Dateline Rice for Nov. 24, 2015

FEATURED ITEMS

Telling stories helps refugee children learn a new language
Rice’s Oral & Written Language Laboratory at the Gabriela Mistral Center for Early Childhood Education is helping refugee children learn English through storytelling. Debbie Paz, associate director of early literacy and bilingual programs at Rice’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, is quoted.
PBS NewsHour (This broadcast appeared on 42 other affiliates.)
http://to.pbs.org/1QFHn0g

FlatCam skips the lens for a camera thinner than a dime
Rice University engineers introduce FlatCam, an extremely thin, lens-less camera system that uses sophisticated algorithms to record images and videos. It may enable such novel applications as large format, flexible and curved sensors. Richard Baraniuk, the Victor E. Cameron Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and founding director of Rice’s OpenStax College, and Aswin Sankaranarayanan, adjunct assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, are quoted. Ashok Veeraraghavan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Jacob Robinson, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, are mentioned.
NBC News (This appeared on the home page.)
http://nbcnews.to/1I8v6i7
Revolutionary ‘flat’ camera could make your next phone as thin as a credit card
Daily Mail (This article also appeared in NewsRT.co.uk.)
http://dailym.ai/1OpXoUN
Rice University coded-mask camera is almost as thin as its sensor
Laser Focus World
http://bit.ly/1YrI1Qr
Researchers develop thinner than a dime camera without lenses
AZO Sensors (Similar articles appeared in Financial Express Bangladesh, My Informs, Opli, Electronic News Component and e! Science News.)
http://bit.ly/1kRyW51

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

32 Americans are chosen as Rhodes Scholars for 2016
Brown College senior Thomas Carroll was one of 32 Americans chosen for a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies at Oxford University.
Chronicle of Higher Education
http://bit.ly/1XccPHB
Brown alum among 2016 Rhodes Scholars
Boston Globe (Similar articles appeared in Daily Astorian, Daily News, Argus-Press, Philly.com, Post-Journal Online, Tyler Star News and Providence Journal.)
http://bit.ly/21egcx5

Rice University chemists harness light to power fast, single-molecule submarine
Rice scientists build light-powered nanoscale submarines with just 244 atoms. James Tour, the T.T. and W.F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering, and graduate student Victor García-López are quoted.
Yahoo! News (This article also appeared in Yahoo! News UK.)
http://yhoo.it/1QG6zUe
Rice University chemists harness light to power fast, single-molecule submarine
Digital Trends (This article also appeared in AutoEvolution, My Informs and CanalTech.)
http://bit.ly/1jhSSfG

Move over moonshine — here comes sunshine
Rice researchers found a new way to efficiently distil alcohol from water using light. Naomi Halas, the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a professor of chemistry, bioengineering, physics and astronomy, and materials science and nanoengineering, is quoted.
Scientific American
http://bit.ly/1OpZHXT

Rice University’s endowment posts 4.2 percent gain in fiscal year
Rice posted a 4.2 percent investment gain on its endowment for the fiscal year. Allison Thacker ’96, chief investment officer, vice president for investments and treasurer of Rice University and president of Rice Management Company, is mentioned.
Bloomberg Business
http://bloom.bg/1Lwwq9d
Rice University endowment tops benchmark by 426 basis points
Pensions & Investments
http://bit.ly/1lHdL62

Research team creates artificial blood cells with 3-D printing
Using sugar, silicone and a 3-D printer, a team of bioengineers at Rice University and surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania have created an implant with an intricate network of blood vessels that points toward a future of growing replacement tissues and organs for transplantation. Jordan Miller, assistant professor of bioengineering, is mentioned.
India West
http://bit.ly/1Tb6ZQQ

HOUSTON/TEXAS

Collaboration seen as key for new generation of tech talent
The Texas Medical Center’s TMCx is featured for being an example of a large collaborative space that fosters creative ideas and brings in investors. Matthew Wettergreen, a lecturer in Rice’s George R. Brown School of Engineering, who started the first co-working space in Houston called the Caroline Collective, is quoted.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/1kRzCaO

Gov. Abbott’s overreach: States shouldn’t strong-arm nonprofits into being anti-refugee
McMurtry College senior Bo Kim authored a blog post about Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to not accept Syrian refugees for security reasons.
Houston Chronicle
http://bit.ly/1QEqEu1

Math students explore with Dr. P
Alumna Joanna Papakonstantinou ’92 is featured for the opportunities she has given to Episcopal High School students to attend and participate in events outside the classroom.
EHSHouston.org
http://bit.ly/1lHu9TY

Hundreds of students gather for annual CodeRED hacking competition
University of Houston hosted a 24-hour “hackathon” competition. Wiess College freshman Marcos de la Garza is quoted.
The Cougar
http://bit.ly/1PX5Uwf

BROADCAST

Poll: More millennials support censorship
Bob Stein, the Lena Gohlman Fox Professor of Political Science, is quoted about the 40 percent of American millennials who support government censorship of speech.
KTRH-AM
http://bit.ly/1Oqarp2
http://bit.ly/1P65wgm

TRADE/PROFESSIONAL

Scientists prepare elusive organocatalysts for drug and fine chemical synthesis
Rice University scientists have developed a metal-free process for the rapid synthesis of elusive small-molecule catalysts that promise to speed the making of novel chemicals, including drugs. László Kürti, associate professor of chemistry, is quoted.
Phys.org
http://bit.ly/1PM9F8Z

OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST

American hunger-related health care costs exceeded $160 billion in 2014, according to new study
A Rice study found that adjusting to family circumstances where there is less food available than previously can be a traumatic situation for children.
In These Times
http://bit.ly/1OciGa4

OC student programmers place 2nd in regional contest
Rice competed at the South Central Regional of the Association for Computing Machinery Programming Contest.
Edmondsun.com
http://bit.ly/1HkeUKC

SPORTS

11/23/2015 Granato and Raheel with Del Hour 2
Head football coach David Bailiff is interviewed.
AudioBoom.com
http://bit.ly/1lHuGFn

NEWS RELEASES

Rice wins $2.4M to study many-antenna wireless technology
Rice University researchers have won $2.4 million from the National Science Foundation to conduct the most extensive experimental research yet of wireless technology that uses 100 or more antennas per base station to send tightly focused beams of data to each user, even as they move.
http://bit.ly/1LxxXvO

Two Rice University professors elected AAAS fellows
Rice University professors Jane Grande-Allen and Bruce Weisman have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.
http://bit.ly/1ShO1Yc

Chemical design made easier
Rice University scientists have developed a metal-free process for the rapid synthesis of elusive small-molecule catalysts that promise to speed the making of novel chemicals, including drugs.
http://bit.ly/1kRzlEy