Rice Magazine Fall 2003

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RICE SALLYPORT The magazine of rice universiTy fall 2003

D e p a r t m e n t s

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52 sb 53 yt

InsIde

5Did you get a u shot

last year? Then youdbetter get one this year.Michael Dean tells you

why.

52The Rice tennis teamcourts victory.

6Want to know aboutthe latest research innanoscale science andtechnology? NanoFANShas the scoop.

6Rice marine geologists

uncover evidence ointense meteor strikescaused by a colossalasteroid collision 500million years ago.

43A unique class thatexplores the art andbusiness o printmakingtransorms classic photoso the Rice campus intoartistic prints.

7A Rice innovationmakes the list o the 100most technologicallysignifcant products othe year.

4Creating a newdepartment is the frststep in elevating the roleo the visual arts at Rice.

9When corporateexecutives misbehave,should consumersshoulder some o the

blame?

10A think tank with adierence, the BakerInstitute or PublicPolicy marks 10 years o

distinguished service.


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Rc SayporFall 2003, Vol. 60, No. 1

Published by the Division o PublicAairs

Terry Shepard, vice president

Editor

Christopher Dow

Creative DirectorJe Cox

Art DirectorChuck Thurmon

Editorial StaDavid D. Medina 83, senior editorM. Yvonne Taylor, associate editor

Lindsay Dold, assistant editorLorrie Lampson, production coordinator

Design StaDean Mackey, senior designer

Jana Starr, designerTommy LaVergne,photographerJe Fitlow, assistant photographer

The Rice University Boardo Trustees

E. William Barnett, chair; J. D. BuckyAllshouse; D. Kent Anderson; TeveiaRose Barnes; Alredo Brener; Robert T.Brockman; Albert Y. Chao; James W.Crownover; Edward A. Dominguez; Bruce

W. Dunlevie; James A. Elkins, III; LynnLaverty Elsenhans; Karen O. George;Susanne Glasscock; K. Terry Koonce; CindyJ. Lindsay; Michael R. Lynch; Robert R.Maxfeld; Burton J. McMurtry; Steven L.Miller; W. Bernard Pieper; Karen HessRogers; Marc Shapiro; William N. Sick;L. E. Simmons

Administrative OfcersMalcolm Gillis, president; ZenaidoCamacho, vice president or Student

Aairs; Dean W. Currie, vice presidentor Finance and Administration; CharlesHenry, vice president and chie inormationofcer; Eric Johnson, vice president orResource Development; Eugene Levy,

provost; Terry Shepard, vice president orPublic Aairs; Scott W. Wise, vice president

or Investments and treasurer; Ann Wright,vice president or Enrollment; Richard A.Zansitis, general counsel.

Sallyportis published by the Division oPublic Aairs o Rice University and is sentto university alumni, aculty, sta, graduatestudents, parents o undergraduates, andriends o the university.

Editorial Ofces

Ofce o PublicationsMS 95P.O. Box 1892

Houston, Texas 77251-1892

Fax:713-348-6751E-mail:[email protected]

Postmaster

Send address changes to:

Rice UniversityDevelopment ServicesMS 80

P.O. Box 1892Houston, TX 77251-1892

2003 Rice UniveRsity

Not long ago, I was talking to an older alumone who graduated in the Rice Institutedaysand he made an interesting observation. Rice has always been an excellent school with highaspirations, he told me, but it is ar better now than when hed been a studenttougher to getinto and tougher to graduate rom. That, coupled with 40 additional years o Rices increasingreputation as a world-class university, had added considerably to the prestige o his Rice degree.

Then, with a wry grin, he commented that he probably would not have gotten into Rice hadthe admission and graduation requirements been as stringent then as they are now, and that hewas, in essence, riding on the coattails o graduates one-third his age.

The truth is that, all too oten, prestige lies in the eyes o thebeholder rather than in the intrinsic worth o that which is beheld.Rice, thankully, has both intrinsic worth as well as prestige, butthere was a time when the edgling Rice, despite the ballyhoosurrounding its inauguration, had to prove its worth when com-pared to more venerable institutions o higher learning. It didand, because o that, rose in distinction to join the ranks o thosesame institutions it once aspired to equal.

Getting to the top takes a lot o hard work and diligence. Stay-ing there is perhaps more difcult, and Rice cannot rest on its laurels. Today there is incrediblyintense competition among universities or all the elements that matter most in higher education:

excellent aculty, superior students, and ample unding or general operations, state-o-the-art acili-ties, student assistance, and research. Maintainingmuch lessincreasingeach o these elements requires constant vigilance.Faculty can be lured elsewhere, state-o-the-art acilities canbe all too quickly eclipsed by new technologies, and programsand research can cease to exist rom lack o unding. All theseactors aect the decision o superior students to choose Riceor go elsewhere.

The simple act is that the value o a degree hinges in parton the reputation o the university that has granted it. Ricesreputation can continue to rise, or, due to lack o supportandthus meansit can all. And with those uctuations goes thecachet that a Rice degree imparts to its alumni. Support cantake various orms, the most obvious being unding. As a private

university, Rice must make its fnancial way among ar-largerstate supported schools in what is, as we all know, a difcultfnancial climate. But support also includes the less tangible,such as participation in the Association o Rice Alumni, vol-unteerism on behal o the university, or simple advocacy.

Indeed, all these orms o support are crucial in these changingtimes, or we are witnessing incredible evolution not only in technologies but in educational modelsand the needs and aspirations o students, and Rice cannot allow the dynamic orward momentumit has built over the past decade to alter. We must take up the dual challenges o orging aheadand, at the same time, preparing the way or our own passage. And none o us should make themistake o believing that the acilities we are so proud o today will be state-o-the-art in 20 years,that current educational models will adequately represent the pedagogy o the uture, or that newdirections in research can be predicted by contemporary standards.

Pride in and respect or Rice should be reason enough to contribute to the university, as ispreservation o the distinction o a Rice degree. But most important, perhaps, is that Rice, despiteits modest size, is making a real dierence in the world. I could cite numerous Sallyportarticlesreporting on achievements made by members o the Rice communityrom the scientifc andtechnological to the social and culturalbut such a catalog would require an issue unto itsel.Instead o dwelling on past achievements, I simply ask you to use your imagination to envisionRiceand the accomplishments o its alumni, aculty, researchers, and studentsin 20 years.Then I encourage you to discover what you can do to help make that vision a reality.

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Letters

r e T u r n a d d r e s s e d

Will the Real Beer Bike Winners

Please Stand Up?

Sallyportis the magazine o Rice Uni-versity. How could you be so careless

as to report incorrectly who won 2003

Beer Run? Martel College had its veryfrst major victory on campus, and you

have robbed us o it. The least you cando is have a eature article on Martels

victory in your next issue.

Not happy at Martel.

Joan Few

Master, Martel College

Its not air reporting that Will Ricewon Beer Bike, even though it was

Beer Run. We still won air and

square. Fix it.

James Walker

Houston, Texas

As the editor-in-chie o a ellow RiceUniversity publication, theCampanile

yearbook, I am horrifed by the lacko journalistic responsibility exhibited

in the most recent issue oSallyport.

The Beer Bike results, though theymay seem trivial to some, are very im-

portant to Rice students and alumni.These results are not difcult acts

to fnd. Martel won the mens race

at Beer Bikeplain and simple. Myphotograph was also used in this issue,

and I do not wish to compromise myown journalistic integrity by having

my likeness appear alongside a aulty

article. Please send an apology toMartel College and all the recipients

o your magazine.

Heidi Sherman

Martel College

It has come to my attention thatSallyport reported that Will Rice

won Beer Bike/Run. This is clearly

alseask anyone who was there,

or the Threshersta, or everyone atMartel who was cheering when they

won. Will Rice did, however, decideto have another race the ollowing

week which they titled the Will Rice

Invitational Beer Bike. Everyone elseat Rice just called it Fake Beer Bike

because thats what it really is. That,and you cant just have another race

because you didnt win the frst one.

Thats just stupid. Whether or notWill Rice won the race they planned

or themselves is completely insignif-cantnot to mention the act that

only two other colleges showed up

to their Waste o Everyones Freak-ing Time Invitational. So just because

some people at Will Rice who weredropped on their heads as babies de-

cided to have another race doesnt

make it valid. Recognize the winnerso Actual Real Beer Bike: Martel.

Will Thompson

Martel College

Our apologies to Martel College and

our readers. The error resulted rom

a too-hurried reading o the results

posted at http://www.ru.rice.edu/

~program/beerbike/results.html, which

listed the winners o the alumni race

frst and the mens race last.

Editor

The Others

I enjoyed your article about Tony Elam

and his games. Unortunately, you gotthe name o one o his avorite games

wrong. It is Cosmic Encounter, notCosmic Encounters. My housemates(one o whom coincidentally used to

work with Tony at IBM and game with him at CLAG) call it CosmicEncountersto annoy me.

John S. Adair 89

Austin, Texas

Just a note: Lynn Elsenhans is cur-

rently on the Jones Graduate SchoolBoard o Overseers, and your write-

up makes it sound like she no longer

is. Vicki Bretthaur is also on the JGSCouncil o Overseers. Obviously,

were proud o having them on our

council.

Debra Thomas

Director o Public RelationsJones Graduate School o

Management

I appreciate the articles on students,especially the various ways that they

volunteer themselves and their time

or others.The summer 2003 issue, which

I just received, has an article on thedonation o hair to Locks o Love. You

have eatured other students in the

past. Please be aware, however, that

students have been doing this or a

long time. My daughter, Jill, surprisedus on her Christmas visit home in 2001

with a very new, very short cut. Locks

o Love was delighted, as red hair is

hard to come by. A good riend ohers, Stephanie Moat, also donated

at the same time. These womenmade the donation with no anare

and would probably be embarrassed

i any uss were made. A well balancedarticle, however, might include urther

research into the requency that dona-tions to Locks o Love are made by

all Rice students.

Rice students make other simple,but meaningul contributions to the

Houston community. I doubt i verymany Rice students are content to

just study. Most go to Rice precisely

because they want challenges andnew experiences. I believe you might

fnd many more interesting ways Ricestudents contribute to the community

i you seek them out.

Louise Bergman

Long Grove, Illinois

Thank you or the summer issue. I do

not remember an issue with more in-teresting articles, better graphics, and

more inormation. It is the best yet.

Judy Wingo

Richardson, Texas

I just read the summer issue o theSallyport. Its terrifcboth layout andcontent. Cheers to the sta.

Susan Lieberman

Director, Leadership Rice

On the inside back cover o the summer

Sallyportit is stated that Will Rice wasthe rst across the nish line at Beer Bike.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Martel was the

clear winner and by a large margin. All o

the students in the above photo are Martel

College students.

Arthur Few

Master, Martel College

The Real

Kelly Niemann

In the write-up on Je

Niemann in the summer

issue, the woman pictured withJe may indeed be his biggest an,

but she is not his mother. She ishis cousin, Sherry Darby, whose

husband, Glenn, ran track at Rice

in the 1960s. Our apologies to theNiemanns. Here is Je, with his

parents, Kelly and Steve.

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The split recognizes the dierent

teaching and research methods

used by artists and art historians.

Artists tend to be visual and con-

ceptual, while art historians tend

to be analytical and discursive,

says Gale Stokes, the Mary Gibbs

Jones Proessor o History and

ormer dean o humanities. Artists

create space, line, color, and shape;

art historians analyze those cre-ations, placing them in context.

The move will enhance each

department by making it more

eective, efcient, and respon-

sive to student and aculty in-

structional and research needs,

says Hamid Nafcy, the Nina J.

Cullinan Proessor o Art His-

tory and chair o the art his-

tory department. The

change will not aect

current academic

programs, and no

proessors will

be added to ei-ther department.

However, the art

historians, who cur-

rently are housed in

Sewall Hall, will move

their ofces into Herring Hall

during the 200304 winter break.

Nafcy said he hopes each de-

partment can now concentrate

its eorts on developing its own

local, national, and international

identity to attract top students,

visitors, scholars, and artists. Each

department also can develop more

rigorous undergraduate and grad-

uate majors in its area, create closer

ties with local and national

museum and arts com-

munities, increase

interdisciplinary col-

laborations, and

promote its own in-

tellectual, program-

matic, and artistic

growth at Rice.

The reorganization

will help defne the goals

o visual arts proessors, says Karin

Broker, proessor and chair o the

visual arts depart-

ment. One problem

the departmentsencountered, she says,

was that the two disci-

plines had grown too large to be

managed together eectively. Art

proessors also have dierent needs

than art history proessors, such as

dealing with heavy equipment and

chemicals, saety procedures, and

adequate space or working.

The division already has created

a new energy among the visual

artists, Broker says. When stu-

dents returned in the all, they elt

that they were studying and work-

ing in a real art school. The

mission o the visual arts depart-

ment is to give students the best

opportunity to study painting,

sculpture, photography, drawing,

design, flmmaking, and print-

making at the undergraduate lev-

el. In turn, this will create more

collaborations with the School

o Architecture and the Houston

arts community.

We believe the creation o

TheArto Separation

The Department o Art and Art History is no more. But never

ear, art loversin its stead stand two new departments: the

Department o Art History and the Department o Visual Arts.

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this new depart-

ment, which will

include the Rice Me-dia Center, is the frst

step in elevating the role

o the visual arts at Rice, says

Broker, but equally important

is the creation o a new spirit o

camaraderie and dedication on

the part o each and every studio

aculty member and sta person.

We hope to create an atmosphere

o cooperative work and interac-

tion among all o our various art

disciplines, the kind o camarade-

rie that characterizes the best art

institutions.

The split does not signal the

end o collaboration between art

historians and artists and may even

encourage more partnerships.

From the enthusiasm that the

change has already stirred among

the artists and historians, Stokes

says, it is clear that the sum o

the two separate departments will

actually be greater than when they

were together.

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The program, called NanoFANS

short or Friends Advancing Nano

Science/Technologyoers a va-

riety o membership levels aimed at

groups as diverse as grade school

students and business leaders.

Since CNST was ormed in

1993, people outside the Rice com-munity have asked how they could

get involved, either in helping us

to urther scientifc research at the

nanoscale or to educate the public

about the benefts and prospects or

nanotechnology, says Wade Adams,

CNST director. NanoFANS gives

those olks a window on the CNST

research thats under way in the

laboratories o more than 80 Rice

aculty members.

All NanoFANS members receive

a membership card, advance notice

o all CNST events, and an invita-tion to the annual CNST aculty/

sta/student outing. Upper-level

members get additional benefts

like reserved parking or events and

opportunities to sponsor events.

Details and enrollment orms

are available online at http://

cnst.rice.edu.J B

The research, which appeared

in the May 9 issue oScience, is

based on an analysis o ossil me-

teorites and limestone samples

rom fve Swedish quarries located

as much as 310 miles apart.

We are doing astronomy, but

instead o looking up at the stars,

we are looking down into

the Earth, says lead re-

searcher Birger Schmitz,

who conducted his analy-sis during his tenure as

the Wiess Visiting Proes-

sor o Earth Science at

Rice. Schmitz is proes-

sor o marine geology at

Gteborg University in Sweden.

Meteorite activity on Earth

is relatively uniorm today, with

an average o about one mete-

orite per year alling every 7,700

square miles. Some 20 percent

o the meteorites that reach

Earth today are remnants o a

very large asteroid that plan-

etary scientists reer to as theL-chondrite parent body.

This asteroid broke apart

around 500 million years ago

in what scientists believe is the

largest collision that occurred

in late solar-system history. The

breakup let its mark when lime-

stone orming rom sea-bottom

sediments during a 2 million-year

span about 480 million years ago

sealed intact meteorites, as well

as trace minerals rom disinte-

grated meteorites, in a litho-

graphic time capsule.

The new study ound a hun-

dred-old increase in meteorite

activity during the period o

limestone ormation over the en-

tire 150,000-square-mile search

area. In looking or unique ex-

traterrestrial orms o the mineral

chromite that are ound only in

meteorites rom the L-chondrite

breakup, Schmitz and his col-

leagues ound that all the intact

ossil meteorites in the Swedish

limestone came rom the breakup.

Moreover, they ound matching

concentrations o silt and sand-

sized grains o extraterrestrial

chromite in limestone rom all fvequarries, indicating that meteorite

activity ollowing the breakup was

occurring at the same rate over

the entire area.

The research helps explain why

Schmitz and his colleagues at

Gteborg have been able to col-

lect so many ossilized meteorites

rom a single quarry near Kin-

nekulle, Sweden, over the past

decade. Fossil meteorites embed-

ded in stratifed rock are extreme-

ly rare. Only 55 have ever been

recovered, and Schmitzs group

ound 50 o those.

It is true that we are luckyto be looking in just the right

placea layer o lithifed sediments

that was orming on the sea oor

immediately ater this massive col-

lision, Schmitz says. But on the

other hand, we would never have

started looking there in the frst

place i the quarry workers hadnt

been fnding the meteorites on a

regular, yet still rare, basis. Until

Schmitzs group started working

with the quarry crew, the ossil-

ized meteorites were considered

blemishes in the limestone and were

discarded.

Schmitz believes it is possible

that similar concentrations o os-

silized meteorites and extrater-

restrial chromite grains are present

across the planet in limestone thatormed during the period ollow-

ing the asteroid breakup. He re-

cently received unding to look or

evidence o this in China, and he

says there are South American sites

that also are avorable.

The research was sponsored by

the National Geographic Society and

the Swedish Research Council.

J B

Using ossil meteorites and ancient limestone unearthed throughout

southern Sweden, marine geologists at Rice University have discovered

that a colossal collision in the asteroid belt some 500 million years ago

led to intense meteorite strikes over Earths surace.

NanoFANS SupportSmall Science in aBig Field

Rices Center or Nanoscale

Science and Technology (CNST)

has established a new aliate

program that allows o-campus

supporters o nanoscience

and nanotechnology to both

materially support research at

Rice and stay abreast o the

latest developments at CNST.

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Conventional single-walled

carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are

hollow tubes o pure carbon that

measure just one nanometer, or

billionth o a meter, in diameter.

Theyre excellent conductors o

electricity and heat, can be electrical

semiconductors, and show tremen-

dous promise or use in advanced

composites, sensor technology, uel

cells, and molecular electronics. Buta major obstacle to ully exploiting

their properties is their tendency to

get tangled into knotted bundles.

First prepared at Rice in the labo-

ratory o John Margrave, the E.D.

Butcher Proessor o Chemistry, u-

oronanotubes have unique chemical

properties not ound in pure carbon

nanotubes. By attaching thousands

o uorine atoms to the sides o

nanotubes, researchers

in Margraves group cre-

ated chemical handles

that allow chemists and

engineers to bind othermolecules to their sides to

create new materials.

Fluorinating nanotubes

also makes it easier or

scientists and engineers to exploit

their incredible strength. Although

SWNTs are 100 times stronger than

steel at one-sixth the weight, their

tendency to clump together inhib-

its their use in creating superstrong

composite materials. Research by

Margrave and others at Rice has

shown disentangling SWNTs via

Share(hard)ware

Top aculty in interdisciplinary

elds like nanotechnology and

bioinormatics increasingly

need expensive, high-powered

equipment to do their jobs; itcan be the price o admission or

competing at the highest levels

o their elds.

One o Rices newest weapons

in the battle to attract and retain

these top aculty isnt a piece o

equipment, howeverits a new

way o managing the instruments

that are already here.

At Rice, the management and

maintenance o research instru-

ments historically has been han-

dled by academic departments.Rices new Shared Equipment

Authority (SEA) grew out o a

broadening awareness

that department-level

management was ill-

suited or extremely

expensive instru-

ments that are in

high demand by users

across departments.

SEA now manages

some 20 instruments

that previously were

maintained by depart-

ments in the WiessSchool o Natural

Sciences and George

R. Brown School o

Engineering.

In addition to en-

suring that all aculty have access

to the big-ticket equipment that is

increasingly needed to land com-

petitive research grants, SEA helps

to maximize the useul lie span o

high-dollar instruments. For most

o these machines, Rice will spend

an amount equal to the purchase

price to keep them up-to-date

and operational over a 10-year lie

cycle.

Some o the equipment will be

available to researchers outside

Rice. One example is a state-

o-the-art 800 MHz nuclear

magnetic resonance (NMR) spec-

trometer purchased by the Gul

Coast Consortium (GCC) with a

$750,000 grant rom the John S.

Dunn Research Foundation and

a $1 million grant rom the W.M.

Keck Foundation. It will become

uorination makes it easier to dis-

perse them evenly in polymers and

ceramic composites.

Those participating in Margraves

uoronanotube research include

ormer doctoral student Edward T.

Mickelson, who carried out the frst

synthesis and characterization o u-

oronanotubes; ormer doctoral stu-

dents Ivana Chiang and Zhenning

Gu, who built upon Mickelsonswork; Robert Hauge, distinguished

aculty ellow; Richard E. Smalley,

University Proessor, the Gene and

Norman Hackerman Proessor o

Chemistry, and proessor o physics;

Valery Khabashesku, aculty ellow;

Shyam Shukla, visiting proessor

o chemistry rom Lamar Univer-

sity; Galle Derrien, postdoctoral

research associate; graduate stu-

dents Haiqing Peng, Lei

Zhang, and Yu Liu; and

undergraduate researchers

Joel Stevens, Ian Tonks,

Paul Reverdy, and JustinCratty. The research is

sponsored by the Robert

A. Welch Foundation

and the Texas Advanced

Technology Program. Assistance

was provided by Carbon Nanotech-

nologies, Inc., Rices Center or

Nanoscale Science and Technology,

and MarChem, Inc.J B

part o the shared acilities o the

John S. Dunn, Sr. Gul Coast Con-

sortium or Magnetic Resonance.

While some 35 GCC researchers

are interested in high-feld NMR

research, there have been only two

high-feld instruments in the entire

Gul Coast region. The addition

o Rices instrument and another

at the University o Texas Medical

Branch at Galveston will double

that capacity.

Most SEA equipment is avail-

able only within the Rice commu-

nity, however. This is advantageous

in recruiting young aculty because

it is much easier or junior aculty

to get time on high-dollar instru-

ments at Rice than at larger state

institutions. But Rices small size

makes or a real challenge in the

area o cost recovery because there

just arent enough billable hourson the machines to cover the ris-

ing cost o maintenance. Thats

why SEA encour-

ages external use o

its instruments by

industry and other

academic organiza-

tions.

SEA is governed by

a 15-member aculty

committee chaired

by Vicki Colvin, as-

sociate proessor o

chemistry and direc-

tor o the Center orBiological and En-

vironmental Nano-

technology. Colvin

says that SEA is com-

mitted to holding

user ees to their lowest possible

level. Toward that end, the com-

mittee is working with the Ofce

o Development to obtain en-

dowed unds earmarked or instru-

ment stewardship.

With the right level o unding,

Rice could do away with internal

user ees altogether, Colvin says.

That would give our aculty, par-

ticularly our junior aculty, ree

access to instruments that they just

couldnt get, or would have to pay

a lot or, at a bigger school. That

would make Rice very attractive to

innovative young researchers.

J B

Fluoronanotubes, a processed orm o carbon nanotubes that opens

the door to hundreds o varieties o designer nanotubes, have been

named one o the 100 most technologically signicant products o the

year by R&D Magazine.

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FluoronanotubesEarn PrestigiousR&D Award

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RIce UnIveRsIty

the OffIceOf Planned GIvInGms 81 p.o. Bx 1892 ht, Tx 77251-1892

g Jb, cfc, clu, at dt p g 713-348-4617 jb@.

YouandtheuniversitYcanbothbenefit.

A charitable trust may provide attractive opportunities: Ensure and oten increase income rom selected assets Obtain an immediate and oten generous income tax

charitable deduction

Receive relie rom capital gains taxes on highlyappreciated assets used to make the git

Reduce onerous git and estate taxes and probate costs Make a signifcant git to Rice

howitworks

A minimum git o $100,000 to Rice is required toestablish a charitable trust, with Rice Trust Inc. astrustee. Charitable trusts are most oten unded withgits o cash, stocks, or bonds. However, gits o realestate, artwork, or a closely held business may also beconsidered as unding sources and evaluated on anindividual basis.

A charitable unitrust makes payments based on a fxedpercentage o the trusts total assets, revalued annually.Since the trusts assets may grow over time, the totalannual payment, though a fxed percentage, may growover the years o the lie o the trust.

Establishing a charitable remainder unitrust with Rice Universityoers you an opportunity to enjoy substantial fnancial and taxbenefts while also making an important git to Rice.

Impor tant L egis la t iv e UpdateThe U.S. House o Representatives and the U.S. Senate are investigating issues concerning IRA rollovers or charitable purposes.For the latest inormation on the status o legislation and how it may aect charitable gits, please check the Legislative Update

on our website at http://giving.rice.edu/giving/legupdate.asp. Or call 713-348-4617 or an update.

aGIfttO RIcethatPaysyOUback.

C h a r a R m a n d r U n r u s :

forexample

John and Jean Simon, both class o 1955 and retired,wish to make a signifcant git to Rice. They cannotmake an outright git o assets they need in theirretirement so they establish a charitable remainder

unitrust with Rice.

The Simons make an initial git o $100,000 tound the trust.

They receive a payout rate o 5 percent, providinga frst-year income o $5,000. Future income willvary with trust value.

Their unitrust generates an immediate charitableincome tax deduction o $42,191.

They designate that the unitrust ultimatelyestablish unds dedicated to support the libraryand residential colleges.

letusworkwithYou.

The sta o the Ofce o Planned Giving will be happyto provide individual git illustrations or inormationabout charitable trusts. Please eel ree to contact us.

8 r st


11/56


Duane Windsor, the Lynette S.

Autrey Proessor o Management

in Rices Jesse H. Jones Graduate

School o Management, is not so

quick agree, or ethical and practi-

cal reasons.

In an article in a special issue

o theJournal o Corporate Citi-

zenship, Stakeholder Responsi-

bilities: Lessons or Managers,

Windsor says it is a dilution

o stakeholder theory to start

spreading responsibility aroundversus keeping it with manage-

ment. He makes a practical ar-

gument: Customers actions oten

occur at a distance rom the deci-

sions made by management.

Take the case o Unocal Cor-

poration, an energy giant cur-

rently embroiled in a lawsuit

stemming rom its passive invest-

ment in a pipeline partly

owned by the govern-

ment o Burma. The

military regime in

Burma is oten

labeled by theU.S. government

and others as a

repressive dictator-

ship that allegedly has

used rape, murder, and

slave labor to secure its inter-

ests and investmentsincluding

the pipeline at the center o the

lawsuit. Do consumers who

purchase a product that is trans-

ported through this pipeline bear

some responsibility or the meth-

ods allegedly employed by the

Burmese government to operate

the pipeline?

Windsor points out that most

customers would have no way o

knowing exactly how their gas

was transported. In addition,

almost any action a consumer

would take, beyond simply not

buying the product themselves,

could be subject to criticism and

legal challenges by others. We

would be moving into a worldin which everyone has unlimited

moral responsibility and has to

consult everyone beore taking

action, Windsor says.

On the other hand, the board

o directors and executive team

at Unocal should have known

that the Burmese government

would use such methods to pro-

tect its investment. I they

elt insulated because

they wouldnt actu-

ally be carrying out

any brutality, that

would be a morally

wrong rationaliza-

tion, says Windsor.

To be sure, putting

the onus in the execu-

tive suite doesnt relieve

consumers o all responsibility

or making careul purchases. For

instance, a person who purchases

a CD with the knowledge that it

is stolen is acting immorally, and

probably illegally as well, Windsor

says. The consumers ethical re-

Who IsResponsible?

duane

Widsor

sponsibility is to those harmed: the

frm or individual who holds the

copyright to the songs on the CD.Ultimately, business owners,

managers, and board members

have to hold themselves to a

higher moral standard than do

consumers, says Windsor. The

board has a crucial role to play

in determining the undamental

values o a company, he says.

Based on those values, manage-

ment is charged with ormulating

and implementing strategy and

directing the operations o the

company.

Approaching business deci-

sions rom a moral ramework

may even cost a frm, adds Wind-

sor. Ken Moser, Rice M.B.A.

04, a ormer student o Wind-

sor, headed a business unit that

manuactured parts or combus-

tion turbines. In one case, Moser

and his colleagues were working

on a part that they manuactured

in Europe, where the patent had

expired, meaning that anyone was

ree to use the design. Mosers

team developed and launched

their own product, at which point

the company that had created the

original design obtained a patent

in the United Statesdespite the

act that the product had been

commercially available or more

than 17 years. Our frst reactionwas that this was ridiculous, says

Moser. We had manuactured a

whole bunch o stu legally that

they suddenly said we couldnt

sell. However, it became clear

that the patent was valid, and

Moser and his colleagues disposed

o all the parts that werent al-

ready in use. It was a tough deci-

sion, and it elt unjust, he says.

This incident, along with oth-

ers in which he was orced to con-

sider ethics as well as the bottom

line, prompted Moser to seek an

M.B.A. program that included

course work in business ethics. He

ound that at the Jones School.

I eel comortable regarding my

own decisions rom an ethical

perspective; however, given the

recent meltdown o companies

in the energy trading business,

in part due to apparent lapses in

ethical behavior, I elt ethics train-

ing would be important going

orward, says Moser. Its rel-

evant to everything we do.

k m. k

Amid headlines o corporate misconduct, some experts say that

customers, and not just executives or boards o directors, must take

responsibility or the ethical behavior o companies.

W w b t w

w t

bt t t b t t.

d W

f 03 9


12/56


13/56


While both are private universities,

they have dierent missions, and

Rices agreements reect that

dierence.

Monterrey Tech was ounded

in 1943 and received accreditation

rom the Southern Association o

Colleges and Schools (SACS) in

the United States in 1951. With

an enrollment o 95,000 ull-

time students on 29 campuses,

the university oers 34 under-

graduate, 51 masters, and six

doctoral programs.UDEM is a younger, smaller

university, ounded in 1969 and

accredited in 2001. It has 8,500

students on a single campus and

oers 23 academic programs or

undergraduates and 11 programs

at the masters level.

The agreement with UDEM

ormalizes an unofcial exchange

program that has been in place or

several years and involves Rices

George R. Brown School o En-

gineering and Department o Me-

chanical Engineering and MaterialsScience and UDEMs School o

Engineering. The plan is to eventu-

ally expand the program to include

computer science, architecture,

humanities, and social sciences.

The UDEM program has taken

some time to develop. In 1990, a

group o students rom the uni-

versity came to Rice and invited

Rice to participate in their annual

student-run conerence. The ol-

lowing year, Enrique Barrera,

associate proessor o mechani-

cal engineering and materials

science, and Michael Carroll,the Burton J. and Ann M. Mc-

Murtry Proessor o Engineer-

ing in Mechanical Engineering

and Computational and Applied

Mathematics, brought a number

o students to the conerence.

The relationship regained mo-

mentum in 1993, and today in-

volves annual visits between the

universities; however, the student

exchange has been one-way so ar.

UDEM is a very young univer-

Rice Forms Relationships withMexican Universities

sity, Barrera says, noting that

only 30 percent o the aculty

hold doctorates. Our relation-

ship with them has been one o

stewardship. We try to provide an

opportunity to produce students

or advanced degrees who can go

back to their campus and become

Ph.D. research aculty.

Rices connection with

Monterrey Tech is more

recent. The present

agreement, expected

to be the frst amongmany, will apply only to Rices

mechanical engineering and ma-

terials science department and

Monterrey Techs mechanical

engineering department.

Collaborations with Mon-

terrey Tech are crystallizing on

several ronts, says Rice presi-

dent Malcolm Gillis. Discus-

sions involving the Jones School

o Management and the Baker

Institute or Public Policy are the

centerpieces at present. Also, we

are discussing possibilities or u-

ture interaction among Monter-

rey Tech, Rice, and International

University Bremen.

Right now the agreement with

Monterrey Tech is a preliminary

one signiying the intent to begin

an ofcial relationship. The details

are being negotiated, and a more

ormal signing will take place

once those details are in place.

Jordan Konisky, vice provost

or research and graduate studies,

sees a lot o potential or both o

these collaborative eorts. I re-

quently get contacted by universi-ties rom all over the world who

want to develop ties with Rice,

Konisky says. But we are very

selective because, unless there

is aculty-to-aculty interaction,

these things just dont work. You

cannot implement this rom the

top; there has to be a common

interest and a solid working re-

lationship. And thats what we

have here.

mt d

Rice University recently expanded its international outreach eorts

into Mexico, ormalizing exchange programs with Tec de Monterrey

(Monterrey Tech) and Universidad de Monterrey (University o

Monterrey, or UDEM).

How I view Rice:Ambitious and noble, a Texas treasure

When I think o Rice: I remember walking back to Jones one beautiul

Friday aternoon. College windows were open, and I could hear laughter.But the main sound was somebody playing the solo guitar ri rom

Stairway to Heaven. I thought, Im so happy to be here.

Why I give back to Rice: So many o my riends were at Rice on

scholarships. It was the only way they could attend Rice. My lie wouldnot be nearly as ull i I had not met them. So, now that my husband,

Doug, and I are able to, we have established a scholarship to help otherdeserving students. Its my responsibility to give back to Rice because Rice

gave me so much.

How I have stayed connected: Next Century Campaign Major Gits

Steering Committee, Annual Gits vice chair, co-chair or reunion givingclass o 1978, board member o the Friends o Fondren Library, and

member o the Friends o the Rice Art Gallery

My gits to Rice:

Rodd/Selman Scholarship in Chemical Engineering Rice Annual Fund, including 25th reunion gitMy husband and I are ortunate that ExxonMobil matches our gits 3-to-1.

Rice University Ofce o Development MS 81 P.O. Box 1892

Houston, Texas 77251-1892 713-348-4600 [email protected]

r tt

tt, ,

t.

Alumna:

Cathryn Lankord Rodd Selman

Year:

1978

Major:

Economics/History

College:

Jones

Proession:

Civic Volunteer

First Git:

$12.50

Years o Giving:

23

f 03 11


14/56


starB y D a v i d D . M e d i n a

W y W u

12 r st


15/56


You coudn am Pggy Whson for ng xcd

w bt t ttt w t t w.

f 03 13


16/56

When the time came to board the space shuttle Endeavoron June 7, 2002, or

the fight to the International Space Station (ISS), Whitson elt like a child

again. She was so eager to go on the ride o her lie that ear had no place in

her. I was so excited to be fying in space or the rst time, she says.

Atexactly six and a hal seconds beore takeo, the main engines ignited,and Whitson could eel the shuttle shaking. But that was nothingcompared to the vibration that ollowed ater the solid rocket boosters turned

on. As the shuttle climbed, the gravity o acceleration pushed her hard against

her seat. The pressure eels like two people sitting on your chest while you

are trying to breathe, she says. Ater reaching orbit, the uel in the external

tanks had been expended, and the tank was released rom the shuttle through

a pyrotechnic that jolted the deck right un-

derneath her eet. In less than eight and a hal

minutes, the shuttle had traveled 200 miles and

had begun orbiting the earth. It was quite a

ride, she admits. I was there, and it still seems

unbelievable.

Whitson was living her dream o ying inspace, and the dreamlike quality remained when

she peered out the window and saw the world as

never beore. Words seem insufcient to describe

her heavenly vision.

To say that my frst sight o the earth rom

orbit was breathtaking or magnifcent still seems

such a paltry way to describe what I saw and

elt. My frst impression was o the clarity o my

visionnot even air molecules got in the way o seeing what was ahead. It

seemed as i I could see an incredible distance. The next impression was o the

richness o the colors that made up our planet and the atmosphere below. The

colors were so vibrant that they seemed to have a previously unseen texture.

I would liken the eeling to having someone turn on the lights ater having

lived in semidarkness or years.

During her six months aboard the ISS184 days, 22 hours, and 14 min-utes, to be exactWhitson conducted 21 experiments in human lie sciences

and microgravity sciences and on commercial products. She also worked as a

builder, helping expand the station. Each crew that visits the ISSis responsible

or adding another piece o the puzzle. The station has already grown rom

the size o an efciency apartment to that o a three-bedroom house. Whitson

helped install the mobile base system, which serves as a platorm or a robotic

arm. She also added a couple o segments to the truss. The truss structure will

eventually support almost an acre o solar panels to provide more power or

the space station. When completed, the truss will stretch 356 eet.

All that was very satisying work. However, the most exciting part o her

duties was the space walk. Whitson ventured out into the wide-open darkness

or our hours and 25 minutes to install six shields or the main service mod-

ule to protect it rom ying meteoroids. Donning a Russian space suit called

Orlanwhich means eagle in RussianWhitson was hauled through space

by a mechanical arm operated by Korzum. He was ying me rom one side

o the station to the other. It was just me out there over nothing, Whitson

says. I was about 40 eet away rom the station and Earth was going below

me. Its an incredible sensation o ying.When she frst emerged at the end o the giant arm, darkness enveloped

her. Then the sun came over the edge o the Earth, and she was bestowed

another breathtaking view. It started o as only a thin, royal blue, curvilinear

line, Whitson described. As the line thickened, the colors became richer and

mixed with burning reds and oranges. The sun hits the station frst, and it goes

rom being very dark to sepia colors, like some old photograph. When the sun

reaches Earth, you frst see the curved horizons and then it starts lighting up

the atmosphere in bright beautiul colors.

Being on the space station must have re-

minded Whitson o the Iowa arm she grew

up on, where she not only made additions to

the house but had to cultivate a small garden.

As the resident scientist, Whitson was in charge

o 21 experiments, which included growing

the frst-ever soybean crop in space. The ex-periment was intended to see how the lack o

gravity aects the chemical composition o the

plant. NASA hopes to grow crops in space as

ood or the astronauts. The soybean experi-

ment was a lot o un or me since my dad is a

armer, Whitson says. And it was really special

or Valery and Sergei to see green stu or the

frst time in a month and a hal.

One o the primary goals o the science research aboard the ISSis to un-

derstand how to allow people to live in space or extended periods o time,

Whitson explains. Ideally, we want to understand how to send people to Mars

and what we need to do with people to make sure that when they arrive, they

will be able to unction and work eectively. With that in mind, Whitson did

several studies on the human body, such as monitoring or kidney stones, which

astronauts are at a greater risk o orming. A kidney stone is excruciating andwill incapacitate a crew member, and thus orce the mission to be aborted.

Whitson also measured lung unction, blood circulation, and bone loss. In

long space ights, astronauts tend to lose about one percent o bone mass a

month, Whitson says, and some crew members have lost up to 20 percent in

the hips. Scientists have long known that exercise stimulates bone growth, so

to reduce loss, a resistive exercise machine was installed on the ISS.

Another acility that was new to the ISSwas the Microgravity Science

Glovebox. This device includes an enclosed container with transparent sides

that has gloves sticking into it, allowing a scientist to work saely with haz-

ardous materials. Whitson conducted two types o experiments with the

glovebox, one on superconductor crystals and another on melting charac-

teristics o succinyl/nitrile mixtures. Both used high-temperature urnaces

to melt the materials.

Peggy Whitson, who is an adjunct assistant proessor in Rices Depart-

ment o Biochemistry and Cell Biology, had prepared or this moment ever

since she was a kid. She studied biology and chemistry in college and

received her Ph.D. in biochemistry rom Rice University in 1985 beore

she spent six years training as an astronaut. At last she was chosen or

the Expedition Five crew, along with Russian cosmonauts Valery Korzun

and Sergei Treschevdestination: the International Space Station. Even

more impressive, she had been named NASAs rst-ever science ocer

to serve aboard the station.

Whitson and ellow crew members at a preight conerence

14 r st


17/56

In some ways, working in the ISSwas like another day at the ofce. At

6 a.m. Greenwich mean time, Whitsons alarm clock would go o, and

the frst thing she did was read any e-mails that the ground crew had sent

overnight. She then took a sponge bath, ate breakast, and got ready or

work. On some days she had to do maintenance or repair hardware. On

others, she did what she liked bestconducting

the science experiments.

In the evening was the social hour, when all

three crew members gathered or dinner and

talked about work, world politics, and just about

anything else. Dining in microgravity wasnt di-

fcult, despite having to eat out o a bag. The

real problem was being on an eight-day rotation

meal plan. Ater a while the ood gets kind o

boring, Whitson admits. Picante sauce quickly

became her avorite ood. She ate a lot o re-

hydrated macaroni and cheese, irradiated ajitas

and barbecue brisket, and Russian canned oods

containing meats and vegetables.

All was not work, however. Like other NASA

employees, she had her days o, too. On the

Fourth o July, she took the time to entertain

the Houston ground crew by playing Born inthe USA by Bruce Springsteen through the

intercom. Whitson also convinced Korzun and

Treschev to paint their aces with red, white, and

blue markers and appear on live video to wish

the ground people a happy Fourth.

Whitson enjoyed other whimsical moments.

Baseball ans around the world saw her throw

the frst pitch to open the 2003 World Series.

Microgravity makes it a lot more challenging to

throw the ball, she says, especially i you want

some accuracy. Whitson also cut the two cos-

monauts hair while they held a vacuum cleaner

over their heads to keep the hair rom oating

everywhere.

In her spare time, Whitson talked to severalschools in such places as Connecticut and Hawaii

via a special communication system and through

ham radio operators who linked the astronaut

to the students. Those talks were very limited,

only about 10 minutes usually, but it was still a

lot o un to answer all the kids questions. They

were so excited and nervous.

Students requently asked her why she be-

came an astronaut. Whitson replied that she was

inspired at a young age, and though the training

was very difcult at times, she never gave up on

her dream. I youre pursuing your dream, she

told them, its always worth it.

Whitson was born in south central Iowa in

the small town o Mount Ayr. Her parents were

two hardworking armers who encouraged their

daughter to ollow her dream. When she was

nine years old, Whitson saw Neil Armstrong

and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon, and that

sparked her desire to y among the stars. I

thought walking on the moon would be a cool

job, she says. When she graduated rom Mount

Ayr Community High School in 1978, Whitson saw the frst woman being

selected as astronaut, and that solidifed her career choice. Everything she

did rom that point on was geared toward becoming an astronaut.

She graduated rom Iowa Wesleyan College in 1981 with a bachelor o

science degree in biology and chemistry. From a small rural school, the

ormer arm girl went to the big city o Houston to earn her doctorate in

biochemistry at Rice University. It was a huge cultural shock to move to

Houston, she says.

At Rice, Whitson did research in protein DNA interaction under the

guidance o Kathleen Matthews, proessor o biochemistry and cell biology.

Peggy undertook very complex and challenging

experiments, says Matthews, now dean o the

Wiess School o Natural Sciences. Some stud-

ies required that she spend 48 hours straight in

the laboratory, taking measurements every two

hours or so. Her Ph.D. work demonstrated that

this genetic regulator protein is able to orm

highly stable complexes with supercoiled DNA

containing multiple operator sequencesone o

the frst examples o DNA looping.

Whitsons tenacity impressed many people

at Rice. Peggy was a dedicated and determined

graduate student, willing to explore new territory

and to develop the experimental tools necessary,

Matthews says. In short, she was terrifc. Her

style as a graduate student anticipated her success

as an astronautbright, determined, willing to

take on challenges, and yet able to be an eec-tive and engaging part o a team. It is especially

ftting that she was the frst science ofcer on

the International Space Station.

When Whitson graduated rom Rice in 1985

with a doctorate in biochemistry, she was deter-

mined to fnish her dissertation by a certain date

so that she could meet the application deadline

or a job at NASA. I wanted to be able to write

on my application that I had a Ph.D. rom Rice,

Whitson says. At NASA, she started as a biochemi-

cal researcher but was quickly included in joint

scientifc investigations that NASA was doing with

the Russians. In 1989, she made her frst trip to

Russia to conduct biomedical research and later

served as the lead scientist o the joint programbetween NASA and Russias Mirspace station.

She then served as co-chair o the U.S.Russian

Mission Science Working Group. In 1996, she

began training as an astronaut.

Ater spending six months in the space sta-

tion, Whitson boarded the shuttle again or the

trip home. As she entered Earths atmosphere

and gravity returned, pressure built on her chest

and burdened her limbs. This camera that I

had been carrying the previous six months had

weighed nothing, she laughs, and suddenly

it had what seemed to be a huge weight. I was

like: Wow! This is so heavy.

Whitson elt lousy during her frst 24 hours

o being on solid ground. I really thought they

could send me back, and I would be okay. Re-

adjusting to a mundane lie wasnt easy. For

example, she had to fgure out how much orce

to use in doing simple things like throwing a

crumpled piece o paper into a wastebasket. I

threw it and it landed at my eet. But then, she

says, something clicked in her brain and told her

she was back on Earth, and everything was fne.

Would I do it again? she asks. In a heartbeat.

Whitson displays her soybean cropthe frst-ever grown in

space.

The space gym is a requirement or personnel aboard the ISS.

Using virtual reality hardware, Whitson prepares or her spaceadventure.

f 03 15


18/5616 r st

Photography by Tommy LaVergne

16 r st


19/56f 03 17

bYmariastalford

rice universitYisalreadYdistinguishedforhavingoneofthecountrYsmost beautiful universitY campuses. thanks to the lYnn r. lowreY

arboretum, the campus isalso set to become one of the regions most

ecologicallY rich. onlY the thirdarboretum in texas to be established

onauniversitYcampus, the lowreYarboretumwillserveasaresourcefor

teachingandresearchaswellasmakingthecampusevenmorecongenial.

theideaforthe lowreYarboretumwasbornwhenagroup, ledbYlYnn

lowreYs daughter patsY andersonand her husband, mike, alongwith

lowreYs friend charles tapleY 54, formeda committee to brainstorm

about possible tributes to lowreY (19171997) and his impact on the

horticulturalcommunitYin texasandbeYond. theYdecidedtherecould

benobetterwaYtohonorhimthanbYcontinuinghislegacYofpromoting

theappreciationandstudYofnativeplants. eventhough lowreYhimself

didnothaveformalconnectionsto rice, thecommitteeturnedto rice

asahostforthearboretumbecauseoftheuniversitYsspecialabilitYto

maintain, develop, and benefit from thearboretum far into the future.

support from the communitY for the project has been remarkable, with

morethanhalfamilliondollarsalreadYraisedingiftsandpledges.

thearboretum began to take root on campusata ceremonial tree

planting in march 1999. the planting of twowhite oaks, two fringe

trees, andaswampchestnuttreenearthetrackstadiuminauguratedthe

arboretumslivingmemorialto lYnn lowreY. whilearboretumplantings

and developmentswere originallY intended to remain clustered in this

area northwest of the intersection of main street and universitYboulevard, plansforthearboretumhavegrowntoincorporatetheentire

campus. ratherthanestablishingapreservesetapartfromthe

rest of the universitY, thearboretumwill be incorporated,

as muchas possible, intoall future landscape planning for

universitY buildingand campus development. enhancingall

areasofcampuswithaninfusionofdiverseandflourishing

plant life, the arboretums visuallY pleasing, carefullY

planned landscapingwill beanalogous to thevaried but

coordinatedarchitectureofthecampussbuildings.

thearboretumsplantingsofwoodYplantsnativeto

texas, the gulf coastofthe united states,andnorthern

mexicowill make the campusan even more lushandattractivenaturalsetting, butthebenefitsto ricewill

extend far beYondaestheticappeal. thearboretum

willremindustoattendmoretotheplants inour

environmentand their importance in the overall

ecologY, observes kathleen matthews,

A CultivAted lifeA dedicated mentor and an inormal

teacher to many in the plant

community, Lynn Lowrey was

legendary or his contagious passion

or plants. Lowreys curiosity about

the natural world was unbounded and

his knowledge nearly encyclopedic.

You could go on a eld trip or a day,

son-in-law Mike Anderson says, and

it was like taking a whole semester o

horticulture!

Friends say that Lowreys expertise

was, in act, so great that consulting

him or inormation about a particular

plant was almost like consulting the

plant itsel. I you liked a tree andmet Lynn Lowrey, joked Tapley, it

was like meeting the tree, only better,

since a plant cant talk about itsel.

His knowledge about individual plants

and trees led you to a place where you

wanted to know even more.

Lowreys enthusiasm and expertise

attracted a wide and diverse ollowing.

He welcomed anyoneyoung or old,

expert or novice, scientist or backyard

gardenerwho was curious, and he

nurtured passing interests in plants

into abiding passions. Even in his 70s,

he loved to tromp around or hours

on research trips with companions 40

years his junior. He could get along

with young olks or old olks, it didnt

matter, Tapley recalls. It

was the common

bond

7

f 03 17

the lynn R. lOwReyaRbORetUm


20/5618 r st

deanofthe wiess schoolof natural sciences. becauseplantsare

crucialtolifeonearth, understandingandappreciatingtheirrole

intheirenvironmentwhetherforbeautYorpleasure, fordiversitY

ofspecies, orforfoodisanimportantcontributionofthe lYnn r.

lowreYarboretumat rice.

ricehasagreatreputationinanumberoffields, notes tapleY,andthearboretumsignificantlYexpandsthatrange. itputstheuniversitY

inanotherfieldthatisbothamazingandhumane, hesaYs. amazing

intermsofwhatwemightlearnfromit, andhumanefromwhatit

candopsYchologicallYand environmentallY.

professors and students

will need onlY step out their

doorsorlogontothe lowreY

arboretums new website

to access the arboretums

tremendous resources as a

tool

for

teaching

,learning

,and research. students in

the plant diversitY class

taught bY professor of

ecologY and evolutionarY

biologY paul harcombe

have been conducting a

surveY to identifY and

record vines, shrubs, and

trees throughout the

campus. this information

iscurrentlYbeingcompiled

intoa comprehensive map of plant life on campus, whichwillbeavailableonthearboretumswebsiteathttp://arboretum.rice.

edu.

workingto identifYanddocumentcampusplantlifehasbeen

an invaluable learning experience for harcombes students. fora

student trYingto learn the names ofthings, harcombeexplains,

theresnosubstituteforseeingaliveplant. connectingabstract

subjectmattertophYsicalobjectsthatstudentscanseeandtouch

helpsthemtointernalizeandremembertheconceptswediscussin

theclassroom.

theclasshasopenedstudents eYestotherichnessofnaturein

theirmidstalessonthatstudentswilltakewiththemfarbeYond

theirdaYsat rice. imamazedathowmanYstudentsindicatedthat

theY hadnt paidanYattention to the plants before, harcombe

said. butaftertakingtheclass, theYnoticedthingswhenevertheY

wereoutwalking, andtheYexpressarealsenseofaccomplishment

inbeingabletoidentifYcommonthingstheYsee. makingdetailed

informationabout thearboretumaccessible on thewebsitewill

provideanopportunitYforalltofeelthesamejoYofexploration

18 r st

with plants that counted.

Though Lowrey received a bachelors

degree in horticulture rom Louisiana

State University in 1940, he acquired

his knowledge o plants largely through

constant reading, observation, and

experimentation on his own. Ater serving

in the army or our years during World

War II, Lowrey dedicated his lie to the

study and cultivation o plants, opening hisrst nursery in 1957. Every minute o the

waking day, he was thinking about plants,

reading about plants, and going on eld

trips, Anderson remembers. He always

wanted to go o to the woods and look or

something new. Hed be reading about a

plant, and hed want

to go nd it.

Lowrey was

the leading pioneer

o the native plants

movement in Texas,

long beore talk obiodiversity became

ashionable. Both at

the several nurseries

he owned and during

his tenures as an

expert grower at other

nurseries, Lowrey

was an advocate

or the propagation

o the naturally rich

plant lie native to the

region. While other

landscapers eagerly

satised customersdemands or the most popular and stylish

species rom abroad, Lowrey ollowed his

curiosity on regular expeditions throughout

Texas and northern Mexico, tirelessly

combing the wild areas or unusual and

underrepresented species to collect and

cultivate. Lowreys interest in native plants

made his landscaping methods considerably

more time-intensive than those o many

o his peers, because rather than simply

purchasing plants readily available on the

market, Lowrey would have to rst locate in

the wilderness and then patiently grow tosalable size most o the plants he used.

Through his sel-directed studies,

Lowrey became an exceptionally well-

versed general horticulturist as well as one

o the worlds oremost experts on plants

native to the southwestern United States

and northern Mexico. In act, oreign visitors

to the National Arboretum in Washington,

D.C., oten were advised to make Texas part

o their travel plans just so they could chat


21/56f 03 19

with Lowrey about the regions fora.

Lowreys service to his colleagues

in the plant community and to the

environment earned him many honors,

including a special award rom the

Native Plant Society o Texas or

almost single-handedly rescuing the

Texas pistache (Pistacia texana) rom

extinction. The Texas pistache is just

one o several species that continue

to propagate and fourish because o

Lowreys eorts.

A poignant nal chapter o

Lowreys legacy was his integral

involvement in research on the Chinese

happy tree (Camptotheca acuminata).

In the last years o his lie, a surge

o interest in research on the cancer-

ghting properties o Camptotheca

meant that the trees were in short

supply. Lowrey was called in as an

expert to advise on the growth and

cultivation o the trees. Soon ater,Lowrey and the nursery owned by

Patsy and Mike Anderson donated 600

healthy Camptotheca trees to a hospital

and cancer research organization. In

addition to sharing his expertise about

the trees growth and care with the

researchers, Lowrey worked hard to

raise unds and orge interpersonal

connections that would aid in this

research. As a tribute to his dedication,

a rare Camptotheca species, rst

ound by a team o researchers on an

expedition to China, was named ater

himCamptotheca lowreyana. Lowrey

was later to take the experimental

medication Camptothecin in his own

battle with cancer.

Lowreys dedication to cancer

research was just one o countless

examples that riends and admirers cite

o his remarkable generosity toward

both plants and people. Lowreys love

o the plant world was so deep that he

wished to share it at every opportunity,

requently making gits o plants to

riends and customers. He never

made a lot o money, Tapley recalls,because when you went out to his

nursery and were admiring these young

trees, he would hand them to you, and

when it came time to pay, there was no

paying! I you liked it, it was yours. He

would have gone across the state, ound

a seed, brought it back, planted it, and

grown it or you. It was truly a git.

Though his expertise was

continually sought rom around the

f 03 19


22/5620 r st

anddiscoverYthat harcombesstudentsexperienced.

thearboretumspotentialasateachingtoolisnotlimitedto

thesciences. inparticular, as harcombepointsout, thearboretum

willcreatehabitatsandsettingsthatwillmakeiteasiertoillustrate

hownaturecontributestoasenseofplace. itwillprovideahands-

onmodelrelevanttodiscussionsofarchitecture, urbanplanning,

andsustainabledevelopment, amongotherfields, and, inthiswaY,

thearboretumisparticularlYwellsuitedto riceandtheuniversitYs

emphasisoninterdisciplinarYcollaboration. thistYpeofresource

can bring together folks interested in differentaspects of the

arboretum across multiple disciplines, matthews explains. in a

largerinstitution, barriers to such interactionsare often

muchhigher.

the arboretum project also

will establish the lowreY

collection at fondren

librarY. it isa testament tolYnn lowreYs great impact

on the plant communitY

that four of thevolumes

in the collection are

dedicatedtohim.

world, riends say that Lowrey always

considered himsel an amateur. Quiet and

unassuming, Lowrey oten was described as

a quintessential Southern gentleman. Tapley

recalls Lowreys impeccable orbearance

in his constant role as teacher and mentor.

When we rst began to unravel the

richness o our ecology, Tapley says, there

is so much to it, and I ound mysel asking alot o questions. Because o Lynns generous

way, he wouldnt allow himsel to think that

I was bothering him, though looking back, I

was bothering him! But I learned a lot rom

him, and I was indeed very grateul or his

being so generous.

Years beore Camptotheca lowreyana,

botanists wanted to name another rare

plant, a species o legume ound in

Mexico, ater Lowrey. When Lowrey was

unbending in his

reusal o the honor, the

plant was eventually

namedMyrospermumsousanam ater another

horticulturist. No doubt

the proposition o the Lynn

R. Lowrey Arboretum at

Rice would run against the

same dogged humility. O

course, he would have been

the rst person to say, Youre

not going to put my name on

it, Anderson chuckles. He

would have been so mad!

Although Lowrey likely

would have been displeasedthat the new arboretum bears

his name, he would have been

delighted by the educational

opportunities it will provide

horticulturists o the uture

proessional and amateur alike. Each

time he opened a new plant nursery, he

would say, Im going to make this place

a showplace. People are going to come

rom all over the country to see my plants,

recalls Anderson. Now that dream is coming

true at Rice on a scale Lowrey might never

have imagined.

20 r st

y


23/56

B d b J . a

f 03 21

Can a required course ever be fun?

it

jt t r t

tt tt t

t.


24/56

GeneRal edUCation. diStRibUtion. FoUndation.

Whatever you call those courses that tell students in one

discipline how other disciplines work, chances are thatstudents are calling them something else: a waste o time.

No one doubts the value o a broad-based education. Thats

why students attend liberal arts institutions like Ricethey

want the chance to think outside the box that is their ma-

jor feld o study. But general education is challenging,

not just to take, but to teach and to implement within a universitys

course requirements.

Its easy to lose sight o the goal o general education, explains John

Hutchinson, vice president o student aairs and a veteran o many Rice

curriculum committees. Rice began a 20-year general education experi-

ment in the late 1980s when it instituted core oundation courses in the

humanities (HUMA), social sciences (SOCI), and natural sciences and

engineering (NSCI). Then the squabbles began. Ask aculty members

what Rice undergraduates should know in order to graduate, and you

quickly have a list that is longer than anything anyone could pos-

sibly takeeven i they took nothing but general education

courses, Hutchinson says. And when you make everyone

take one specifc course, it ails because too many people

dont want to be there.

Rice abandoned the oundation requirement in 1995,

taking away the lesson that general education isnt about

the subject matter, but about intellectual growth. The

texts read in Humanities 101, the only original oundation

course still taught at Rice, are simply a backdrop or learning

how to analyze texts critically and construct logical arguments.

Science and engineering courses or social science and humanities ma-

jors do best when they reveal the rigorous trial and error and real-world

application o the scientifc method. Think o general education as abridge between disciplinesa bridge that is built through engaging, ea-

ger proessors and an innovative approach to the subject matter.

Students want to walk out o these courses eeling like they have a

deeper understanding o the issues and an ability to tackle tougheror

dierentintellectual challenges than beore they took the course,

Hutchinson says. When they come out on the other side, students will

have the confdence and ability to look at a problem and say I can fgure

that out, because theyve done it beore.

Rices current general education strategy puts students squarely in

charge. Undergrads must take 12 hours o course work rom two depart-

ments within each o the three disciplinary groups. Beyond that, students

decide what to take. Its a exible system that makes material acces-

sible, Hutchinson says. And without the burden o teaching required

material, aculty have been able to think creatively about the best way to

make their subject areas more appealing to nonmajorsor to ensure that

their majors are exposed to ideas that may help them become leaders in

their felds when they graduate.The result is a troop o interesting bridge courses and curriculum pro-

grams that are broadening the Rice undergraduate experienceand that

could never be described as a waste o time.

th So Survvor: Humans 101/102

Alums who took the NSCI and SOCI oundation courses are not

surprised to learn o their demise. There was nothing in NSCI that

inspired me to try harder, and the act that Id already been over the

material in greater detail than was oered there made it horrically

boring, complains Karin Kross, a 1996 English grad.

So why has the humanities oundation course survived? For one,

HUMA 101/102 never pretended to provide a oundation in every-thing about the humanities. Even though students read texts gen-

erally considered important, the course ocuses on skills, on

imparting an understanding o rhetoric, textual analysis, and

writing. Hutchinson describes HUMA as creating an ex-

perience, while its NSCI and SOCI counterparts ocused

on exposure.

The HUMA experience goes beyond skills. Even dur-

ing its heyday in the early 1990s, enrollment was capped

at around 25 students per section, making it the only small-

group course a science or engineering major would take resh-

man year. Elisa Verratti 94, who took the Big Three (MATH

101, CHEM 101, and PHYS 101), HUMA, and SOCI in 198990,

admits she really enjoyed HUMA. Dr. Zammito [the John Antony Weir

Proessor o History and history department chair] was great, and it was a

small class. SOCI was too broad, too boring, and too huge.

As Verratti observes, HUMAs proessors are another key to the experi-

ence. Lucky reshmen fnd themselves interpreting the crazy chalkboard

o circles, arrows, and scrawl generated during the dynamic lectures o

award-winning English proessor Dennis Huston. Huston, who has

taught the HUMA course since its inception, admits that one beneft

o not having 17 sections o HUMA is that now we have nothing but

good teachers and, sometimes, better than good teachers.

The word gets around. Ive heard wonderul things about Dennis Hus-

ton, and they proved true this semester, says Sarah Baxter, a premed biology

major who enrolled in HUMA as a senior. She was told it was required. It

wasnt, yet Baxter remained. I was enjoying it too much to drop it.

The texts, too, prove a compelling draw. Though the reading changes

Johnhutch

inon

22 r st


25/56

rom semester to semester, the emphasis is always great works in West-

ern philosophy and literature. The relaxation o the general education

requirements has spawned other humanities courses covering Greek, me-

dieval, and Asian civilization and more esoteric topics like the representa-tion o the sel in art and literature. Even so, at least six sections HUMA

101 and 102 are still oered each semester. Lauren Vanderlip, a

reshman planning to double major in sociology and religious

studies, calls the reading hard and demanding, but reveals, I

love how the works that we read are applicable and repre-

sentative o humanity today.

Times being what they are, the all 2002 reading

list included The Qur'an. And because the course is

no longer required, proessors have more reedom

to vary the texts between sections. For the last fve

years, olks were fnishing up with Dantes Inerno,

Huston explains. But the last thing I need is a

bunch o people in the Last Circle on the last day o

class, so I did Chaucer.

if You bud i. . . : th lgo la

Mess around with Legos our hours each week. Build

an autonomous robot to specications. Unleash your

creation against rival competitors and let the blocks

all where they may. All this, and earn our Group III

distribution credits.

Thats ELEC 201, Introduction to Engineering Design,

a.k.a. the Lego Lab. The course takes its inspiration rom sev-

eral robot-oriented courses taught at other universities, including

a midterm, optional elective contest oered at MIT. But while these

courses are geared to engineers and scientists, ELEC 201 targets non-engineers. Interdisciplinary student teams are charged to build a robot

that will accomplish a given task better than competitors robots. The

2002 contest, or instance, required a robot to navigate a ping-pong-

sized, slightly sloped table to collect more balls in one minute than its

opponent. Solving the problem compels students to learn and apply

engineering design principles.

James Young, proessor o electrical and computer engineering,

says that the Lego Lab succeeds where other Group III distribution

courses struggle because o the way it conveys the material. A typi-

cal science or engineering course starts at the bottom with acts and

ormulas; these details are then built up to create concepts. The Lego

Lab, however, starts with the conceptthe competitive game. To at-

tack the problem, students must actively seek out the details.

I I went in and just started giving lectures about control theory, I

know most o the students wouldnt care, Young states. Instead, I talk

briey about control problems and dierent approaches they could take

with their robots. I know that eventually, the stu-dents are going to ask, Why wont this thing

ollow a straight line? Thats when they

get motivated to drill down to the

details.

Young notes that each student

ollows a dierent path through

the material, depending on the

expertise o the team and his or

her individual interests. Some

may ocus on mechanics, some

on programming, and others

on algorithms or strategy. As

was overheard during one lab

practice session: Im a com-

puter science major . . . I dont

have to deal with real-world appli-

cations!

Being an engineer doesnt give you a

leg up, according to Gary Printy, a junior

electrical engineering major whose team con-

structed 2002s winning robot, Disco Stu. What we do

as electrical engineers really doesnt apply to the problem in

the classbuilding a robot, he says. This course is really

about the basics o solving a problem.

Lectures cover an array o specifc technical details associ-

ated with the robots, as well as more general inormation on the

business o engineering. Students discuss ethics cases and analyze the les-

sons to be learned rom high-profle engineering ailuresBeyond the

ones they are experiencing themselves in the lab, Young chuckles.Most teams are happy just to build a robot that works. Were go-

ing over to the other side o the board and hoping that the other one

doesnt, explained one 2002 team. Ultimately, this aim wasnt trivial,

as the most requent outcome in competition was a tangled robot mess.

Disco Stu lost one bout this way, but ultimately won through the reliable

execution o a straightorward program.

People told me this was the most un class at Rice, says Stephanie Clark,

a studio art major who served on the Disco Stu team with Printy and Tiany

Truss, a reshman deciding between mechanical and electrical engineering.

At frst, I had absolutely no idea what we were supposed to do. But I was

able to contribute. Im proud. I understand whats happening now.

W t

, t b

t t wt t b t.J ht

Jame

young

f 03 23


26/56

Communcaon n Conx: th Can Projc

Most scientists and engineers know that their careers will require

them to write and speak about what they do. But they dont realize how

important it will be to their jobs: how many e-mails they will send, pre-

sentations they will give, and papers and grants they will write.

Unortunately, it shows. Our candidacy exam used to require our

students to write a grant, and oten we couldnt get around to evalu-

ating the science because the writing was so poor, says Kate Beck-

ingham, proessor o biochemistry and cell biology. Her department

solved the problem by instituting a grant-writing course and working

with the Cain Project, an innovative curriculum program that empha-

sizes the integration o communication activities into existing scientifc

course work.

In the our years since a grant rom chemistry fnancier Gordon

Cain established the program, the Cain Project has supported more

than 46 courses, assisted hundreds o graduate students in writingtheir theses and creating scientifc posters, and helped build commu-

nication-intensive curricula or a new major in bioengineering. More

importantly, its turning Rice science and engineering grads into

more savvy communicators without adding a single required course

to their schedule.

Thats because most Cain Project activities simply add a communi-

cation element to traditional science and engineering assignments, says

Linda Driskill, proessor o English and director o the Cain Project.

With a class they are already taking, students may be asked to write

a technical report on laboratory fndings, develop a technical poster

to describe research results, or deliver a presentation to demonstrate

their understanding o a scientifc concept. The assignments support

the learning already occurring in the course, while simultaneously o-

ering the chance to teach students how to structure an argument,

organize their evidence, and make a convincing case to a third

party in either oral or written orm, Driskill says.

For instance, the Cain Project lets John Polking, pro-

essor o mathematics and a Cain Project board mem-

ber, demonstrate that math is about more than solving

equations by rote. Four years ago, Polking began re-

quiring the more than 250 students in MATH 211 to

complete projects that apply the mathematical methods

encountered in homework to larger-scale problems. He

asks the class to solve the project problem and write up the

answer in a technical report. Cain Project sta helped Polk-

ing develop Web-based student instructions on writing reports and a

grading rubric or teaching assistants that maintains grading consis-

tency rom semester to semester.

Similarly, when plans or the new bioengineering major began,

aculty consulted with the Cain Project rom the outset to integrate

communications activities into the course work. Lab courses requiretechnical poster development, technical memos accompany the se-

nior design project, and group projects undertaken in each year o

course work mandate oral presentations. Even so, when one o the

programs frst graduates returned to speak to bioengineering sopho-

mores about her new career, she surprised Ann Saterbak, a lecturer

in bioengineering and director o laboratory instruction. She

wished shed taken more advantage o opportunities to improve her

writing and presentation skills, Saterbak reports. Even our ramped

up curriculum wasnt enough.

The Cain Project also works outside o existing curricula, develop-

ing and delivering targeted courses such as thesis writing workshops

and the aorementioned biochemistry and cell biology grant writing

course. Students also can receive individual coaching rom Cain Proj-

ect sta.

Im always amused by the reaction people have to the Cain Proj-

ect, says Polking. Everybody tends to ocus on just one aspect o

what it does, but in reality, it operates across many areas.

thas no it: Comp 200

Just because you can play around in Windows or set up a server

doesnt mean you know anything about computer science. Which is

why COMP 200 exists. Its goal is to intr

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