Special Projects

Outreach Day

Rice Student Volunteer Program's Outreach Day pulled in 478 new students fresh out of Orientation Week on Saturday, Aug. 20 to help the Houston community on 26 different projects. Director of the Community Involvement Center Mac Griswold said considering the combined efforts, those students completed 2,018 hours of community service. "There's an organization called Independent Sector who calculates the dollar value of volunteer work who says the students did $43,000 worth of work in one day," Griswold said. Students signed up before and during O-Week for projects before they knew what Outreach Day was, Griswold said. However, according to Griswold a problem with signing up early was that students wanted to change projects once they had made friends during O-Week. Next year, only half of the projects will be allowed to fill up before O-Week starts, he said. This year's projects included some familiar sites that have been included in Outreach Day in the past, like the Houston Arboretum and the Hermann Park Conservancy. "They are always willing to take on students," Griswold said. Jones College freshman Ashley Joseph volunteered at the Houston Food Bank sorting boxes of food for Outreach Day. "I definitely felt like I was connected to the Houston community through this service project," Joseph said, "It was wonderful being part of an organization even if only for a morning that has such a great impact on the community it serves."Several new partners joined Outreach Day this year, like Hostelling International, an association of hostels in 90 countries throughout the world. A Rice alumnus, Morty Rich, died in a plane crash and left money to start Hostelling International, Griswold said. Sixty students joined the Hostelling project on Outreach Day. Jones sophomore Rohan Shah lead a new site at Houston Interfaith Worker's Justice. "The fact that the CIC expanded and included this program is a big deal," Shah said. "If you think about current issues regardless of political spectrum or beliefs, immigration itself is a touchy subject, but [HIWJ's aid to illegal immigrants] is human rights that all people can agree on."A variety of other projects were also offered, making it hard for new students like Joseph to choose. "The projects catered to a lot of different talents and interests," Joseph said. "It was difficult to pick a single project for which to register!" Outreach Day was successful this year and has made her want to continue doing community service in Houston through RSVP, Joseph said. "[We had] very positive reactions for this year's first year students," Griswold said. "It was really obvious that they brought a passion and enthusiasm that has not been as strong in past years."The next RSVP Outreach Day will be in November. 

KTRU Top 35: Week of Aug. 21, 2011

Click the image to enlarge.

Outreach Day a success

This past O-Week, Rice extended its long established tradition of reaching out to the community and serving the needy (see story, pg. 5). Outreach Day was a vast success; it drew 488 new students to a myriad of projects around Houston. The number of participants exceeds that of any past Outreach Day. Furthermore, 88 percent of those students who signed up for a project actually participated — an incredible ratio when factors such as peer pressure to attend Dis-O and fatigue from a long O-week are considered.

Engineering Dean officially assumes new post

The new Dean of the School of Engineering Ned Thomas, who was appointed last spring, has now assumed his post in the department. His goals as dean focus on increasing the exposure and quality of Rice's engineering program by providing more opportunities for student leaders and competitions. Hailing from MIT's School of Engineering, Thomas was the head of the Department of Material Sciences and Engineering before coming to Rice. In addition to an academic background, Thomas also has experience in entrepreneurship, starting multiple companies over the course of his career since his undergraduate days at the University of Massachusetts. "Cambridge has that effect on people," Thomas said. "Once they drink the juice up there, a lot of them decide to start their own businesses."Thomas cited two examples of organizations he's founded: OmniGuide, a medical devices company founded in 2000 that specializes in making minimally-invasive laser surgical tools, and the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, a division of MIT focused on serving soldiers by developing lightweight army gear and creating devices that can seek out bombs remotely. He said the motivation behind these two creations sprung from his entrepreneurial experiences as an undergraduate and consequently, he wants to promote a similar environment for engineers at Rice. In Thomas' opinion, Rice – as a relatively small university – is the perfect size for cultivating excellence in engineering across the board. Thomas described his vision as encouraging engineering students to engage in competition, to experience leadership in preparation for the working world and to increase their capacities to innovate. He said he especially emphasized connecting with entrepreneurs, and expressed support for programs like the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership and Rice Alliance. "If a student gets involved in these programs, they may not eventually start their own company, but they'll meet people who might inspire them to explore the possibilities and innovate in other ways," Thomas said. Martel College sophomore and chemical engineering student Luz Rocha said she thinks Thomas will be an effective dean and that his goal for developing leadership within the school of engineering is heading in the right direction, especially with recent initiatives like RCEL. According to Rocha, RCEL helps engineering students connect with other engineering students outside of their major and year. She said she hopes the RCEL program will continue growing to include more events and ways to promote leadership and networking within the School of Engineering and she hope these efforts will extend the program's impact beyond Rice. However, Rocha said the new dean might face challenges in implementing engineering leadership programs in ways that students will both enjoy and feel are crucial to their engineering education. Still, she added that she was optimistic about the feasibility of Thomas' vision. "I think the vision can definitely become practical as leadership expands through engineering," Rocha noted. "I'm sure several engineering students are interested in that sort of thing and, given proper guidance, can definitely develop that interest into something more concrete that can eventually lead to entrepreneurship in engineering companies."

RPC brings 007 to Rice

Rice Program Council is bringing back H2007 Assassins, an annual campus –wide, week-long game starting this Sunday. This year, the event is being held during the second week of school instead of during finals when students are too busy to participate, RPC traditions co-coordinator Catherine Yuh said. During the game, every participant will be given the name of another participant or "target." Participants will then have to "kill" these targets using a water gun. When shot, the other player is out and must pass the name of his or her target to the assassin. The game begins this Monday at 12:01 a.m. and continues through Saturday at midnight. Participants must pick up their water gun at the info desk in the RMC on Sunday and must use RPC water guns, not their own. The specific rules of the game are that no one can be assassinated while sleeping, during class or in Fondren Library. The student who assassinates the most people will win the game and receive a $40 gift card to the store of their choice. Students can sign up to play on a Google Doc on the event's Facebook page: [RPC] Annual H2007: the return of the Assassins. "RPC is all about trying to get kids out for fun things," Yuh said. "We hope to use this as a way to be more visible toward the new freshmen and hope they will attend our events in the future."Though RPC did not hold this event last year, the number of participants in the year before that was 350, Yuh said. She added that she expects the number of students this year to go up by 10 percent. Yu described the lengths some students take to get their person with a story where an assassin sat outside her suitemate's door for 24 hours, keeping the target stuck inside her room. "Sometimes it does get kind of crazy but that is part of the fun," Yu said. RPC traditions co-coordinator Chloe Kwon said she hopes the game will be a good way for freshmen to interact with people from outside their college in a stress-relieving and fun way. "[Assassins] seems like a cool way to meet people from other colleges and, if nothing, squirting people with water is always fun," Jones College senior Joseph Rangel said. 

Project Spotlight: "The Elec Lounge"

Guys, don't be shocked. The Rice chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers plans to open its own lounge around late October. The lounge, temporarily dubbed the "Elec Lounge," is located in room A 121 of the Abercrombie Lab.

Soccer shut out against Tech, triumphs at home

By glancing at every statistic besides the final score, the casual sports fan would have guessed that the soccer team had walked away from their season-opening match with Texas Tech University (2-0-0) with their first win of the year. The Owls led the Red Raiders in every offensive category from shots, shots on goal, to corner kicks. But the only statistic that mattered at the end of the night was the one beneath the words "Texas Tech" and the zero beneath "Rice" on the scoreboard at the John Walker Soccer Complex. Rice had the upper hand for the first half, outshooting Tech 5-4 and earning four corner kicks compared to the Red Raiders' two.However, a counterattack in the 64th minute proved to be the Owls' downfall as a failed offensive possession left Rice out of possession to defend against quickly advancing Texas Tech midfielders, who fired two shots on goal against freshman goalkeeper Amy Czyz. Czyz deflected the first shot, but Tech midfielder Tiffini Smith took control and fired the ball into the back of the goal for the only score of the match. Senior forward Hope Ward led the Owls with two shots on goal, while  fielder Gabriela Iribarne and forward Ashton Geissendorf contributed one shot on goal each. "Overall, we played well. But Texas Tech took advantage of a mistake," said Head Coach Nicky Adams. "We had a mistake after one of our own restarts, and it ended up costing us the game."If the first half of their match against McNeese State University (0-2-0) on August 21 was any indication, the Owls appeared to have an emotional hangover from the defeat at the hands of Texas Tech. Despite tallying 14 shots in the first half, the Owls failed to put one across the goal line and remained knotted at zero with the Cowgirls heading into the locker room. Whatever was said in the locker room seemed to do the trick for Rice, as senior defender Amy Beger rocketed a long-range shot past McNeese State goalkeeper Katie Seeber just 11 minutes into the start of the second half. Beger talked about freshman Lauren Busansksy's effort in setting up the highlight-reel goal. "There were a bunch of girls heading right for [Busansky]," Beger recounted. "Buzz just played it back to me and I saw a gap. I was sure I could get it to the corner (of the goal)." Adams added her own take on Busansky's overall match performance. "One person I was really proud of was Lauren Busansky," Adams said. "Today we put her in a role that she hadn't trained for and she did a magnificent job. She completed that first pass and it calmed us down. Lauren did what she was asked, and did it well, and as coaches that really gets our attention." With Czyz and the defense holding the Cowgirl attack at bay, senior forward Annie Kadota added a second score 78 minutes into the match off a pass from senior defender Nikki Storness. Junior forward Alex Burton contributed an insurance goal off a rebound in the 86th minute to bring the game to its final score of 3-0. Adams spoke about her strategy in motivating the Owls at halftime. "We were taking too many touches in the first half," said Adams. "Too many touches ended up slowing us down. It was something we addressed at halftime, that we need to increase our speed of play." Rice heads north to Fort Worth to take on Texas Christian University (1-1-0) tonight at 7 p.m. The Horned Frogs lost their season opener to Oklahoma State University by a score of 1-0, but defeated Lamar University 2-0 on Sunday. 

America's intervention in Libyan revolution a dangerous decision

Events in Libya are being transformed instantly into political myth in order to pursue policy objectives instead of being treated as contextualized yet individual occurrences of modern history.

ALFA funds making an impact

While the KTRU radio tower sale ruffled its fair share of feathers among the student body, students are now beginning to see the marginal returns on the nearly ten million dollars acquired in the transaction (see story, pg. 4). The Three 6 Mafia concert was funded partially by endowments from the KTRU money as are many other projects that are slated to begin shortly and in earnest in 2012. While ALFA fund expenditures are still pending administration approval, university funds are being used for expenditures that will ultimately come from the ALFA budget.The Thresher is anticipating the final approval of the ALFA funds for projects that will further improve student life quality.

Erratum

In the August 19 issue of the Thresher ("New class size exceeds expectations") it was incorrectly reported that 169 students were expected beyond the planned class size. In actuality only 52 students were accepted over the ideal quota. Furthermore, the Class of 2015 consists of 1,019 freshmen, not 1,119 as originally reported. The Thresher regrets these errors.

What's Their Secret

Ahhh DiffE. The mere pronunciation of the word strikes a keen sense of dread into the minds of many incoming students. Known as the "Orgo" of advanced math courses, the course is famously featured by three Rice students in "Teach Me How to DiffE," a YouTube parody of Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie."

Rice Volleyball 2011

Volleyball is back starting tonight and the Owls are hoping that they can get back to the NCAA tournament after not receiving a bid last year. Last year was up and down for the Owls as they finished with a .500 record at 16-16 with an 11-9 record in Conference USA play. Rice entered last year with high hopes of making a third consecutive NCAA tournament, but erratic play and close losses ended their dreams quickly. With Rice career assist leader Meredith Schamun (Jones '11), career digs leader Tracey Lam (Lovett '11), Caroline Gill (Wiess '11) and Justyna Brewczyk (Martel '11) graduating last year, the Owls have enormous holes to fill coming into the season. However, Head Coach Genny Volpe is very impressed with the five members of the freshman class: libero/defensive specialist Daniela Arenas, outside hitter Lizzy Bache, setter Dana Edwards, middle blocker Jillian Humphrey and outside hitter Noelle Whitlock. Unfortunately, Whitlock tore her ACL in practice about a week ago and will be out for the rest of the season as she will redshirt this season. Volpe expects the rest of the group to be immediate contributors and to help get the team back to the NCAA tournament. Along with the newcomers, many savvy veterans are returning to the team including senior outside hitter Jordan Meredith, junior middle blocker Nancy Cole and sophomore setter Megan Murphy, who hope to be the leaders of a Rice team that is looking for a rejuvenated season after last year's troubles. The Owls have practiced many different strategies throughout the offseason and Volpe has been very impressed with the improvement in the focus and attitude of the players after last year's bumpy season. Volpe understands that the team doesn't want to finish in the middle of C-USA again. "They have worked their butts off and they have a great attitude," Volpe said. "We are really doing good in a lot of things and determination is carrying the team through. The team really did not like the feeling of finishing in the middle of the pack in C-USA at 16-16. They don't want to finish in fifth; they want to finish in the top three."Meredith agreed that she felt like she had noticed a difference after the first day of practice, claiming she saw a new team with a different attitude and mindset due, in part, to the freshmen. "We definitely changed our focus and our mindset coming into this preseason," Meredith said. "The team has shown good chemistry and I am very excited to see how the season does turn out. From the first day of preseason, I was blown away by how the freshmen were playing."Volpe noticed the same thing, as the team knows that in order for it to be successful, the freshmen are going to have to play a vital role. "The freshmen know that they are going to have to play some key positions and do their job and do what we know they can do," Volpe said. "The freshmen expect that and more from themselves."The Owls are confident and they are not hiding from the tough opponents early in the season. They have a home match Sunday against Stanford University, which is ranked sixth in the country. The Owls are also hosting the University of Delaware, a team that has been picked to win the Colonial Athletic Conference, for their first match of the season tonight. With Stanford, Volpe knows that it is going to be a rough contest for the Owls, but even though she admits Stanford has advantages, she still thinks that the Owls have the potential to surprise some people. "Stanford is one of the best teams in the country," Volpe said, "They consistently make it to the final four, so they are going to be very athletic. They are probably going to be a little bit taller and a little bit faster than us, but we can still challenge them and hopefully test them."Expectations are high among the team for this season. They have been projected to be sixth in the preseason in C-USA but Volpe is confident that they can at least get top five and maybe top three. Meredith agreed, by saying that she is very impressed with the team and she thinks it is possible for them to win the conference, although the University of Tulsa will stand in their way. "Tulsa is always going to be tough," Meredith claimed. "I think that finishing first in conference is not an outlandish goal by any means. We have worked very hard this year, and I think with the level of new talent coming in, we could go a long way."

Project Spotlight: Rice Centennial House

Three 6 Mafia to play at Rice

IT Ambassadors program begins

In an attempt to promote better communication between students and Information Technology, the department has hired one student from each college to help relay computer and Internet related announcements. IT Tech Communications Manager Carlyn Chatfield got the idea to create this position, known as IT Ambassadors, because she felt many students were unaware of all the services available to them.

Prohibition: Redefining the sophisticated beverage

Warning: Prohibition is a classy establishment. Be prepared to feel awkward in nothing less than your smart-casual best, and certainly do not show up in jeans and a T-shirt (as we did, unfortunately). You'll just feel even more out of place than you already do as a Rice kid who's ventured far enough beyond the hedges to end up at the new bar next to Saks Fifth Avenue. After the bouncer miraculously let us in, despite our uncouth garb, we found ourselves in the midst of some weird fusion between 2011 and 1922: a piano playing 1920s-style covers of new music, bartenders dressed in suspenders and hats, and a crowd of people who were doubtlessly as confused as we were but doing a better job of not showing it. We shuffled in as inconspicuously as possible and slid into one of the tables not reserved for people getting bottle service. (For future reference, all the tables are generally reserved for parties getting bottle service, but our waitress took pity on us and was really nice about the whole affair; she even moved us to a larger table once our party grew.) That said, once we sat down and got over the fact that we were pathetically underdressed for the place, Prohibition became quite a delightful experience.

Rice Class of 2015 Bucket List

Dear Class of 2015,

Welcome to the A@E section

Congratulations, new students. You have proven yourself to be among the most intelligent of this campus' population; no, not for the many essays you've written or your immaculate SAT scores, but for picking up the very first issue of this year's Rice Thresher and turning to the very best section in it! The Arts & Entertainment section, generally located in the very heart of the paper around page 10, is loaded every week with reviews of the latest movies, college performances, and even delicious places to eat close to campus. Also, every week this section includes a handy list of the coolest events happening off-campus, called The Weekly Scene. We even run semi-regular columns with interviews, opinions about music, movies and topics that wouldn't normally fit in other sections, like fashion or fine art. Instead of only dealing with events at Rice like the News or Sports sections, A&E will keep you connected to the Houston area, and guarantee that you never sit alone in your room on a Saturday night just because you don't know what else to do.

Summer movie recaps: Sci-Fi movies out now that guarantee to distract you from academic woes

As the summer of 2011 reaches an end, our minds naturally turn to the idea of escape. The economy is more volatile and unpredictable than freshmen dating patterns and soon we must mercilessly defend our GPAs. Fortunately, three science fiction summer blockbusters in theaters now offer the chance to leave our studious world for a little while so we can retain some sanity as Rice begins to take it all away.

News in Rhyme