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Cougars win three-straight matches, including two shutouts BAUER
Graduate real estate club talks markets with speaker While the retail and government markets are slowing down in Houston, the office real estate market is expanding, said senior vice president of Granbridge Real Estate Capital, John T. Fenoglio, on Friday. Fenoglio said Houston’s apartment market is as good as it has ever been, even though the housing market remains slow. The Bauer Graduate Real Estate Club was created “to provide students at the C.T. Bauer College of Business with a strong platform from which to explore the real estate industry with a focus on educational and career opportunities and to engage students in the UH Bauer Graduate Real Estate Program,” said the club’s website. The organization provides multiple guest speakers throughout the semester and hosts various weekly events. For more information, visit www.bauerreclub.com or contact its president, Keith Richards, at president@bauerreclub.com. — Nicole Wright
LIBRARY
Next in workshop series: humanities, social sciences The Discovery Workshop series will continue from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday. The workshop is titled “Resources to Support your Research in Humanities and Social Sciences,” and will be hosted by two UH librarians. There will be a second offering of the workshop from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Friday for any students who miss the first. The Series will host one workshop a week this semester, either in person or online. Students can register or watch the ‘webinar’ online at www. uh.edu/discovery/ediscovery. html. — Cougar News Services
CORRECTIONS In Thursday’s issue of The Daily Cougar in the article “Debate tackles marriage definition” the quote attributed to Marcella Burke, vice president of the UH chapter of the Federalist Society should have been attributed to Keith Strahan, president of the UH chapter of the Federalist Society.
Campus fountain a famous collaboration
February 14, 2012 Issue 74, Volume 77
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
GENDA bill in review by UCC Annette Santos
THE DAILY COUGAR After a tug-of-war over the inclusion of gender identity in UH’s non-discrimination policy for students, faculty and staff, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act is being reviewed by the University Coordinating Center. The UCC will determine whether further action will be needed by the University’s Board of Regents, but Reyes Ramirez, speaker for the student senate, says the policy is sure to pass even without the regents’ approval. “Several insiders (say) this might no longer be considered major policy (but rather) just a minor revision that president Khator could enact without having to go seek approval from the regents,” said Michael McHugh, author of the proposal. “It’s not major enough where this has to be the highest agenda item for the board of regents to
trample with; they are more concerned recently with renovating the stadium and U-Center.” The original GENDA bill, proposed last semester by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Advocates and approved by the Student Government Association, only applies to students, said James Lee, former president of the LGBT Advocates. This is because the nondiscrimination policy is currently found in the student handbook, where faculty and staff are excluded. Originally thought to be a “hot-button issue,” advocates say this is just a precaution and policy is expected to pass, McHugh said. “The thing is it’s not really being rejected, it’s actually being received quite well by all the bodies on this campus,” Ramirez said. “It’s a just-incase. I think what Mike McHugh is trying to do in this case, again, is apply (the non-discrimination policy) university-wide.” Instead of addressing one policy within the
student handbook, the focus is now on 15 to 20 policies across the board, something that was included in the original proposal but omitted to produce a speedy approval, Lee said. “Last semester, I made it (the LGBT Advocates’) priority to change this policy,” Lee said. “Because this new movement to change the policy was strictly in the hands of students, the administration felt the need to act on it.” The process, Ramirez said, is similar to a bill going to the Supreme Court, meaning it must pass through lower chambers first. At UH, the bill starts in the SGA and is passed to the UCC, where it is reviewed and a decision is made on where it goes next. The UCC is expected to make a decision “sometime within the month,” McHugh said. “We are closer than ever to changing the policy for good,” says Lee. news@thedailycougar.com
FACULTY
Assistant professors awarded grants Five members of UH faculty received NSF money for research Jennifer Pearson
THE DAILY COUGAR The National Science Foundation awarded five UH assistant professors with grants valued between $400,000 and $600,000 this year. These grants, which are distributed annually to junior faculty in recognition of their outstanding integration of education and research programs, will be used to fund their projects — from selfsorting chemical systems to the improvement of polymer-based solar cells — according to a UH press release. Civil and environmental engineering assistant professor, Debora Rodrigues, whose NSF Career Award is priced at $449, 967, won this award by going “beyond research in the laboratory and
From left to right: Jiming Bao, Gila Stein, Ognjen Miljanic, Debra Rodrigues and Angela Moeller were awarded National Science Foundation grants with values ranging from $400,000 to $600,000. | Courtesy of Thomas Campbell/University of Houston (looking) for applied and relevant approaches to solve real environmental problems,” she said. One of Rodrigues’ outreach programs included the design and utilization of a system that would provide the Maseno community in Kenya with clean water, she said. Chemistry Assistant Professor Angela Moeller, who won $473,071 through her NSF Career Award, said although the submission process took five months, she spent eighteen months preparing her proposal. Moeller’s said she will use the
grant to train “graduate students in the interdisciplinary field of material sciences.” Another assistant professor of chemistry, Ognjen Miljanic, received $600,000 through his NSF Career Award and has developed an extensive website to compliment the courses he teaches in the chemistry department, he said. Although most of his grant will go towards his research project, he said $10,000 will go to the development of his website. Miljanic applied in July with a written proposal, which was sent
to experts in his field for review, he said. According to a UH press release, CAREER grants are “among the most prestigious awards offered by the National Science Foundation.” Other professors whose research proposals earned NSF Career are Jiming Bao, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering with $400,000 and Gila Stein, assistant professor of chemical and bio-molecular engineering with $500,000. news@thedailycougar.com