People, papers and presentations

Carlyn Chatfield, manager of IT technical communications, presented the workshop “Critical Communication Skills for IT Professionals” and led an online session titled “Online Speaker Skills and Resources” at the Educause West/Southwest Regional Conference in Portland, Ore., Feb. 23.

Stephen Klineberg, professor of sociology and co-director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, received the Leadership Houston Distinguished Leader Award for 2012. The award is presented annually to a leader in the Houston community who demonstrates a steadfast commitment to the city through professional, business and personal actions.

Maria Meza-Lopez, a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology, received first place in ecology for her poster, “Exotic Herbivory Limits Plants While  Nutrients Increase Herbivore Size” at the 2012 Emerging Researchers National Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Feb. 23-25 in Atlanta.

Krishna Palem, the Ken and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing, and colleagues won the Best Paper Award at the Architecture of Computing Systems conference (ARCS 2012) March 2 in Munich for their paper “Classification-based Improvement of Application Robustness and Quality of Service in Probabilistic Computer Systems.” ARCS 2012, hosted by the Technical University of Munich and sponsored by the European Network of Excellence on High Performance and Embedded Architecture and Compilation, highlighted the latest computer architecture and operating systems research for embedded computer systems.

Amy Savage ’11, lecturer in ecology and evolutionary biology, and Ken Whitney, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, won the 2011 Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) Outstanding Student Paper Award for “Trait-mediated Indirect Interactions in Invasions: Unique Behavioral Responses of an Invasive Ant to Plant Nectar.” Savage will present a research seminar on this work at the 2012 OTS meeting March 9-10 at the La Selva Research Station in Costa Rica.

Entries for “People, Papers, Presentations” should be submitted to the Office of News and Media Relations by email to ricenews@rice.edu or campus mail to MS 300.