Dateline Rice for March 13, 2020

FEATURED ITEMS

Numerous articles report measures taken to help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Rice will be transitioning to online classes for the remainder of the spring semester, and Conference USA has suspended all sports competitions. Four Rice experts are quoted in articles about how the virus has affected the U.S., the oil industry in Venezuela and Texas, and small businesses in Texas. The impact on Rice’s women’s basketball team is reported in an article by the Houston Chronicle.

What to do if your college closes due to the coronavirus
U.S. News & World Report (Below is a sampling of articles that appeared in more than 400 other media outlets.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-usnwr
US colleges move classes online because of coronavirus threat
VOA’s “Learning English”
http://dateline.rice/march-13-voa
Rice University closing campus for semester
Houston Chronicle (Subscription is required. This article also appeared in the March 13 print edition of the Chronicle, and it appeared online in the San Antonio Express-News and San Francisco Chronicle.)
http://dateline.rice/march-12-hc
Forced to move out, Trinity University students rush to move home or find off-campus housing
San Antonio Express-News (Subscription is required. This article also appeared in the March 13 print edition of the Express-News, and it appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-expnews
Here’s why closing schools is the responsible way to stop COVID-19 in Houston region [Editorial]
Houston Chronicle (Subscription is required. This article also appeared in the March 13 print edition of the Chronicle, and it appeared online in the San Antonio Express-News.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-hc
Coronavirus live updates: Emergency declared in Dallas County
Houston Chronicle (Subscription is required. This article also appeared in the Connecticut Post and in more than 25 other media outlets.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-hc
http://dateline.rice/march-13-hc
HPM local newscast for 7 a.m., Friday, March 13, 2020
Houston Public Media (This segment also aired on KUHF-FM in Houston.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-hpm
AAC suspends all spring sports competitions
Daily Cougar
http://dateline.rice/march-13-dc

UPDATED: Houston schools take further action due to coronavirus

Houston Business Journal
http://dateline.rice/march-13-hbj
UT makes school changes amid coronavirus fear
Austin American-Statesman
http://dateline.rice/march-13-statesman
The changing state of Houston given the coronavirus scare [UPDATED]
Houston Press
http://dateline.rice/march-13-hp
US reps urge relief measures for students impacted by coronavirus closures
Diverse Issues in Higher Education
http://dateline.rice/march-13-dihe
KTRH-AM 
http://dateline.rice/march-13-ktrh (This segment also aired 11 times.)
‘Wake Up! with SallyMac & Lina’ 
KRIV-TV (Houston)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-kriv (This and similar segments also aired 17 times.)

Response to Trump’s coronavirus address: Another market plunge, airport chaos, anxious lawmakers
Douglas Brinkley, the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Professor in Humanities, is quoted.
USA Today (This article also appeared in more than 30 other media outlets.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-brinkley

Oil price plunge plus coronavirus take massive toll on Venezuela
An article quotes Francisco J. Monaldi, fellow in Latin American energy policy at the Baker Institute for Public Policy’s Center for Energy Studies, Center for the United States and Mexico and Latin America Initiative and a lecturer in energy economics.
Bloomberg (This article also appeared in 10 other media outlets.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-monaldi
US sanctions second Rosneft subsidiary for backing Maduro
Bloomberg (This article also appeared in 10 other media outlets.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-monaldi
Maduro says oil price crash is ‘brutal blow’ to Venezuela
Bloomberg (This article also appeared in 10 other media outlets.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-monaldi
Andres Oppenheimer: Venezuela can’t withstand one-two punch of coronavirus, oil-price collapse
Rome News-Tribune
http://dateline.rice/march-13-monaldi

‘We just don’t have a playbook for this one’: What the oil crash means for Texas
Jim Krane, the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is quoted.
KUT Online (This article also appeared in High Plains Public Radio.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-krane

Texans were already feeling coronavirus’ financial squeeze. Then the cases increased and cancellations mounted.
Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business, is quoted.
Texas Tribune (This article also appeared in 10 other media outlets.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-rodriguez

A season cut short for Rice women’s basketball
Conference USA’s announcement suspending all sports competitions came as Rice’s women’s basketball team, which was the top-seeded team in the league tournament, was set to play in the quarterfinals March 12. Head coach Tina Langley is quoted and pictured, and Owls Erica Ogwumike and Nancy Mulkey are mentioned.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription is required.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-wbb
C-USA Tournament, spring sports suspended amid COVID-19 pandemic
Bowling Green Daily News (This article also appeared in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-wbb

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Nanotech ‘traps and zaps’ antibiotic-resistant genes
An article features Rice research developing nanosheets that absorb and degrade antibiotic-resistant genes, which will prevent them from persisting in sewage system wastewater, where they can invade and infect other bacteria. Co-authors Pedro Alvarez, director of Rice’s Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment and the George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and graduate student Danning Zhang are quoted.
Futurity (This article also appeared in 10 other media outlets.)
http://dateline.rice/march-12-futurity

HOUSTON/TEXAS

New Texas Sinfonia to debut in performances in Tyler
McMurtry College sophomore Angela Ryu is featured.
Tyler Morning Telegraph
http://dateline.rice/march-13-tmt

List of events canceled, postponed in Houston area
The Rice Design Alliance Architecture Tour is mentioned.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription is required. This article also appeared in the Chronicle’s “Preview.”)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-hc

What’s up in Houston galleries
An arts roundup mentions that Rice’s Moody Center for the Arts is exhibiting “Story Lines,” a large drawings group show, through May 17, and “Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past and Present,” on view through May 16.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription is required. This article appeared in the March 13 print edition.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-hc

HGO announces six new members for the prestigious 2020-21 HGO Studio
Rice community members featured include alumni Lindsay Kate Brown and Cory McGee and graduate student Blake Denson. The article also mentions that Nicholas Newton has performed at Rice.
The Katy News (This article also appeared in Houston Style Magazine.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-kn

BRIDGES: Texas chemist, father of nanotech
The late Richard Smalley, who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of buckminsterfullerenes, or “buckyballs,” a new form of carbon, is featured.
Gainesville Daily Register
http://dateline.rice/march-13-gdr

TRADE/PROFESSIONAL

Project aims to grow muscle tissue for wounded soldiers
An article mentions that Rice is a part of a multi-institution initiative that won a $22 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a device that combines artificial intelligence, bioelectronics and regenerative medicine to regrow muscle tissue. Co-authors Jacob Robinson, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and of bioengineering, and Ashok Veeraraghavan, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and of computer science, are cited.
The Engineer
http://dateline.rice/march-13-robinson-veeraraghavan

Natural bayou better when floods threaten Houston
An article features Rice research into the evolution of Houston flood plains based on a collaboration between experts at Rice’s Brown School of Engineering and Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center. Research scientist Andrew Juan, alumna Avantika Gori and associate research scientist Antonia Sebastian are cited.
Informed Infrastructure
http://dateline.rice/march-13-juan

Green process converts almost any carbon source into graphene
An article features pioneering research from Rice scientists that can create flash graphene from any carbon source. Co-authors James Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry and a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering, is quoted.
The Chemical Engineer
http://dateline.rice/march-13-tour

US aid to shale producers could further hurt oil market, lead to public backlash
Anna Mikulska, nonresident fellow in energy studies at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is quoted.
S&P Global Platts
http://dateline.rice/march-13-mikulska

10 empowering books by women to enhance your career (and life)
An article features an upcoming book by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein, the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management at Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business, titled “Joy at Work: The Career-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.”
Create and Cultivate
http://dateline.rice/march-13-sonenshein

5 female tutors who empower MBA applicants
Alumnae Felicia Tam and Pri Bhat are featured.
Poets & Quants
http://dateline.rice/march-13-pq

 

OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST

Study links present-day xenophobia, political intolerance to Third Reich
Collaborative Rice research into the cognitive dissonance of residents living near concentration camps is featured. Lead author Jonathan Homola, assistant professor of political science and co-author of “Legacies of the Third Reich: Concentration Camps and Out-group Intolerance,” is mentioned.
The Source from Washington University in St. Louis
http://dateline.rice/march-13-homola

Pianist Tomasz Robak performs at Peabody recital
Alumnus Tomasz Robak is featured.
The Johns Hopkins News-Letter
http://dateline.rice/march-13-jh

Il sogno marziano di Wernher von Braun
President John F. Kennedy’s “moon speech” given at Rice Sept. 12, 1962, is mentioned.
Paper Blog (An English translation is not available.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-kennedy

SPORTS

Texans tender Dylan Cole, in talks with Taiwan Jones, Phillip Gaines
Former Rice football player Phillip Gaines is featured.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription is required. This article also appeared in more than 25 other media outlets.)
http://dateline.rice/march-13-hc
http://dateline.rice/march-13-hc

In the dugout with St. Pius X’s Tregan Hyder
Rice is mentioned.
VYPE
http://dateline.rice/march-13-vype

SEC cancels all sporting events through March 30
An article mentions that Rice’s baseball team was defeated by Texas A&M University 6-2 March 10 at Reckling Park.
247Sports.com
http://dateline.rice/march-13-247

About Stefan De La Garza

Stefan De La Garza is a news analyst in Rice University's Office of Public Affairs.