People, papers and presentations

The OxyCal team of sophomores Nishant Verma, Peter Suzuki and Preston Quine won a $5,000 grant from nonprofit organization VentureWell to develop their prototype and attend a workshop on how to better articulate the opportunity for its innovation in the marketplace. OxyCal’s device detects oxygen concentration output in patients during surgery and neonatal care and is a cheaper alternative for use in low-income areas. OxyCal won the grant during the stage-one competition and is eligible to apply for stage two of the program organized by VentureWell, which supports early stage scientific and technological innovation. OxyCal also won the Excellence in Freshman Engineering Design Award at the 2016 George R. Brown Engineering Design Showcase.

Aysha Pollnitz, assistant professor in the Department of History and author of “Princely Education in Modern Britain,” received the Royal Historical Society’s 2016 Whitfield Prize. This honor recognizes the best book on British and Irish history that is the author’s first sole book publication. “This highly original and beautifully written book explores the liberal education received by royal children in Tudor and Stuart Britain,” the U.K-based organization’s judges wrote in their citation. “Drawing attention to the specificities of nation and context, ‘Princely Education’ draws on an impressive range of Latin sources, and is yet highly readable and accessible in style.”

Robert Flatt ’70, adjunct professor in management at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business, is the featured artist for the 2016-2017 Art Ability Exhibition at the Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital in Malvern, Pa. This yearlong program serves as a showcase for, and celebration of, artists with disabilities to inspire patients to reach beyond their limitations and to encourage people with disabilities to explore their own creativity. Flatt said that of the many awards he has received, none were more prestigious to him than this one.

Incoming Rice freshman Smeet Madhani was part of a three-member team that won first place in the Management Decision Making category at the 2016 Future Business Leaders of America national leadership conference held June 29-July 2 in Atlanta.