Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Friday, April 26, 2024 — Houston, TX

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BioBeer: At the very yeast, it fights cancer

(10/31/08 12:00am)

Guzzling beer may soon be as healthy sipping as a glass of red wine. A team of six undergraduates in Assistant Professor of Bioengineering Jonathan Silberg's biochemistry and bioengineering lab is working on extracting the antioxidant resveratrol found in red wine and splicing it into beer. This genetically engineered concoction will boast the same cancer-fighting, age-defying benefits naturally found in grapes."Resveratrol has a myriad of health benefits like improved cardiovascular function, increased insulin sensitivity for Type II diabetics, and [it] inhibits several proteins known to contribute to cancer," Sid Richardson College junior Taylor Stevenson, who is working on the project, said.


RPC books band for Homecoming Concert

(10/24/08 12:00am)

For students, this year's Homecoming festivities will mark a departure from the traditional, most notably with a free concert by indie rock band The National. The concert, funded with $50,000 from the Office of Development, will last from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 7 at the west quad behind the Raymond and Susan R. Brochstein Pavilion. In previous years, the Office of Development, which funds most of the homecoming game festivities, invited a keynote speaker. This year, the all- Rice picnic and headliner concert have replaced the speaker.


Former UN ambassador speaks on AIDS, rape crises in Africa

(10/10/08 12:00am)

The world's problems never sit on the back-burner for too long before they hit home. Stephen Lewis, former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations and current UN secretary-general's envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, spoke to a packed audience at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy Thursday, Sept. 25, about the world's struggle to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. As part of the 2008 Global Health Technology Speaker Series, Lewis' speech entitled Race Against Time incorporated personal anecdotes, current statistics and raw emotion to capture the current situation in Africa."As long as Mr. Lewis continues his work, the world will know what AIDS will look like," Rebecca Richards-Kortum, director of Rice 360? and founder of Beyond Traditional Borders said in her introductory remarks.


IT makes IPs private to prevent phishing, hacking

(10/03/08 12:00am)

After navigating through a storm of phishing e-mail scams, network viruses and potential hackers throughout the past year, Information Technology is taking defensive measures to increase the security level on campus networks. IT is making the Rice student network more secure by keeping each individual computer's IP address private on the Internet. Every week Rice's network processes hundreds of thousands of threats, scams, and hacking attempts which makes the system unstable, William Deigaard, director of Networking, Telecommunications and Data Center. He compared the amount of incoming traffic from the Internet to the magnitude of a natural disaster.


Search begins for new college masters for Hanszen, Lovett

(09/26/08 12:00am)

Although this school year is far from over, some colleges are already preparing for next year. Since this year marks the end of their masters' five-year terms, Lovett and Hanszen Colleges are beginning their search for new college masters this fall.Wes and Barbara Morris, the Hanszen masters, and Bernard and Carolyn Aresu, the Lovett Masters, will be leaving their positions in May.


Free-software activist speaks on moral duty to share

(08/29/08 12:00am)

While most people take for granted FBI piracy warnings and encrypted DVDs barring users from making illegal copies and distributing them, computer expert Richard Stallman offered a starkly different perspective. As a guest of the computer science department, Stallman spoke Tuesday in Duncan Hall's McMurtry Auditorium about the validity of the free-software movement. Stallman, who lectures at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is widely known for developing a free operating system called the GNU Project, which is similar to Unix. He has been outspoken since the 1980s about free software and campaigns against federal restrictions on copyright laws.


IT self-help page introduced

(08/22/08 12:00am)

In an effort to make technological woes easier on the Rice community, a new Information Technology self-service Web site was created in June to address basic concerns for students and faculty.The Web site allows users to easily modify basic settings such as changing one's Net Identification and password, creating a vanity e-mail address apart from the standard NetID and full name addresses, viewing the amount of storage space left in the Rice e-mail account, increasing mailbox quota, viewing on-campus printing charges and adjusting spam filter settings.


Rice granted $6.4 million to create Houston's first Sociology Ph.D. in 2011

(08/22/08 12:00am)

Not to be overshadowed by the well-established programs in other Rice departments, the social sciences department is increasing its visibility with a new Ph.D. program in sociology. A $6.4 million grant from the Houston Endowment will establish the first sociology Ph.D. program in Houston, which begins with the 2011 incoming class.The sociology department's Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life, as well as the work of sociology professor Stephen Klineberg and his annual Houston Area Survey caught the atten-tion of the Houston Endowment.


Rice Facebook fan page launched

(08/22/08 12:00am)

The perpetually popular student pastime of spending hours on the Internet toggling from e-mail to social networking sites has certainly caught the eye of the public affairs department, given last month's debut of the official Rice fan page on www.facebook.com."Right now there are at least 10,000 users affiliated with the Rice University network," Director of Web Development in Public Affairs Sean Rieger said. "There's a large market for us to connect to them and keep them in touch with Rice."


Cards replace keys at Martel

(08/22/08 12:00am)

Rice entered the 21st century this summer with security doors and locks boasting a new magnetic card swipe to gain entry into doorways. Though using a student identification card instead of a hard key to enter doors is not a new concept, Martel College is the first to test out a new system that allows Housing and Dining to activate and deactivate room access via a wireless network instead of manual configuration. "The Basis G system by Stanley Bess is a brand new system and allows us to wirelessly configure rooms from our office instead of sending someone out there every time a student loses his key," Housing Operations Manager Mark Chaszar said.


Demolition causes debris to fall through band hall ceiling

(05/16/08 12:00am)

The Marching Owl Band has experienced everything from rained-out shows to football fans who disagree with their sense of humor at halftime performances, and now they face an unexpected disturbance from construction crews.Director of Bands Chuck Throckmorton said the band hall has seen numerous pieces of debris fall through the ceiling this semester.


Students dispute deadline change

(04/18/08 12:00am)

As the majority of the senior class prepares for the last round of final exams and the days leading up to graduation, several mechanical engineering seniors have to adjust their schedules to accommodate an unexpected change. Students in the spring semester senior design course Mechanical Engineering 408: Capstone Design Project II, will finish their year with a final presentation on May 5,five days after senior exams officially end. This exception to university standards has stirred controversy amongst students in the class who were looking forward to spending the days between the end of final exams and commencement at liberty. "Everyone was pretty much unanimously inconvenienced by the [decision] because it's in the middle of senior week when most people go and travel," said an anonymous MECH E student from the class, who wished to remain anonymous because he thought appearing in the Thresher might affect his grade.


Common reading controversy continues

(04/18/08 12:00am)

As Orientation Week advisers prepare to leave campus next month for summer break, they will tuck away a copy of next year's common reading book. A selection committee of students, a faculty member and Advisor to the Dean of Undergraduates Matthew Taylor met earlier this month to narrow down their list to two contenders: Allen Raymond's memoir, How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative and Greg Mortenson's novel, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . One School at a Time.Both non-fiction works have been selected for their relevance to current events, Taylor said.


83 graduating seniors to enter Phi Beta Kappa society

(04/18/08 12:00am)

This spring, 83 graduating seniors were invited to become members of Beta of Texas, Rice's Phi Beta Kappa chapter. The academic society, which was established in 1776 at the College of William and Mary, honors the top 10 percent of each graduating class. Last year, 86 Rice seniors entered Phi Beta Kappa. She also said the Beta chapter reviews graduating seniors' transcripts each spring. The society accepts members regardless of major and requires that students take at least 10 courses outside of their field of study. McStay said these additional classes emphasize a student's love for learning for the sake of learning.


Rice Punjabi dance wins third at nationals

(03/28/08 12:00am)

Through leaps, hops and a few shoulder shrugs, Rice's traditional Punjabi dance team, Chowl Bhangra, which translates to Rice Bhangra, danced its way to third place last weekend in the Virsa Punjab Da competition at North Carolina State University. The club is in its second year on campus.Wiess College sophomores Sukhdeep Kaur and Monique Gill started the team last year.


Model UN awarded at conference

(03/21/08 12:00am)

With world affairs debated in the media daily, Rice students have the opportunity to engage in political current events by walking in the shoes of an international delegate. Last weekend, seven delegates from the Rice Model United Nations team competed in the University of California at Berkeley Model United Nations Conference held in San Francisco, Calif. and came home with awards such as Honorable Mention for Small Delegation.The collegiate chapter of Model UN emulates the United Nations in that student delegates are randomly assigned committees such as the Security Council or World Bank and represent the interests of their assigned country. Rice members represented Pakistan and Burkina Faso, and the delegates prepared by researching topics and writing position papers on how their assigned country would feel about certain issues. Some of the topics included Iran seeking nuclear weapons, non-state paramilitary organizations or women's human rights violations in Malaysia.