NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

‘I’m nervous’: US colleges wrestle with Covid safety as fall semester begins
As universities and colleges in the United States open for the fall semester, even those institutions requiring masks and vaccinations are grappling with unexpectedly high rates of Covid. Rice is mentioned as one of several universities that moved the first weeks of classes online.
The Guardian
https://bit.ly/3BY6fe7

Wealth gap widening as US elite report record enrolments
Rice’s record class size and yield rate are mentioned.
Times Higher Education (Subscription required.)
https://bit.ly/3txrX5S

HOUSTON/TEXAS

‘A war zone’: Houston native shares story of being inside World Trade Center on 9/11
Alumnus Billy Forney recounts his harrowing experience on the 85th floor of 1 World Trade Center the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
Houston Chronicle
https://bit.ly/3tCWO0H

Chabad at Rice welcomes Jewish students back for fall semester
As the new academic semester begins around the country, Jewish students in Houston were welcomed back to in-person programs with Chabad at Rice.
Jewish Herald-Voice
https://bit.ly/3l75NDw

Wastewater shows severity of COVID by zip code in the Houston area
City officials said they’re testing wastewater in the community because people who have COVID-19 shed the virus, regardless of symptoms. Rice is analyzing the data.
KTRK-TV
https://abc13.co/3z01Rtf

TEXAS HISTORY MINUTE: James Allred took on the Great Depression, prohibition
A profile on former Gov. Jimmy Allred mentions that he had planned to enroll at Rice, but his first attempt at higher education was derailed by financial challenges.
Herald Democrat
https://bit.ly/3A388FJ

Houston Museum of Natural Science inks lease, startup expands in East End Maker Hub
Volumetric, a startup spun out of Rice University specializing in 3D bioprinting of replacement organs and tissue, is mentioned.
Houston Inno
https://bit.ly/2X5j2Nf

TRADE/PROFESSIONAL

New math book rescues landmark topology proof
Mathematician Michael Freedman’s momentous 1981 proof of the four-dimensional Poincaré conjecture was on the verge of being lost. The editors of a new book are trying to save it. Rice alumna Arunima Ray is quoted.
Quanta Magazine
https://bit.ly/3z0SqcQ

Tweezer grant pleases Rice researchers
A team led by Sibani Lisa Biswal, the William M. McCardell Professor in Chemical Engineering and a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of materials science and nanoengineering, has won a $1 million National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation grant to obtain an optical tweezer, a powerful microscope that will allow researchers to manipulate, measure and monitor micron-scale particles to see how they change over time. Others mentioned are Michael Diehl, associate professor of bioengineering and of chemistry; Anna-Karin Gustavsson, assistant professor of chemistry; and Robert Raphael, associate professor of bioengineering.
AZO Optics
https://bit.ly/3nmaD2A

OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST

SPORTS

Ahern joins Yale Athletics as creative content director
Geoff Bell has been named Rice athletics’ new director of creative services.
Yale Daily News
https://bit.ly/3E5JqqM