Special Projects

Spelling Bee unusual, fun

Rice Theater's production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is unconventional and unusual in almost every aspect. It's a musical squeezed into a single act that runs a mere hour and a half without a single scene change; yet even with this breakneck pace, the viewer becomes acquainted with a disparate gang of middle schoolers all competing for spelling bee glory and the chance to continue to the national competition in Washington D.C.

Whitehead rolls to first career tournament victory

With seven top-10 finishes in the year, including a second place finish against a stacked field at the recent Duck Invitational on Mar. 21- 22, senior Michael Whitehead was bound to break through at some point. That point came on Saturday at the 60th Border Olympics in Laredo, when Whitehead finished with a final-round 62 for his first collegiate victory.

Students shave heads for cancer

Three Rice students, Hanszen sophomore Cecila Alvarez, Jones Sophomore Antonia Lloyd-Davies, and Hanszen freshman Nehemiah Ankoor shaved themselves completely bald in front of a small audience in the Hanszen quad on March 18.

Inconsistency plagues sluggers against Knights

After a midseason slumber that saw the Owls drop crucial matches to both the University of San Diego and Wake Forest University, Rice got back on track by winning three in a row at home before losing to fifth-ranked Texas A&M University on Wednesday at Jake Hess Stadium.

Environmental productivity key to future

Productivity. We all strive for it. Students inhale Red Bulls and lock themselves into their rooms to be productive. Athletes, doctors, lawyers, farmers, workers in every profession, you name it, want to be productive. And why not? In our society, productivity is rewarded handsomely. You can't get an A+ or a stack of Benjamins if you're not a productive worker.

Sports Notebook: Women's tennis takes two of three

After getting their first victory in five matches against Tyler Junior College (16-2) on Mar. 13, it unfortunately didn't take long for the women's tennis team (11-8) to record their eighth loss of the season, as they fell 4-3 to then-unranked Texas Christian University (4-6) on Mar. 20. However, the result of doubles play was not a sign of things to come, as all three matches were won by the Owls, albeit in close fashion, with all three matches decided by less than two points. After freshmen Dominique Harmath and Kim Anicete picked up their 10th and 11th singles wins of the year, respectively, it seemed that Rice had the match nearly won with a 3-0 lead. But the Horned Frogs, who had won 10 straight against the Owls, were not about to concede the match. The remaining matches were all dominated by TCU early, as each of the first sets of the matches were taken by TCU. But each remaining Rice player rallied to force a third set in her match, needing just one more set in one of the matches to defeat their rivals from Fort Worth. But despite their valiant comeback efforts in the single matches, TCU swept all four tiebreaker sets in dominating fashion, winning two of the sets 6-0 and two by a score of 6-1 to pull out the road victory.

New adaptation of Jane Eyre beautiful, haunting

Eerie music parallels a trembling camera shot of a heaving gate; it seems as if the viewer's own feet are rising and falling over the moor. In the opening moments of Jane Eyre the audience is Jane Eyre, experiencing her escape from Mr. Rochester's estate after learning about the mad wife he keeps locked and hidden on the third floor.

This week's editorial cartoon

Budget cuts ended

President David Leebron announced during his semiannual Town Hall meeting on Feb. 22 that no more across-the-board reductions were expected for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. However, he said the university would still maintain a tight budget.

Last week's online poll results

Owl Days 2011

WHAT A two-day program including tours of the campus, sitting in on classes, information sessions and panels, student-led activities and staying overnight in one of the residential colleges.

Ball studies cystic fibrosis

The National Science Foundation CAREER awards are awards given out to young faculty members who fulfill the NSF's criteria of excellence in both research and education, as well as their successful integration. The Thresher sat down with two of Rice's CAREER award recipients, Zachary Ball and Lin Zhong (see next article) to discuss the award, research and the future.

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

New Brockman Hall dedicated

Over 150 people gathered for the official dedication of the new Brockman Hall for Physics and Astronomy on Thursday, March 24.

Women Soar at Lopez Classic behind Miller

 Unlike any other race in track and field, the steeplechase is like a high-speed obstacle course around the oval. During this 3,000-meter event, competitors cross 28 barriers comprised of 38 four inch by four inch blocks of wood and jump over a 12-foot water jump seven times. The steeplechase is adapted from the English horseracing event of the same name.

Zhong designs phone of the future

Computer Science Professor Lin Zhong is one of several Rice faculty to receive a $450,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award this year. All answers are paraphrased unless otherwise indicated.

Envision Grants fund student ideas

Leadership Rice's Envision Grants are awarded to students with ideas that benefit a community and facilitate leadership among Rice students. According to Leadership Rice Director Judy Le, this year's Envision grants fund four projects create a long lasting framework for leadership among students at Rice.

Wiess Tabletop's Aida

With recent shows like West Side Story, Hello Hamlet! and The Pillowman, Wiess Tabletop Theater has managed to set a high bar for college theater. Their spring musical, Aida, unfortunately falls short of the company's usual brilliance. Aida lacks polish due to an ineffective supporting cast, novice orchestra and poor costume design.

Beyond the Hedges

National

Students raise funds for Japan disaster relief

In response to the recent devastation in Japan, students have been banding together to raise money and awareness for victims of the natural disaster. Rice's Japanese Association of Students and Scholars responded within days of the catastrophe with boba sales at all of the colleges and widely publicized donation requests. Students from Duncan College, Hanszen College and others have also found their own way to help out through events such as Mr. Duncan and Makeruna Japan.