People, Papers, Presentations

Janet Braam, associate professor, Dept. of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, participated as an invited speaker at the “Gravitational Effects on Living Systems: Mechanosensing” conference at Connecticut College, New London, Conn., July 1-6. The title of her talk was “Molecular and Developmental Responses of Plants to Mechanical Forces.”

Mahmoud A. El-Gamal, professor of Islamic economics, finance and management and professor of economics, was awarded the Lariba Award for Excellence for 2001. This is the eighth year this award has been given by American Finance House–Lariba to people who have made contributions in the area of Islamic banking and finance.

Jiun C. Kuo, head of cataloging, Fondren Library, gave a presentation titled “Pinyin Conversion from a Non-East Asian Library’s Perspective” at the national conference on Asian Pacific American Librarians in San Francisco June 15. The approach and needs in undertaking this conversion project, from a non-East Asian library’s perspective, were discussed. Rice’s preparations and experiences also were shared.

Caroline Levander, associate professor, Dept. of English, was awarded a 2001 Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History fellowship at the Pierpont Morgan Library. In addition, she was an invited speaker at the U. of Frankfurt, Germany, May 17-19. The subject of this year’s Humanities and Social Sciences Graduate College interdisciplinary conference was “Experiences of the Self, Cultures of Contradiction,” and her talk was titled “Racial Identity and Social History: A Case Study of Mitchell’s ‘Gone with the Wind’ and Alice Randall’s ‘The Wind Done Gone.’” She also gave a paper at the American Literature Association annual convention May 24 entitled “Race and the Psychology of Pauline Hopkins.”

Rafael M. Merida-Jimenez, assistant professor, Dept. of Hispanic & Classical Studies, co-directed and co-taught a course titled “Women and Culture in European Middle Ages” for the summer school of the “Collegi Oficial de doctors de Catalunya” and the U. of Barcelona in July.

Angelo Miele, the Foyt Family Professor Emeritus, made a presentation on “The Flight from Earth to Mars and Back: Prospects, Limitations, New Directions” at NASA–Johnson Space Center, Houston, May 31, He gave a similar presentation at the Symposium on Complex Systems and Optimization in the Information Age, Harvard U., June 23.

Barbara White, director of project management and planning, received the Case Study Award from the Association of University Architects. The award, established to highlight unique planning and design problems on university campuses, was given in recognition of White’s innovative assessment of two design proposals for reconstructing Rice’s Fondren Library. The award was presented at the AUA’s annual conference at the U. of Kansas in June.

Entries for People, Papers, Presentations should be submitted to the Office of Media Relations and Information by e-mail, <ricenews@rice.edu>; fax, (713) 348-6380; or campus mail, MS-300. Entries will run on a space-available basis.