1929 Rice Engineering Show
Professor of Sociology, are the directors of our new Kinder Institute for Urban Research. Our engagement with K–12 education is broader than ever before, epitomized perhaps by REEP — the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program — which, with the support of the Houston Endowment, provides a business- and managementoriented education for rising school and school district leaders. Phil Bedient, the Herman Brown Professor of Engineering, founded and directs SSPEED, the Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters Center. And Rice’s STEMscopes — “a completely digital science curriculum resource developed for
2012 UnConvention
Part of Rice’s strength and distinction is working closely with the institutions of the city. Our educational endeavors build on a history of engagement with the Houston Independent School District as well as other nearby districts and charter schools such as KIPP and YES Prep. Our efforts in the biosciences depend on our working relationships with the institutions of the Texas Medical Center. Our BioScience Research Collaborative, the building we constructed five years ago at University Boulevard and Main Street, houses, for example, BioHouston and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and will soon house researchers from Texas Children’s
“Now we embrace a porous university that reaches out to a home city that is also constantly reaching in. We are both the greater for it.” —David W. Leebron
grades 5–8” — has been widely adopted throughout Texas. Our students learn what it means to be engaged from their first days at Rice. The Rice Center for Civic Engagement was founded in 2006 to build on earlier efforts to engage more comprehensively our students, staff and faculty in contributing to the betterment of our city. Students conduct research that has helped guide policy and design solutions on issues from clearing disabled cars from highways to feeding giraffes at the zoo. Most recently, our students designed and largely built a new Habitat for Humanity home, the Rice Centennial House, in the city’s Fifth Ward that is so innovative it will likely serve as a model for other low-cost housing around the country. In addition, our 1-year-old Community Bridges program is directly involving our students, through a combination of course work and fieldwork, in helping alleviate poverty in the Fifth Ward.
Hospital and other TMC members. Joining them is a consortium aimed at moving discoveries into application called the Houston Area Translational Research Consortium, or HATRC. These relationships are critical to cultural endeavors as well. Most recently, we are seeking to deepen our relationships with the city’s art museums as we invigorate Rice’s commitment to the arts, a commitment that is now increasingly visible to all who visit us through the stunning artworks throughout the campus. And neither the Houston Symphony nor the Shepherd School would be as strong as they are without each other. This is an exciting time to be at Rice as we approach our October Centennial Celebration. And we can especially celebrate the fact that our hedges do not separate the campus from the city. Now we embrace a porous university that reaches out to a home city that is also constantly reaching in. We are both the greater for it.
Rice Magazine
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No. 13
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2012
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