Dateline Rice for Oct. 12, 2017

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Is Donald Trump really going to destroy NAFTA?
Tony Payan, the Baker Institute for Public Policy’s Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and director of the institute’s Mexico Center, discusses President Donald Trump’s policy regarding the North American Free Trade Association.
Forbes
http://bit.ly/2yjieov

A billionaire’s quirky quest to create a mecca for Bob Dylan fans. In Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Rice Professor of History Douglas Brinkley discusses the cultural impact of Bob Dylan.
Washington Post
http://wapo.st/2yiY121

Houston officials let developers build homes inside reservoirs. But no one warned buyers.
Phil Bedient, the Herman Brown Professor of Engineering and director of Rice’s Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center, is quoted.
Texas Tribune (This also appeared in Pro Republica.)
http://bit.ly/2kJkcd2

HOUSTON/TEXAS

In Mexico, Texas chemical companies go to battle with ethanol
At a Rice forum last year, Mexican Energy Secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell was asked whether his government would allow refiners to increase the concentrations of ethanol in gasoline beyond the 5.8 percent that it had just approved. Coldwell gave an emphatic no.
Houston Chronicle
http://bit.ly/2yj6PoW

Mickalene Thomas designed a room-size tableau for her 1st solo exhibition in Texas, which is on view at Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts through Jan. 13
“Waiting on a Prime-Time Star,” an exhibit by artist Mickalene Thomas at Rice’s Moody Center for the Arts, is featured.
Houston Chronicle
http://bit.ly/2gedgU2

Slideshow: How an artist sees the Midtown Sears
Sears is closing its location on Main Street in Midtown. The story mentions that Rice Management Co. owns the land. President David Leebron is quoted.
Houston Chronicle (This appeared in the Chronicle’s “Gray Matters” online magazine.)
http://bit.ly/2yFRY9p

Historical lecture on Heights community sheds light on modern neighborhood
Rice’s Glasscock School of Continuing Studies’ new series, “City in a City: Community Identity and Houston’s Sprawl,” is featured.
Houston Chronicle
http://bit.ly/2ygFPVv

Why a professor says we should stop dismissing reports of alien abductions
Jeffrey Kripal, the J. Newton Rayzor Professor of Religion, discusses his book “The Super Natural: Why the Unexplained Is Real” and examines how researching the supernatural can advance scientific discovery.
Texas Standard
http://bit.ly/2yjm6WK
KUT-FM (Austin, Texas)
http://bit.ly/2wQ5r9W  (Click the audio button to listen to the broadcast.)

Don’t displace — revitalize
Quianta Moore, fellow in child health policy at the Baker Institute, outlines recommendations to create revitalization, not displacement, in neighborhoods.
Houston Chronicle (This appeared in the Chronicle’s “Gray Matters” online magazine.)
http://bit.ly/2zik7Ai

County ditches STAR-Vote’s innovative voting system
Dan Wallach, professor of computer science and of electrical and computer engineering and a Rice Faculty Scholar at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is quoted on election security.
Austin Chronicle
http://bit.ly/2kIFyaI

‘Querido San Antonio’ (‘Dear Saint Anthony’)
A film premiere held at Rice is mentioned.
Houston Press
http://bit.ly/2yjkJHi

BROADCAST

‘Great Day Houston’
The Houston Symphony temporarily moved its performances to Rice University because of flood damage to Jones Hall.
KHOU-TV (Click the video button to view the broadcast.)
http://bit.ly/2yj7yXc

‘Fox 26 News at 9’
Sears is closing its location on Main Street in Midtown. The story mentions that Rice Management Co. owns the land.
KRIV-TV (Click the video button to view the broadcast.)
http://bit.ly/2xALfbS

‘Houston Life’
Stephen Klineberg, professor of sociology and founding director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, discusses Houston’s development and demographic evolution.
KPRC-TV (Click the video button to view the broadcast.)
http://bit.ly/2zinsiI

KUT-FM (Austin, Texas)
Daniel Cohan, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, comments on a new air pollution rule finalized by the EPA that will allow Texas coal plants to emit almost twice as much sulfur dioxide as an earlier proposal by the Obama administration.
http://bit.ly/2i6tZc8 (Click the audio button to listen to the broadcast.)

TRADE/PROFESSIONAL

Inside the moonshot effort to finally figure out the brain
AI is only loosely modeled on the brain. To do it correctly, you’d need to map what actually happens in neurons and nerve fibers. Rice’s Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks team is mentioned.
MIT Technology Review
http://bit.ly/2yFMBqF

Plasmonic nanostructures could provide platform for photocatalysis, spectroscopy
Rice researchers have developed a way to build multifunctional nanoscale structures using aluminum nanocrystals. Graduate student Dayne Swearer is quoted.
Photonics 
http://bit.ly/2yhqJAu

Scientists create magnetic atom-thick alloys
Rice researchers have discovered that substituting atoms in the process of making two-dimensional alloys makes them customizable and magnetic. The lab of Pulickel Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in Engineering and chair of the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, is mentioned. Graduate student Amey Apte is quoted.
R&D Magazine (This also appeared in Energy-Daily.)
http://bit.ly/2yboTzn
Researchers create atom-thick alloys with unanticipated magnetic properties
Nano Werk
http://bit.ly/2xA8APK
Surprised by ultraflat magnets
Technology.org
http://bit.ly/2ge72n6

Rice Business Plan winner heads to Nasdaq
The winners of the 2017 Rice University Business Plan Competition at the Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business celebrated their victory by ringing the Nasdaq stock market closing bell.
Metro MBA
http://bit.ly/2ycDTwX

Nerve cells’ gatekeepers take many forms
The ability to track the movements of single molecules has revealed how proteins on the surface of nerve cells control gates that turn chemical signals into electrical signals. The finding is a step forward in detailing mechanisms involved in neurological disease, according to researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Christy Landes, professor of chemistry and of electrical and computer engineering, is quoted.
Bionity
http://bit.ly/2kKFsz0

On the road to fire-free, lithium-ion batteries made with asphalt
A touch of asphalt may be the secret to high-capacity lithium metal batteries that charge 10 to 20 times faster than commercial lithium-ion batteries, according to Rice University scientists. The lab of chemist James Tour developed anodes comprising porous carbon made from asphalt that showed exceptional stability after more than 500 charge-discharge cycles. Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry and a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering.
Health Medicine Network
http://bit.ly/2xB64bK

OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST

Life outside the golden cage: Composer Gabriela Lena Frank in profile
An article mentions that composer Gabriela Lena Frank attended Rice.
Michigan Daily
http://bit.ly/2ygoXhB

Baylor University to inaugurate Linda A. Livingstone as university’s 15th president on Oct. 26
Linda Livingstone will become Baylor’s next president. Her daughter, Will Rice College senior Shelby Livingstone, is mentioned.
Baylor Media Communications
http://bit.ly/2gdSDat

Inside the Admissions Office — at the JCCMW
Rice University is participating in an event at the Jewish Community Center of Mid-Westchester in Scarsdale, N.Y.
Scarsdale10586.com
http://bit.ly/2yGDoyy

University libraries spotlight: Catherine Wallack
Alumna Catherine Wallack ’87 is profiled.
University of Arkansas News
http://bit.ly/2yixthQ

SPORTS

Baylor crew weighs future as club team
Rice’s rowing team is mentioned.
Baylor Lariat
http://bit.ly/2ybOv1x

Miami Hurricane 2nd quarter opponent review
Rice football is mentioned.
State of the U
http://bit.ly/2yfI0um

Double trouble
Rice men’s tennis is mentioned.
University Press
http://bit.ly/2g6icXp

Saturday marks the biggest night in short history of Apogee Stadium
Rice football is mentioned.
North Texas Daily
http://bit.ly/2yjhq3m