Dateline Rice for Jan. 4, 2018

FEATURED ITEM

Hey, bargain hunters: An MBA is cheaper than you think
Sue Oldham ’90, director of MBA for Professionals admissions at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business, is quoted on the school’s merit-based scholarships.
Wall Street Journal (Subscription is required. This article also appeared in MSN.com and CetUSNews.)
http://on.wsj.com/2EWAGVw

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Redistricting cases could redefine state and US politics in 2018
Mark Jones, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, professor of political science, fellow in political science at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and fellow at Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, is quoted on gerrymandering cases in Texas. Jones also is quoted in stories on Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey relief funding, Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez running for Texas governor and former U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro.
Governing
http://bit.ly/2EVdKpl
Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez is gay and running for Texas governor
On Top Magazine
http://bit.ly/2EXU9VN
KRLD-AM (Dallas)
http://bit.ly/2CDYT5a (Click the audio button to listen to the broadcast, which also aired on KLBJ-AM in Austin, Texas.)
PAC, autobiografía y ¿campaña presidencial? Julián Castro sigue el manual de los que aspiran a la Casa Blanca
Univision (An English translation is not available.)
http://bit.ly/2EXgbro

These are our favorite things about covering Boston sports this year
Brian Mann, Rice’s associate athletic director for development, is featured in a roundup of Boston sports news in 2017. He threw the football that Lady Gaga caught at the end of her halftime performance in Super Bowl LI in Houston.
Boston Globe
http://bit.ly/2EWuLQi
Here’s how a guy from Canton ended up tossing a ball to Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl
Boston Globe
http://bit.ly/2ESOYGB

HOUSTON/TEXAS

Consumers projected to pay $25 billion more for gasoline in 2018
Bill Arnold, professor in the practice of management at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business, is quoted in an article on gasoline price projections.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription is required. This article appeared on the front page of the Business section in the Jan. 4 print edition with a different headline, “Pump prices: Motorists likely to pay $25 billion more this year as the demand for gasoline rises.”)
http://bit.ly/2EXWMXl

You’re paying twice as much for health care. How do you feel?
Graduate student Sonia Parra is pictured in a slideshow.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription is required.)
http://bit.ly/2EWVyfg

Parker says she’s ‘uniquely positioned’ to lead victory fund
Alumna Annise Parker ’78, a fellow at Rice’s Doerr Institute for New Leaders and former mayor of Houston, is featured. She is the president and CEO of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which seeks to identify and elect LGBTQ people to public office.
OutSmart Magazine
http://bit.ly/2EYFXMg

What Rob Landes can do with a violin
Violinist Robert Landes ’12 is featured. He will play at the Charles Bender Performing Arts Center Jan. 13 in Humble, Texas.
The Tribune
http://bit.ly/2EWLLG6

Top 8 plays and arts performances this month: January 2018
Chamber Music Houston’s presentation of ‘Chanticleer’ Jan. 18 at Rice’s Stude Concert Hall is mentioned.
365 Things To Do in Houston
http://bit.ly/2EUaB9n

TRADE/PROFESSIONAL

Paving the road to faster, safer batteries
The lab of James Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering, found that a touch of asphalt may be the secret to high-capacity lithium metal batteries that charge faster than commercial lithium-ion batteries. Tour is quoted.
Natural History Magazine
http://bit.ly/2ESBydH

OpenStax grows in popularity, but overall awareness of OER remains low
Rice-based publisher OpenStax, which develops open educational resources, is featured.
EdScoop
http://bit.ly/2EW1tkw

Carbon nanotubes devices may have a limit to how ‘nano’ they can be
Carbon nanotubes bound for electronics not only need to be as clean as possible to maximize their utility in next-generation nanoscale devices, but contact effects may limit how small a nano device can be, according to researchers at the Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at Swansea University in collaboration with researchers at Rice. Andrew Barron, the Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch Professor of Chemistry and professor of materials science and nanoengineering and director of the ESRI, is quoted.
R&D (Similar articles appeared in more than 10 other media outlets.)
http://bit.ly/2EVCiyw

Haim Steinbach: ‘It was a concept that generated a new historical movement in contemporary art.’
Timothy Morton, the Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English, is mentioned.
Fad
http://bit.ly/2ESHLGq

Sigilon Theraputics appoints David E. Moller, M.D., as chief scientific officer
Omid Veiseh, assistant professor of bioengineering, is a co-founder of Sigilon Theraputics.
Boston Business Journal
http://bit.ly/2EUHTVZ

OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST

Presurgical imaging may predict whether epilepsy surgery will work
Surgery to remove a part of the brain to give relief to patients with epilepsy doesn’t always result in complete seizure relief, but statisticians at Rice have developed a method for integrating neuroimaging scans to identify patients at high risk of continued seizures before the surgery takes place. Study co-authors Marina Vannucci, the Noah Harding Professor of Statistics and chair of the Department of Statistics, and lead author Sharon Chiang, an M.D./Ph.D. student at Rice and Baylor College of Medicine, are quoted. Co-author Michele Guindani, an associate professor of statistics at the University of California, Irvine, and an adjunct associate professor at Rice, is mentioned.
Frontiers Blog
http://bit.ly/2EYbldB

The year of the piano
Rice’s former quartet-in-residence, the Dover String Quartet, will participate in the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival in Fernandina Beach, Fla.
Amelia Islander
http://bit.ly/2ESLILn

25 free things to do this winter in Houston
The Shepherd Society’s Family Concert Jan. 20 at Stude Concert Hall is mentioned.
Mommy Nearest
http://bit.ly/2ESeYBQ

Internationales virtuelles Hochschulaustauschprogramm gestartet
Rice has an agreement with eight other elite universities around the world that will allow students from the participating schools to enroll in select online courses from the other member schools and receive transfer credits for them.
Kooperation International (An English translation is not available.)
http://bit.ly/2EXhXci

SPORTS

Home series versus Mississippi State, Rice highlight 2018 Southern Miss baseball schedule
The Rice baseball team will face the University of Southern Mississippi March 30-April 1 in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Hattiesburg American
http://hatne.ws/2EUrWPo

2017 in review: Top stories to remember
A recap of college baseball news mentions Rice extended its streak of postseason appearences.
D1Baseball.com
http://bit.ly/2E75qBA

How former San Diego Chargers lineman Courtney Hall used his intellect, on and off the field
Former Rice football player Courtney Hall ’90 is featured.
USA Football
http://bit.ly/2E6c7UT

NAU roundup: Swimming and diving takes on nationally ranked Arizona on Friday
The Rice women’s swimming team will compete Jan. 5 in Tucson, Ariz.
Arizona Daily Sun
http://bit.ly/2EUx4mJ

NEWS RELEASES

Touchy nanotubes work better when clean
Carbon nanotubes bound for electronics need to be as clean as possible to maximize their utility in next-generation nanoscale devices, and scientists at Rice and Swansea universities have found a way to remove contaminants from the nanotubes.
Rice chemist Andrew Barron, also a professor at Swansea in the United Kingdom, and his team have figured out how to get nanotubes clean and in the process discovered why the electrical properties of nanotubes have historically been so difficult to measure.
http://bit.ly/2EVkfIM

Rice U.’s one-step catalyst turns nitrates into water and air
Engineers at Rice’s Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Center have found a catalyst that cleans toxic nitrates from drinking water by converting them into air and water. The research is available online in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Catalysis.
http://bit.ly/2E6Wooo