.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/1Jip60g
http://bit.ly/1JiFRN5

Internships aren’t just for summer anymore
Nicole Van Den Heuvel, director of Rice’s Center for Career Development, is quoted about students who are either interested in one-year overseas jobs or immediate full-time careers after graduation.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/1MDj3dM

Galveston
The Rice University Police Department will participate in Galveston’s seventh annual “Battle of the Badges” at the Moody Gardens Convention Center Aug. 29.
Houston Chronicle (Scroll down to the “Galveston” heading.)
http://bit.ly/1fpeYLi

Former cancer agency official’s trial opens
The trial against former Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas executive Jerald Cobbs has begun. Rice is mentioned.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/1J3ZnJD
Prosecutor: Dallas-Houston rivalry at heart of Texas cancer agency exec’s case
Dallas Morning News
http://bit.ly/1TTlLQl

Researchers: Voter ID confusion may have turned an election
Mark Jones, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, professor of political science and fellow in political science at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, comments on the confusion over Texas’ voter photo identification requirement, mayoral candidate Ben Hall’s support from African-American ministers, the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance and why some criminals smile in their mug shot photos.
Cleburne Times-Review
http://bit.ly/1PzvhlO
Black conservative ministers give Ben Hall full backing in mayoral race
My Fox Houston
http://bit.ly/1PzJxey
The contours of the HERO fight
Off the Kuff
http://bit.ly/1JiuPmG
Why some criminal suspects smile in their mug shots
San Antonio Express-News (This article also appeared in Beaumont Enterprise and San Francisco Chronicle.)
http://bit.ly/1WF6DoD

On the line: Will a Dallas-to-Houston bullet train revolutionize Texas?
Kyle Shelton, postdoctoral research fellow at Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, is quoted in an article about the proposed bullet train that will connect Houston to Dallas to combat traffic.
Dallas Observer
http://bit.ly/1E3KOcA

End Texas’ voter confusion epidemic
Confusion over Texas’ voter photo identification requirement potentially discouraged as many as 9 percent of registered voters from going to the polls in the November 2014 elections in the Latino-majority U.S. Congressional District 23, according to a new study by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the University of Houston Hobby Center for Public Policy.
TribTalk 
http://bit.ly/1USVkHF

BROADCAST

French explorations
Music performed by Rice’s Shepherd School of Music is played on Houston Public Media’s “Music in the Making.”
Houston Public Media
http://bit.ly/1Jiu6lE

TRADE/PROFESSIONAL

A carbon capture strategy that pays
James Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering, comments on George Washington University’s discovery of a method for turning atmospheric CO2 into carbon nanofibers.
Science AAAS
http://bit.ly/1PzkpnW

Texas Heart Institute and Rice University receive joint American Heart Association grant
Rice University and Texas Heart Institute researchers are studying the use of soft, flexible fibers made of carbon nanotubes to restore electrical conductivity to damaged heart tissue. Matteo Pasquali, the A.J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, chair of the Department of Chemistry and a professor of materials science and nanoengineering and of chemistry, is quoted.
BioNews-TX
http://bit.ly/1WEwqNG

OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST

All change, as electro-storage powers up for a brighter future
Advances in electro-engineering mean that tomorrow’s generation of smartphones, robots and vehicles may be powered by smarter and longer-lasting devices than ever. Research by Rice University is cited, and Leela Mohana Reddy, a former researcher at Rice, is quoted.
The Queanbeyan Age (This article also appeared in The Rural and 20 other media outlets.)
http://bit.ly/1PzAydd

SPORTS

Rice football practice report: Aug. 18
Assistant football coach Chris Thurmond is interviewed about Rice football practices.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/1JirdBa

Despite the heat, Canadian Godber driven to succeed at Rice
Jones College junior football player Peter Godber is featured. Head football coach David Bailiff is quoted. Former players Luke Willson and Christian Covington are mentioned.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/1ECGuMb

Houston Cup Wild Card Tourney set for Labor Day weekend
The third annual United States Tennis Association Houston Futures Wild Card tournament will be held at Rice Sept. 5-7.
Conference USA (This article also appeared in Big Ten Conference.)
http://bit.ly/1E5xpjZ

Women’s soccer begins regular season with Texas two-step
Rice women’s soccer will play against San Jose State University Aug. 23.
San Jose State Spartans
http://bit.ly/1KvV1eF

KWGN-TV (Denver)
Alumnus Klein Kubiak ’14 is featured.
http://bit.ly/1K66OV6

NEWS RELEASE

Rice U.’s Indo-American Business Club to launch Sept. 2 
A new club with the goal of connecting the Indo-American business community of Houston and Texas with the faculty and students of Rice University will launch at the university’s Jones Graduate School of Business Sept. 2.
http://bit.ly/1Ll0v1y