Dateline Rice for July 18, 2017

FEATURED ITEM

The top 10 colleges in Texas
Rice is No. 1 on College Factual’s list of top Texas universities.
USA Today
https://usat.ly/2tbRul0

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Texas business leaders call on lawmakers to drop ‘bathroom bill’
Mark Jones, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, professor of political science, fellow in political science at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and fellow at Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, is quoted about Texas politics.
The New York Times (This Reuters article also appeared in Fox Business and New York Daily News.)
http://nyti.ms/2vy8vq3
Exposing political alliances of Texas PACs: How we did it
Transparency Texas
http://bit.ly/2tCjRbv
Will rooftop solar take hold in energy capital? This CEO thinks so
E&E News’ “EnergyWire”
http://bit.ly/2u5exiK

This tiny microscope implanted in the brain could restore sight to the blind
Rice engineers are building a flat microscope, called FlatScope, and developing software that can decode and trigger neurons on the surface of the brain. Jacob Robinson, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering; Richard Baraniuk, the Victor E. Cameron Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Ashok Veeraraghavan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Caleb Kemere, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, are mentioned.
Mic
http://bit.ly/2u53wOb
This implant could deliver ‘eyesight’ right to the brain
Invision
http://bit.ly/2uvJ63P
Tiny neural prosthesis could help to restore vision and hearing in humans
Seeker
http://bit.ly/2veuAe1
This flat microscope implant could beam sensory input directly to the brain
Science Alert
http://bit.ly/2u5bPd2
Manufacturing bits: July 18
Semiconductor Engineering
http://bit.ly/2tbCfbD
Direct brain path for sight, sound via implanted microscope
ApplySci
http://bit.ly/2u6bzvN
Rice team developing flat microscope for the brain
Science & Technology Research News
http://bit.ly/2u4we1L
Flat microscope brain implant could restore lost eyesight
Clotheshorse
http://bit.ly/2u68Sum

Good news for Russia: 15 states use easily hackable voting machines
Dan Wallach, professor of computer science and of electrical and computer engineering, is quoted.
HuffPost
http://bit.ly/2tCgkd1
Harris County, Texas, officials won’t say whether election systems were targeted
Government Technology
http://bit.ly/2u65oIa

Study: With more US children living in high-poverty neighborhoods, schools will see impact
More children are living in high-poverty neighborhoods following the Great Recession — a troubling shift because children in these neighborhoods are a year behind academically, according to new research from Rice, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin. Rachel Kimbro, professor of sociology and founding director of the Urban Health Program at Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, is quoted.
Atlanta Constitution-Journal
http://bit.ly/2uvQ7l3
More children living in high-poverty neighborhoods following Great Recession
Science Daily (This also appeared in Hearst CT News Blogs and Phys Org.)
http://bit.ly/2u6G1Gh
More US children living in high-poverty neighborhoods
Iran Daily
http://bit.ly/2uvKiE3

Student who rapped his college dissertation is now a hip-hop professor
Bernard “Bun B” Freeman, former distinguished lecturer at Rice, is mentioned.
XXL
http://bit.ly/2uvOUtN

Export of LNG continues, new flight routes launched
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, fellow for the Middle East at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is quoted.
Straits Times
http://bit.ly/2uvJeAl

US researcher’s method of upconverting light shows promising future
A Rice professor’s method to “upconvert” light could make solar cells more efficient and disease-targeting nanoparticles more effective. Experiments led by Gururaj Naik, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, combined plasmonic metals and semiconducting quantum wells to boost the frequency of light, changing its color. Naomi Halas, the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a professor of chemistry, bioengineering, physics and astronomy, and Peter Nordlander, professor of physics and astronomy, of electrical and computer engineering and of materials science and nanoengineering, are also mentioned.
Sina (This also appeared in China.org and XinhuaNet.)
http://bit.ly/2u5E3FY
‘Upconverted’ light has a bright future
TMC News (This also appeared in Technology.org.)
http://bit.ly/2uz9bhP
‘Upconverted’ light has a bright future in medicine, security, solar cells
Nanowerk
http://bit.ly/2tBXvXC
Plasmon-powered devices for medicine, security, solar cells under development
Science Daily (This also appeared in Eccux World News.)
http://bit.ly/2tCkl16
Rice U professor developing plasmon-powered devices for medicine, security, solar cells
ECN
http://bit.ly/2veX3Rc
Plasmon-powered devices for medicine, security, solar cells
ECN (This also appeared in Science Newsline and Controlled Environments.)
http://bit.ly/2uEA4C1
US team uses GaN and InGaN nano-sandwich to ‘upconvert’ light
Compound Semiconductor
http://bit.ly/2uvKtiA

HOUSTON/TEXAS

Historic River Oaks home built for George R. Brown asks $10M
Stephen Fox, lecturer of architecture, is quoted about a River Oaks home.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required. This article appeared on the front of the Business section in the July 18 print edition with a different headline, “A piece of history for sale in River Oaks.”)
http://bit.ly/2veNxxs
http://bit.ly/2uEZ8Zh

The internet is still cutting into Texas sales taxes
An article discusses research by Joyce Beebe, fellow in public finance at Rice’s Baker Institute of Public Policy.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/2u6gME7

Brookings ranks UH as a ‘leader’ in student opportunity, research
An article about the Brookings Institution’s ranking of public universities is accompanied by a slideshow of public and private universities that includes Rice.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/2uF0Vh6
http://bit.ly/2tmvPKV

Some say political ‘nastiness’ discouraging local candidates
Approximately half of mayoral elections in six U.S. states are unopposed, and unopposed elections are on the rise, according to a report from the Center for Local Elections in American Politics, part of Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required. This also appeared in The Charlotte Observer, SF Gate and Seattle PI.)
http://bit.ly/2tCulaD
http://bit.ly/2uz7GQP
In parts of Connecticut, interest in running for local office on the decline
CTNow
http://bit.ly/2u69y2S

Pride: Current and former students march together, celebrate LGBT community
Rice is mentioned.
Texas A&M Today
http://bit.ly/2u64FXF

State emissions oversight questioned
Loren Raun, professor in the practice in the Department of Statistics, is quoted.
Athens Daily Review (This article also appeared in Gainesville Daily Register.)
http://bit.ly/2uvAMAV

Fiato Quartet this Saturday at the Old Mill
Rice is mentioned.
Pasadena Now
http://bit.ly/2tmG3eg

BROADCAST

KAMR-TV (Amarillo, Texas)
A Rice study is mentioned.
http://bit.ly/2uzmizt

WNYC-FM (New York)
A broadcast discusses Rice’s residential college system.
http://bit.ly/2vynkt5 (Click on the audio button to listen to the broadcast.) 

TRADE/PROFESSIONAL

Fluorine enhances white graphene
A little fluorine turns an insulating ceramic known as white graphene into a wide-bandgap semiconductor with magnetic properties. Rice scientists said that could make the unique material suitable for electronics in extreme environments. Pulickel Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering and founding chair of the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering; postdoctoral researcher Chandra Sekhar Tiwary; and graduate student Sruthi Radhakrishnan are mentioned.
R&D
http://bit.ly/2u4BPoB
Fluorine grants white graphene new powers
ECN
http://bit.ly/2vy2XvV
Fluorine turns boron nitride into a magnetic semiconductor
Chemistry World
http://bit.ly/2u6pQsE
Researchers convert common insulator into magnetic semiconductor
Azo Nano
http://bit.ly/2uz3EYP

Ultra-high-contrast digital sensing
Richard Baraniuk, the Victor E. Cameron Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is quoted.
ECN (This also appeared in Eccux World News.)
http://bit.ly/2veBkIZ
Researchers devise innovative unlimited sampling technique for ADCs
Azo Sensors
http://bit.ly/2vyKgrU

Neeraj Bhatia discusses his transcalar design-research practice, the Open Workshop
Rice is mentioned.
Archinect
http://bit.ly/2u5XnTz

Rice uses nanotechnology to turn salt water into fresh drinking water
A federally funded research effort to revolutionize water treatment has yielded an off-grid technology that uses energy from sunlight alone to turn salt water into fresh drinking water. Qilin Li, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and of materials science and nanoengineering, and Naomi Halas, the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of chemistry, of bioengineering, of physics and astronomy and of materials science and nanoengineering, are quoted.
World Industrial Reporter
http://bit.ly/2uvHSWh

CHC Group announces new board of managers
Alumnus Sten Gustafson ’89 is mentioned.
Vertical
http://bit.ly/2uzakGl
CHC announces new management structure
Heliweb
http://bit.ly/2uEJOMr

OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST

Joe Biden brings book tour to Sugar Land
A slideshow mentions that former Vice President Joe Biden spoke at Rice.
Midland Daily News (This also appeared in SF Gate.)
http://bit.ly/2u5avXp

Open source 3-D bioprinting brings Houston team 1 step closer to growing capillaries
In their work toward 3-D printing transplantable tissues and organs, bioengineers and scientists from Rice and Baylor College of Medicine have demonstrated a key step on the path to generate implantable tissues with functioning capillaries.
Open Health News
http://bit.ly/2uvWHIi

Criterion review: Roberto Rossellini’s ‘War Trilogy’
An article mentions that film director Roberto Rossellini spoke at Rice.
Cinapse
http://bit.ly/2u5RupE

Brandon Houston joins Trammell Crow Company’s Atlanta office
An article mentions that Brandon Houston attended Rice.
CityBizList (This also appeared in CityBizList Atlanta.)
http://bit.ly/2uvR6BK

Diezani, Omokore, Aluko bribe saga: US court papers reveal what each person got from stolen Nigeria’s oil money
An article mentions that Diezani Alison-Madueke, Nigeria’s former immediate past minister of petroleum resources, spoke at Rice in 2010.
Sahara Reporters (This also appeared in The Cable.)
http://bit.ly/2u4JUdb

SPORTS

Rice’s Emmanuel Ellerbee, Trey Martin nab C-USA preseason honors
Baker College senior Emmanuel Ellerbee and Lovett College senior Trey Martin received C-USA first team all-conference honors.
Houston Chronicle (Subscription required.)
http://bit.ly/2vydozE
http://bit.ly/2u6jHwu
4 UTSA players chosen for preseason All-C-USA team
Houston Chronicle
http://bit.ly/2u65bow
McClain, Brooks selected to preseason All-C-USA team
Denton Record-Chronicle
http://bit.ly/2uF338J
La. Tech places 2 on preseason All-C-USA team
The News Star (This also appeared in the Shreveport Times.)
http://tnsne.ws/2u6n1ro
WKU quarterback White named C-USA’s preseason offensive POTY
WBKO
http://bit.ly/2tmPPgk
Marshall TE Ryan Yurachek named to preseason All-C-USA football team
Charleston Gazette-Mail
http://bit.ly/2tCi6Lg

Chuck Landon: Let’s put MU budget surplus in perspective
An article mentions that Rice is a private institution and doesn’t report athletic earnings.
Herald-Dispatch
http://bit.ly/2uzgA0O

Rice, HBU and Pacific on Texas State’s schedule
Rice men’s basketball is mentioned.
San Marcos Daily Record
http://bit.ly/2u6i168

Big 12 Media Days: For new OU coach Lincoln Riley, age is just a number
An article mentions that David Beaty coached at Rice.
OU Sports Extra
http://bit.ly/2vfft3Z

TTAS softball: Mildred 12-U girls head for TTAS state tournament
An article mentions that the TTAS district softball tournament was hosted at Rice.
Corsicana Daily Sun
http://bit.ly/2tn0dFe

USM football: Former EMCC receiver Staggers named to watchlist
Rice football is mentioned.
The Meridan Star
http://bit.ly/2uvOuDG
UTEP football: Will Hernandez, Alvin Jones receive preseason C-USA recognition
Miner Rush
http://bit.ly/2uF3mjB
10 most important Golden Eagles: No. 3 Allenzae Staggers
Hattiesburg American
http://hatne.ws/2uFnAd7
Ito Smith and Allenzae Staggers named to preseason All-C-USA Team
MS News Now
http://bit.ly/2vyDXEW

NEWS RELEASES

Zealandia should hold answers about tectonics, past climate
Thirty scientists will sail from Australia July 27 on a two-month ocean drilling expedition to the submerged continent of Zealandia in search of clues about its history, which relates to key questions about plate tectonic processes and Earth’s past greenhouse climate.
http://bit.ly/2tbLiJD

Baker Institute expert examines migration of skilled Mexicans to Texas, particularly Houston
While skilled Mexican migrants as a group have integrated into the economy and society of Texas, they continue to network with colleagues back home, according to an expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
http://bit.ly/2vyJpYk

OER expert available to comment on Amazon Inspire relaunch
Daniel Williamson, managing director of OpenStax, a Rice University-based publisher of open education resources (OER) and textbooks, is available to comment on the relaunch of Amazon Inspire.
http://bit.ly/2uzJ3Ua