Dateline Rice for Dec. 21, 2016

FEATURED ITEM

Seliger wins JBS award
Guillermo “Memo” Treviño ’83, a member of the Rice Board of Trustees, was named Outstanding Local Leader by the John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute as one of the 2017 Texas Leadership Forum Awards. He will be inducted into the Texas Leadership Hall of Fame.
OA Online
http://bit.ly/2hcw3hJ

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Rings around young star suggest planet formation in progress
Rice astronomers and their colleagues have for the first time mapped gases in three dark rings around a distant star. The rings mark spaces where planets are thought to have formed from dust and gas around the star.
Science 360 News (This is the “Picture of the Day” on the Science 360 News home page.)
http://bit.ly/2hcHbLC

Canadian creates nanotech to make head transplants less risky
The combination of graphene nanoribbons made with a process developed at Rice University and a common polymer could someday be of critical importance to healing damaged spinal cords in people. Graduate student William Sikkema is featured.
CBC Radio’s “Quirks and Quarks”
http://bit.ly/2hHRBBL

4 books about running that I just can’t put down
Alumna Becky Wade ’12 is featured for her book about her research on running communities around the world.
Women’s Running
http://bit.ly/2iajVho

Mexican ranchers, indigenous people urge government to solve land conflict
Paul Liffman, a research associate at Rice and research professor at El Colegio de Michoacán, is quoted in an article about a Mexican land conflict.
Voice of America
http://bit.ly/2hTpn5d

Our prognosticators look ahead to 2017 and see hope
Daniel Cohan, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, is quoted about the Environmental Protection Agency. Cohan also discusses his 2017 predictions.
Bloomberg Government
http://bit.ly/2hVjMOg
EPA OKs the ‘most important air pollution rule for Texas that no one has ever heard of’
Texas Standard (This also aired on 24 other stations.) 
http://bit.ly/2hTrtlz

Colleges where it’s costly to apply
An article discusses college application fees. Rice is mentioned.
U.S. News & World Report
http://bit.ly/2ifC3T3

HOUSTON/TEXAS

The oldest colleges in each state
Rice is mentioned.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/2iakQ1b
http://bit.ly/2i0yFvT

Architect picked for Astrodome parking project
Rice is mentioned.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/2hcgBC9
http://bit.ly/2hrf9b5

Dr. Alysia Robichau joins Houston Methodist Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
An article mentions a doctor who works with Rice Athletics.
Houston Chronicle (This also appeared in My San Antonio.)
http://bit.ly/2ifllmM

LeTourneau listed among ‘best values’
An article mentions that Rice is the highest-ranking Texas private university on Kiplinger’s list of the top 100 “best college values.”
Longview News-Journal
http://bit.ly/2hHQ3Yr

Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music to break ground on new music and opera building
Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music plans to break ground on a new music and opera building in September 2017. Robert Yekovich, dean of the Shepherd School of Music and the Elma Schneider Professor of Music, is quoted.
Dallas Art Dealers Association
http://bit.ly/2h25uXm

Workshop Houston nears $1.9M capital campaign goal
The Rice Building Workshop is mentioned.
Houston Style Magazine
http://bit.ly/2hHU5Ah

BROADCAST

‘Imus in the Morning’
Rice is mentioned.
WABC (Click on the audio button to listen to the broadcast. This also aired on 66 other stations.)
http://bit.ly/2hVpK1s

TRADE/PROFESSIONAL

Graphene quantum dots give Rice University scientists a eureka moment
Graphene quantum dots may offer a simple way to recycle waste carbon dioxide into valuable fuel rather than release it into the atmosphere or bury it underground, according to Rice scientists. Pulickel Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering and founding chair of the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, and postdoctoral research associate Jingjie Wu are mentioned.
Science World Report
http://bit.ly/2i0GEce
Graphene quantum dots recycle waste CO2 into fuel
Tech Fragments
http://bit.ly/2ha3YG5

Heart valves strive to get oxygen 1 way or another
As the valves in a heart stretch with each beat, their cells take in life-giving oxygen. But if the supply is cut off, aortic and mitral valves use different strategies to compensate, according to Rice scientists. Jane Grande-Allen, professor of bioengineering; research assistant Matthew Sapp; postdoctoral fellow Varun Krishnamurthy; alumni Daniel Puperi ’16 and Gabrielle Fatora ’16; and McMurtry College senior Saheba Bhatnagar are mentioned.
Scienmag (This also appeared in Health Canal and Medical Xpress.)
http://bit.ly/2hr88Hb

Copper stripes help iron pnictide lock in insulating state
Physicists at Rice’s Center for Quantum Materials have created a new iron-based material that offers clues about the microscopic origins of high-temperature superconductivity. Pengcheng Dai, professor of physics and astronomy; Qimiao Si, the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy; and graduate student Yu Song are quoted.
Technology.org (This also appeared in iConnect-007 and eScience News.)
http://bit.ly/2hTo0Dp

OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST

Plan de SRE traerá a estudiantes de EU
Paulo Carreño, undersecretary for North American affairs, helped announce the launch of Sueño Mexicano, a new U.S.-Mexico study-abroad program aimed at providing Mexican-American students with the opportunity to explore their heritage through hands-on, experiential learning at designated sites across Mexico. Rice President David Leebron and Ambassador Edward Djerejian, director of Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, are mentioned.
El Universal (An English translation is not available.)
http://eluni.mx/2hUZswz
Estudiantes estadounidenses podrán realizar su ‘sueño mexicano’
El Semanario (An English translation is not available.)
http://bit.ly/2i0KGkU
Impulsa SRE ‘sueño mexicano’
El Diario (An English translation is not available.)
http://bit.ly/2ifoYc9
Presentan programa para universitarios de origen mexicano en EE.UU.
Lopezdoriga (An English translation is not available.)
http://bit.ly/2iawuJg
SRE presenta programa de intercambio para dreamers
El Financiero (An English translation is not available.)
http://bit.ly/2hcrO5A

SPORTS

Rice sweeps all 18 swim events at UIW Invitational
The Rice Owls won all 18 swim events at the annual Incarnate Word Invitational in San Antonio. Head coach Seth Huston and swimmers Alicia Caldwell, Marie-Claire Schillinger, Hanna Huston, Kaitlin Benjamin and Kiley Beall are mentioned.
Swim Swam
http://bit.ly/2ha1NSX

Dylan Moore named preseason All-American
Duncan College sophomore Glenn Otto is mentioned.
Daily World (This also appeared in The Advertiser.)
http://bit.ly/2h9XUxu

Cajuns ranked No. 14 in preseason poll
Rice baseball is mentioned.
Daily World (This also appeared in The Advertiser.)
http://bit.ly/2ife5He
SHSU baseball ranked in preseason poll for 1st time in program history
The Huntsville Item
http://bit.ly/2ha4wMo
LSU baseball ranked No. 2 in collegiate baseball preseason poll, leads 4 Louisiana teams
The Times-Picayune
http://bit.ly/2hrpsvX
Southeastern ranked in collegiate baseball preseason poll
Southeastern Athletics
http://bit.ly/2hcM9ba

Cougars football is trying to fit the city that’s too big for a belt
Rice is mentioned.
SB Nation
http://bit.ly/2hcBYTP

College football: Former Texas State coaches join Herman at Texas
An article mentions Rice head football coach David Bailiff.
San Marcos Daily Record
http://bit.ly/2i10aFA
Texas announces hire of coaches, including DC Todd Orlando
Burnt Orange Nation
http://bit.ly/2iaGjHi

Houston players on Yancy McKnight: ‘He’ll get it out of you’
An article mentions that Yancy McKnight coached at Rice.
247Sports (This also appeared in CBS Sports.)
http://bit.ly/2hViS4f

Rice 3-pointers sink Demons
Rice men’s basketball defeated Northwestern State University 100-93. Players Marcus Jackson, Egor Koulechov, Connor Cashaw and Marquez Letcher-Ellis are mentioned.
The Town Talk
http://townta.lk/2hrsBfh

NEWS RELEASES

Shell Center announces fellowship awards for 2016
Three new fellowship awards from Rice University’s Shell Center for Sustainability will allow Rice faculty and postdoctoral research fellows to study ways to promote coastal infrastructure sustainability, improve soil quality with the use of biochar and examine coastal change over time.
http://bit.ly/2hTFlwj

Heart valves strive to get oxygen one way or another
As the valves in a heart stretch with each beat, their cells take in life-giving oxygen. But if the supply is cut off, aortic and mitral valves use different strategies to compensate, according to Rice University scientists.
http://bit.ly/2ifGyg8