Former Dean of Engineering and Materials Science Professor Franz R. Brotzen, age 94, died May 25, after 55 years at Rice.Approximately 200 people attended a memorial service held in his honor June 12.
The Rice University Police Department has gone the distance once again. For the 11th consecutive year, RUPD officers participated in the Law Enforcement Torch Run and Special Olympics Texas games.Law enforcement officers from across the state carried a lit torch through various Texas cities from May 26 to 28, leading up to the May 28 opening ceremony of the Special Olympics Texas games, which were hosted at the University of Texas Arlington. The torch run serves as an opportunity for officers to raise awareness and fundraise for the Special Olympics.
Chemistry professor John Hutchinson replaced Robin Forman on July 1 as Dean of Undergraduates, following Forman's departure from Rice to serve as dean of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences at Emory University. The Thresher sat down with Hutchinson, the second Dean of Undergraduates in the history of Rice, for an exclusive interview as he reflects on his new position, the residential college system and the incoming class of 2014.The Rice Thresher: What are your goals for your time as Dean of Undergraduates?
Buying textbooks just became a little easier. Beginning this fall, the Rice University Bookstore will offer textbooks for rental at less than half the cost of purchasing a new textbook.Barnes & Noble College Bookstores, which operates the campus bookstore along with 635 other campus bookstores nationwide, will begin the program this fall after testing in the previous year at 25 universities, Bookstore Manager Tim Jackson said.
According to one publication, Rice is made of the right stuff for materials science. Last month, the Times Higher Education, a British publication for professionals in education and research, ranked Rice first among universities in the world for materials science research. The award, based on the number of citations per paper between January 1999 and October 2009, brings the Rice materials science program to the forefront in the field and will likely increase the visibility of the program in the future, Enrique Barrera, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, said.
A pair of homers provided all the runs no. 21 Rice needed behind a stellar pitching performance, and the Owls topped the University of Alabama-Birmingham 9-2 in the second game of this conference series.UAB (27-25, 10-13 Conference USA) opened the scoring with Luke Stewart's first inning two-run shot, but that would be it for the Blazers. Senior right hander Mike Ojala (4-2) was dialed in for his final regular season start and tossed 7 and two-thirds innings, forfeiting only two hits with a new career high of 12 strikeouts.
Though statistically Rice toned down its offense Friday afternoon, the runs came early and often enough to best Marshall University 18-0 in the team's third game of the Conference USA Championship. The win today propels Rice into the championship game Saturday night. The Owls (38-20, 17-7 C-USA) matched their 11-run inning from last night, today in the second inning. Senior Steven Sultzbaugh got the scoring started with a grand slam, his second home run in as many games. The Herd (27-31, 12-12 C-USA) walked in two runs, and senior first baseman Jimmy Comerota contributed a two-run single. Sophomore left fielder Michael Fuda then smacked his second hit of the inning, as did Sultzbaugh with a two-RBI double.
Film should not be thought of as merely a visual medium. The best films are gesamtkunstwerken - that is, they expertly fuse the arts of photography, music, writing and theater. However, in some of the greatest films, one or more elements often take precedence over the others.In the case of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, photography - the fruit of the labors of cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and film editor Walter Murch - is the most vital component of the film. The camera translates Coppola's grand statement on the madness that stems from war into a visual narrative which portrays the grim psychological and physical realities of war; it is the camera of a documentarian sensitive to human emotion; it is an observant yet naive camera, which, like the characters on screen and the audience in the theater, is unaware of its ultimate destiny. This transforms Apocalypse Now beyond historical fiction into the realm of fictional nonfiction.
On your mark, get set, pitch a business plan and receive a really big check. Team Smart Drip became the first team to win Rice's Undergraduates Technology Venture Challenge, the first-ever business competition aimed at Rice undergraduates held May 6. The challenge was organized by the Community of Rice Entrepreneurs, a new student organization founded by Hanszen College senior Norman Pai and Hanszen College juniors Sean Sessel and Christoph Meyer in the summer of 2009 to help promote entrepreneurship among Rice undergraduates. From the pool of 12 applicant teams, eight finalists were chosen based on their executive summaries, a short two-page paper describing the product and business plan.
"These secretly-tabulated results were presented to the Thresher in a sealed envelope by Price Waterhouse representative John R. Heaner" reads the April 24, 1980 issue of The Rice Thresher, which holds the distinction of handing out the first-ever Sammy awards.Thirty years later, the voting format and awards categories have evolved somewhat (not to mention PricewaterhouseCoopers no longer handles the voting results), but the original spirit and purpose of the Sammys has remained unchanged: "To honor those members of the Rice Community who have excelled in the theatrical arts ... None of the winners will be blessed with either gold statuettes or national television exposure, but the sense of achievement and reward should still be there, nonetheless."
I don't have many regrets from my college days, but one sticks out like Brian Cushing in a banned-substance test. It was three-and-a-half years ago, my greenness showing loudly on my University of Oregon shirt as I climbed the steps of Autry Court to watch a men's basketball game against the Ducks. I hadn't shaken my original love for UO, and it was only after hours of ribbing that I'd realized my fois gras, er, faux pas. Not that you needed a glimpse into my collegiate journal - here are your requisite Ken Griffey Jr. and "One Tree Hill" name-drops - but I bring up this embarrassment to illustrate the fact that there are a few things about Rice sports, and college sports in general, that you need to know. For starters, always, always root for Rice. I don't care if your name is Rudy Ruettiger or if you literally bleed Longhorn orange (Longhorange?) - this is your school, and these are your teams. But more than that, these are your classmates, so for the sake not merely of victory but for the ties that bind us to one another, for the blanket that covers all of us in the Rice community, root them on. They not only appreciate it, they thrive on it, and you'll find that you've made some friends along the way.
Rice's journey in the Conference USA Championship began Wednesday afternoon at the University of Houston, where the Owls beat East Carolina University 11-3 at Cougar Field. Sophomore Taylor Wall (5-5) started for Rice Wednesday and was immediately awarded run support, a welcome development for the lefty. Junior right fielder Chad Mozingo led off the first with a double and scored on junior shortstop Rick Hague's homer to left field. Sophomore third baseman Anthony Rendon also scored thanks to a single by senior catcher Diego Seastrunk.
With its season on the brink, the golf team had just one tournament left to keep their season going. But despite the pressure, Christopher Brown (Brown '10) and the Owls came up big, taking a second-place finish to clinch a berth in the NCAA Regionals in College Station on May 20- 22. The Rice golf team has had a successful season, winning two team titles and two individual titles prior to the Conference USA Championship in Sorrento, Fla.
With the advent of the J. Fred Duckett/Rice Twilight meet April 24, the men's track team will no longer call the Rice Track Stadium home, with Head Coach Jon Warren presiding over the renaming of the facility as the Holloway Field and Ley Track. The Owls responded to the christening enthusiastically, with rising senior Ugo Nduaguba accomplishing his best mark of the season in the triple jump, finishing first with a jump of 15.57 meters. For his efforts, Nduaguba was named Conference USA Athlete of the Week, earning the honor for the second time during this outdoor season. Freshman Alec Hsu furthered his role within the pole vaulting corps, taking first place with a vault of 5.16 meters.
Seventy-five students, three more than last year, became members of Phi Beta Kappa, an honor society that recognizes outstanding achievements in the liberal arts and sciences, at the annual induction ceremony Friday in Hamman Hall.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus shared with graduates the life experiences that inspired him to found Grameen Bank, which provides microcredit loans in Bangladesh, in his speech at the 97th Commencement on May 15.When Yunus returned to Bangladesh, his home country, after teaching at Middle Tennessee State University in the 1970s, he was shocked by the way villagers were exploited by the money-lending industry. He related the story of a woman who received a loan of five taka ($0.07) on the condition that she sell all her products to her money-lender at the price he decided.
With just two weeks remaining in the regular season, the baseball team found themselves in first place in the Conference USA standings. The Owls (30-17, 11-4 C-USA) would travel to West Virginia to take on Marshall University, a team sitting just two-and-a half games back in C-USA rankings. Needless to say, the impending road conference challenge would provide a significant test for Rice. And after splitting the series' first two games, the Owls prevailed in the rubber match to take the series and expand their conference lead.
