The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, September 21, 2022

VOLUME 107, ISSUE NO. 5 | STUDENT-RUN SINCE 1916 | RICETHRESHER.ORG | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

Rice Athletics plans new pep band for basketball season, angers MOB PRAYAG GORDY & DANIEL SCHRAGER

SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR & SPORTS EDITOR

NDIDI NWOSU / THRESHER

A new paid and audition-only student pep band will replace the Marching Owl Band at men’s and women’s basketball games and some volleyball matches, according to Rick Mello, Rice’s deputy athletics director. Mello said Rice athletics hopes to have a band of 30 students in place for the first basketball game in November.

The decision was prompted by Rice’s move to the American Athletic Conference, which Mello said caused the athletic department to reconsider the kind of atmosphere they wanted to create at basketball games. The MOB, Rice’s long-

time unconventional marching band, will continue to play the tribute to the armed forces and the halftime show at Rice football games, Mello said.

“To think that football and the MOB won’t always be aligned … is a non starter,” Mello said. “There has never ever been any decision or discussion about the MOB not performing at our football games.”

Charles Throckmorton, the director of bands who has led the MOB since 2002, will help oversee the new pep band with Roy Park, a graduate student at the Shepherd School of Music, taking the lead as the band’s conductor.

The new band will consist of only brass and percussion instruments, which some members of the MOB said will exclude students who play other instruments. The MOB’s website lists sections for strings/

electronics, woodwinds, brass and percussion, and it says that all instruments are welcome. According to Throckmorton, he understands the decision but wishes Rice Athletics had prioritized including all of the school’s musicians.

“I can empathize,” Throckmorton said. “People, in my opinion, are more important than things. So if I was making a decision, I wouldn’t exclude anybody, but that was the decision that was made.”

The decision also leaves the MOB, which currently performs at basketball, football and occasionally volleyball games, without games to play once football season ends. Some student members of the MOB said they were surprised and angered by athletics’ decision.

Houston’s Arte Público Press triumphs over ‘slings and arrows’ for 40th Volleyball upsets No. 17 Creighton, anniversary jumps into top-25

SEE BAND PAGE 2

MICHELLE GACHELIN

A&E EDITOR

Arte Público Press, the oldest and largest Latine publishing house in the nation, has never taken things by the books. Instead, they’ve promoted Latine writing and culture despite national pushback. The Press celebrated their 40th anniversary on the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month with a performing arts gala held at the University of Houston’s Moores Opera House, featuring performances from Solero Flamenco, Brazilian dance company Sambabom, the Houston Grand Opera and more.

Juliet K. Stipeche (’96) said that Arte Público is a local treasure, and she credits the press for allowing more people to discover the rich history of Spanish, Latin American and Indigenous communities. Stipeche, the daughter of immigrant parents from Argentina and Mexico and the first attorney in her family, said she wasn’t aware of her own heritage when she came to Rice.

SEE ARTE PÚBLICO PAGE 9

CADAN HANSON

SENIOR WRITER

On Sunday, a flock of birds rose victorious above Tudor fieldhouse and it wasn’t a band of blue jays. After five intense sets, the Owls team took down No. 17 Creighton University on a second match point, capping off a tournament which started off with a reverse sweep of Big 12 opponent Kansas State University. After missing out on the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Top 25 last week by one spot, the defining weekend was enough to jump the Rice volleyball team to No. 23 on the rankings.

After the new rankings were released, fifth-year senior middle blocker Anote Adekunle was excited with the ranking but hungry for more.

“I definitely think it’s an awesome opportunity to be ranked top 25 and something we’ve worked so hard for,” Adekunle said. “Although we’re definitely pleased and grateful to be ranked at [No.] 23, we’re not stopping there. We’re striving to move up higher.” On Sunday,

the Owls started off with a red-hot 10-4 opening run giving them a lead they never relinquished during the 25-22 first set. A combination of strong defense and five Creighton errors held the Bluejays

Although we’re definitely pleased and grateful to be ranked at [No.] 23, we’re not stopping there.

We’re striving to move up higher.

Anote Adekunle MIDDLE BLOCKER

to 0.191 hitting in the first set. Volpe said that early on the Owls were able to capitalize on the Bluejays’ struggles.

“Early on [Creighton] made a couple mistakes that were very uncharacteristic for them,” Volpe said. “We really tried to capitalize on them and it paid off. As the match went on, it was just a huge battle.”

The second set was indeed a battle, with the Owls holding to a 21-17 lead until a 8-1 Bluejay run tied up the match at one set apiece. Defensively, the Owls controlled the net with five blocks, but it still wasn’t enough to prevent the late Bluejays’ surge.

In set three, Adekunle came alive offensively, racking up nine of her matchhigh 23 kills on 49 attacks (0.408). Volpe had high praise for her star player for the career night she had and the numbers she put up as a middle blocker.

“I’m really proud of how Anota [Adekunle] took over there [in the third set],” Volpe said. “She had a huge game. As a middle blocker to have 23 kills and take almost 50 swings today is impressive. I think that also just says a lot about our first touch, our back row and our defenders.”

The third set was made up of explosive runs from both teams, with the Bluejays up late in the set. The Owls pulled within one point, but a replay review awarded Creighton the decisive 25th point and the Bluejays took the set.

SEE VOLLEYBALL PAGE 10

2 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

FROM FRONT PAGE

Inflation nation: Campus grapples with rising costs

HAJERA NAVEED / THRESHER Rice Coffeehouse (above) is just one of the institutions on campus that has raised prices this year due to inflation.

RENLY LIU

FOR THE THRESHER As prices for various goods and services continue to rise nationally, student-run businesses and Rice departments such as Housing & Dining and Facilities Engineering & Planning are among those on campus implementing changes to handle this inflationary spike, while also working to keep prices reasonable for students.

For on-campus students, H&D sought ways to subvert inflated prices.

David McDonald, senior director of H&D, has focused on different aspects, including worker wages, dining prices and housing costs.

With supply chain issues and price increases, McDonald said that H&D has resorted to buying food from multiple vendors for servery meals.

“We have two or three different produce houses that we use [now], [before] we only needed one … and everybody gets [why], like even the companies understand it,” McDonald said.

According to McDonald, the chefs on campus have done a great job mixing up menus to mask the troubles behind the scenes.

“It’s the menu mix, it’s the recipes — all the adjustments that we can make to keep the food interesting, exciting and high quality without looking like we’re in this massive inflationary period,” McDonald said. “It almost doesn’t look like we’re having this inflation or this producer problem when you look at our menus — that’s because of the talent of our chefs.”

McDonald said that he has also been working on keeping campus housing rates as reasonable as possible.

“H&D prides itself on how well it managed room and board rates over the last 15 years … our average increase every year has been like 1.8%,” McDonald said.

“I’ve got to find a medium whereby we’re staying competitive with universities in the market for room and board. When you

look at our [larger] peer [institutions] … we have the lowest room and board rates, and we like being in that niche; we work really hard to maintain that.”

Construction projects on campus have also been delayed by inflation. According to Anzilla Gilmore, director for project management, construction costs have risen by nearly 40% since 2020.

“The new Hanszen [College] wing’s timeline was significantly impacted by the economy, extreme weather events and COVID outbreaks at factories; all of those factors contributed to delays in delivery of materials,” Gilmore said. “The Moody Center for Student Life and Opportunity has also been affected by steep increases

This is a national issue; this is not an isolated issue anywhere. The biggest emphasis is that we all have to be part of this together.

David McDonald SENIOR DIRECTOR OF H&D

in construction costs, and the plan to start construction in April 2022 was postponed … The O’Connor Building has had delivery delays caused by the supply chain issues, but the contractor has been able to overcome those issues, and that project remains on schedule.”

Gilmore said that older projects managed to avoid inflationary delays because they got underway before the worst of it began, but newer projects are looking to cut costs wherever possible.

Student-run businesses, operating on a smaller scale, have also been impacted by inflation.

At Rice Coffeehouse, inflation has affected suppliers, resulting in price changes. Chidimma Alilonu, financial manager at Coffeehouse, said that their

food prices have seen the largest increases and that less than a dozen drinks have increased in price.

“I feel like inflation is part of life,” Alilonu said. “We’ve switched vendors in the past, but that was more because of problems with professionalism and communication … I think we don’t really want to ditch a vendor because of prices, because we like having longterm relationships and … we really value maintaining relationships and especially like supporting [small businesses in Houston].”

Miles Sigel, general manager of Pub, said that increased alcohol prices have forced price increases, but Pub remains committed to keeping prices low at the expense of making less profit.

“We have had to raise prices across the board … by around 20% on all items,” Sigel said. “We try very hard to be a low-profit business in the sense that we don’t care about making profit.”

General manager of East West Tea Emma Yang said that inflation has prompted a drastic increase in their employees’ wages. Since fall of 2019, their wages have increased from $8.50 per hour to $13 per hour.

“We’ve increased starting pay significantly since then to better honor the labor that our staff put into their work and to acknowledge the effects that difficult economic circumstances have had on our staff as individuals with bills to pay and expenses to cover,” Yang, a Baker College senior, said. “The change has absolutely been worth it, but it does mean we have to be careful about our operations and other expenses.”

McDonald said that while inflation has been a large national problem, micro-level adjustments in behavior can contribute to improvements.

“All the employees at Rice are all dealing with this too,” McDonald said. “This is a national issue; this is not an isolated issue anywhere. The biggest emphasis is that we all have to be part of this together.”

BAND

“This is an affront to me and everyone else who will lose their opportunity to play at games in the spring,” Rijuta Vallishayee, the MOB’s drum major, wrote in an email to the Thresher. “The fact that Rice Athletics expects MOBsters to participate in this band is frankly ridiculous. I look forward to performing with The MOB at other venues in the spring and making music performance accessible to all, regardless of Rice Athletics.”

Throckmorton said he understands his band members’ concerns but that they’ll have to learn to live with the new format.

“Those who have spent, you know, two, three, four years doing this, to then be told that nope, we’re changing, we’re changing everything, I empathize with that [anger],” Throckmorton said. “I think that, like any community that goes through a period of change, that they’ll find what they can take from it and then move ahead.”

The MOB will remain as a home to those of us who need it. We will continue to do what we do, because we love what we do.

Music is too important for it to be any other way.

Connie Huang MOB EVENTS MANAGER

The introduction of the new pep band is part of Rice athletics’ series of adjustments before joining the AAC next year, according to Mello.

“As we kind of looked at going into the American [Athletic Conference] and some of the improvements we wanted to make, from the stadium and other things, one of the things we wanted was a more traditional pep band,” he said.

Mello said the band members will be paid to ensure commitment throughout the entirety of Rice’s sports seasons, not just when classes are in session.

Ethan Goore, an equipment manager and game producer for the MOB, said he thinks the MOB could have adjusted to fit Athletics’ wishes.

“I see no reason why there has to be a completely new band,” Goore, a Duncan College sophomore, said. “Athletics could have given us suggestions on what they wanted from us, but they just decided to replace us instead without warning.”

Connie Huang, the MOB’s events manager, said she doesn’t plan on auditioning for the pep band.

“The MOB will remain a home to those of us who need it,” Huang, a sophomore at Wiess College, said. “We will continue to do what we do, because we love what we do. Music is too important for it to be any other way.”

Throckmorton said that the MOB scheduled more performances during the spring of 2021 than they would in a typical year, despite the pandemic keeping them out of Tudor Fieldhouse.

“We’ve performed for the kite festival in Hermann Park, we’ve performed for Rally Club lunch, just for fun,” he said. “During COVID we just did a parade around the inner loop to cheer people up on a day without classes, just things that people want to do.”

While the new band will be more traditional than the MOB, Throckmorton said he hopes it still follows his personal mantra.

“People are more important than things, and music is too important and too much fun to let professionals and serious people handle it,” Throckmorton said.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 • 3

NEWS

Engineering professor Marc Robert remembered

COURTESY FARZANEH MEYBODI

HAJERA NAVEED

NEWS EDITOR

Marc Robert, a professor in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering, died Sept. 2 from COVID-19 complications at the age of 72.

Robert, a physicist, became a professor at Rice in 1984 after receiving his doctorate in physics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, where he was born and raised.

At Lausanne, Robert met his first wife, Behnaz Payandeh, an Iranian graduate student who also studied physics. The two met in 1975 while working in the same office and got married shortly afterwards. After her unexpected death in 2008, Robert compiled and printed a book in her memory.

The marriage to Payandeh sparked Robert’s life-long interest in Iran, for which he had a strong appreciation for its culture, history and people, according to an interview with Rice Magazine in 2014. During his sabbatical in Tehran in 2013, Robert met his second wife, Farzaneh Meybodi, at an art exhibition and married the following year.

“He was so full of energy. He was so dynamic. He was so knowledgeable,” Meybodi said. “He could talk about everything [and] any field: music, physics, mathematics, literature, different countries’ cultures.”

Robert’s research interests were in statistical mechanics, thermodynamics and quantum-field theory. According to Michael Wong, chair of the chemical and biomolecular engineering department, Robert studied fundamental interactions of materials at the molecular and nanometer scale.

Andre Droxler, a close friend of Robert’s him teach finally,” Wong said. “Right then, I for over 30 years, said he connected with him was able to see him talk to the students and over their shared Swiss heritage as faculty interact with them in an almost casual way — in a way where it’s like science is nothing members at the university.

“I knew Marc not really for what he did to be scared about. He made it as low key as as a scientist but really as a human being,” possible. That was his personal style and that Droxler, professor emeritus of the earth, was something I really took to heart, and [it’s] environmental, and planetary sciences something I bring into my classroom.”

Meybodi said that Robert was extremely department. “I learned about him and appreciate him for who he was outside of dedicated to his students, especially his science interests. He had many other international students who needed extra help interests, in particular he loved music. He was and support.

Tai-Chou Lee, a Ph.D. student who a fabulous pianist and pipe organ musician.”

Droxler said that Robert had somehow got graduated in 2002, joined Robert’s lab in a key to the Rice Chapel and would go in the 1998 as a student from Taiwan. Lee, now a professor at the National Central University in middle of the night to play the pipe organ.

“That was one of his passions — music,” Taiwan, said that he was grateful for Robert’s Droxler said. “Everytime we would go to his hospitality to new students like him.

“I always remembered him talking to us, house, he would go on the piano and we would play this song called ‘Gracias La Vida.’ under the sun, on the Rice campus, about That was always a way for us to be grateful for the trees, birds, science and life during the welcome party when I just came to Rice,” who we are and how good our lives were.”

Meybodi said that Robert had many Lee said. “He taught me how to pursue truth, passions outside of academics including no matter how difficult it is. He is always my role model, a great playing the piano, scientist, teacher birdwatching and and mentor.” foosball. She said, Another graduate however, that he also He was so full of energy. He student of Robert’s, really loved to teach. was so dynamic ... He could Cheng-Ying Chou, “He was a real said that Robert’s teacher, always talk about everything [and] rigor in research teaching,” Meybodi any field: music, physics, and writing and his said. “Even for me mathematics, literature, positive attitude he was a teacher.

I learned to play different countries’ cultures. toward life has had a long-term impact piano from Marc. Farzaneh Meybodi on her.

Any opportunity he MARC ROBERT’S WIFE “As his graduate would look to teach you something, he was so generous [with student, he asked us to call him by his first name,” Chou, now an associate professor at his time].”

Wong said that Robert had an National Taiwan University, said. “He treated unconventional teaching style, as he was very his students like friends with respect and appreciation. When he visited Switzerland in interactive and casual with his students.

“Before the pandemic, I was able to sit the summer, I would go to his house to feed in on one of his classes so I was able to see his [blue jay].”

Six computers, two iPads stolen from north campus KEEGAN LEIBROCK

ASST. NEWS EDITOR

Rice University experienced a series of thefts this past week. Six laptops and two iPads were stolen from a Duncan College suite and Duncan Hall respectively, according to the Rice University Police Department in a campus-wide email sent out last Wednesday morning.

Ashna Shah, a Duncan College senior, said that she noticed her and her suitemates’ belongings had been stolen around 2 a.m. on the night of the Lovett College public, Sept. 11.

“I noticed that my laptop was missing from my backpack in the suite commons, and I realized that something was wrong,” Shah said. “We called RUPD and they had an officer come over who attempted to locate cameras while we tried to track a stolen laptop.”

Clemente Rodriguez, the chief of RUPD, said that an investigation is currently underway to find the perpetrators of these thefts.

“We have our investigators looking at everything we think can to help us locate the stolen property, such as viewing video camera footage and talking to all possible witnesses,” Rodriguez said. “We have some really good, solid information that we think will help us recover the laptops and return them to the students.”

Rodriguez said that a review of security camera footage did not yield substantial results, but based on other investigative tactics, he believes the crimes are isolated incidents.

“I believe that this was an isolated incident based on the fact that we had so many devices stolen in such a short period of time,” Rodriguez said. “This was a crime of opportunity; unfortunately, the victims left their items unattended for long periods of time and when they came back their devices were stolen … I think the

biggest concern I see is that, in the past, students have left their belongings sitting out and nothing happens; it doesn’t get stolen. Because of this, I think it is easy for students to become complacent.”

Shah said that she was initially very surprised by the thefts. She said she realized that students need to be more careful with their belongings in common spaces.

“At Rice, people tend to think that because it’s a safe community, [theft] is not going to happen to us, and so that’s kind of how my suitemates and I have been living for two years now, and nothing had happened [before],” Shah said.

Shah said she and her suitemates attempted to receive funding through Rice to replace their laptops.

“We reached out to the Rice Access and Opportunity Portal, and they basically said that they can’t fund new laptops for us,” Shah said. “We don’t really have any funding sources from Rice — the only thing that Rice can do is give us laptops on loan.”

As a result Shah and her suitemates started a Gofundme to raise funds for a new set of laptops and iPads. The Gofundme has received approximately $600 in donations with a target fundraising goal of $2000.

To aid in recovering stolen items, RUPD emphasizes registering electronic devices and other valuable items through the online Operation ID service. The service allows for RUPD to have any information that may be relevant in locating stolen items, such as those items sold to local pawn shops by thiefs.

“In the unfortunate event that your item is stolen, [registering items] helps us to track down and recover those items,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve recovered a lot of stolen items such as bicycles and laptops by searching for the registered stolen items in a pawn shops database.”

Rodriguez said that RUPD will be hosting a National Night Out Oct. 4, where students can come to have their bicycles, electronics and other property registered so that they can be tracked if stolen.

“I will be attending some cabinet meetings this week to try and bring awareness of things to do to keep your property safe and prevent theft,” Rodriguez said. “Hopefully, we can make it as easy as possible for students to get their valuables registered and spread education and awareness about theft prevention.”

Following the thefts, the Duncan Magisters Eden King and Winston Liaw shared a statement encouraging Duncan students to report suspicious behavior and register valuables with RUPD. “Safety is critical for learning, wellbeing and relationships, and we realize that the recent string of thefts at Duncan have threatened our sense of security,” King and Liaw said in the college-wide email.

“While we do not know whether the individual(s) responsible for the thefts is/are from Duncan, we want to stress that these are criminal acts that are punishable by fines, jail time, and rustication.”

Despite efforts to aid in theft prevention, Shah said that she believes RUPD should implement more concrete measures to both prevent and handle future thefts.

“In general, I think Rice needs to do a better job of preventing these things, because [Rice admin] has been sending out emails with information regarding preventative measures for theft, but not what to do if something actually gets stolen,” Shah said.

JAZMINE CASTILLO / THRESHER

4 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

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THE RICE THRESHER

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 • 5

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL STAFF

Support diversity in the arts in Houston

The Oscars may be so white, but Houston art isn’t — as long as you’re looking in the right places.

It is all too true that arts organizations still fall short of creating accessible spaces with equitable representation of artists.

For instance, white men still make up the majority of artists represented in prominent museums across the United States. Even with increased attention to elevating the work of women artists and an uptick in women-only art shows and exhibitions focused on the work of underrepresented artists, only 11% of permanent acquisitions by major American art museums from 2008 to 2019 were by women; of that 11%, only 3.3.% were by Black women artists.

Houston is not exempt from the inequities that plague the art industry, but this makes it all that more important

to support art in the city created by underrepresented artists.

If you enjoy theatre or want to trade in a night of Netflix for live entertainment, Theatre Under the Stars’ “Ain’t Misbehavin’” is a tribute to the music of Fat Waller and the Harlem Renaissance. The show opens Sept. 22 and features an all-Black cast and creative team. Ensemble Theatre aims to “preserve African American artistic expression,” and their production of “Love and Southern D!scomfort” also opens Sept.

22 and is showing through Oct. 16.

For a nationally acclaimed performance, “Six,” the musical reimagining of the lives of England’s King Henry VIII’s wives, features a diverse, all-woman cast and band. Watch how they “divorced, beheaded, died,” when this womancentric show comes to the Hobby Center Nov. 8 - 20.

Do you frequent Shepherd School performances? Watch “Viva Latin America” by the Houston Latin American Philharmonic Oct. 15 at Cullen Theater to end Hispanic Heritage Month. Walk to the Museum District to see “Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks” on display at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston through Oct. 2. Close by is the Menil Collection, where art-enthusiasts can see “Samuel Fosso: African Spirits” through Jan. 15.

This is only the start of the evergrowing amount of art to see in the city, from performances to exhibitions to the ever-present and ever-popular murals that adorn Houston’s cityscape. There are plentiful opportunities to experience art in many mediums near and far from campus, so we urge the Rice community to visit and engage with underrepresented artists who are too often overlooked.

GUEST OPINION

The Rice career fair fails Rice students Comments like “What’s with the suit? What’s the occasion? Who’s getting married?” surrounded me as I strolled into my college commons one day last fall. It caught me off guard; why am I the only one dressed up on career fair day? My bioengineering friend quickly answered my question. “Why should I bother going to the career fair?” he said. “There’s no bioengineering companies there.” He’s absolutely right. But the problem extends beyond just bioengineering.

Rice is undeniably the best university in Texas and arguably the best university in the southern United States. We’re home to the brightest students and tomorrow’s innovators and leaders. Yet, Rice stifles its competitive edge by failing to connect its high-achieving students with the nation’s top job opportunities. I firmly believe that the simplest way for Rice to jump from regional to national prominence is for it to attract the greatest companies from across our nation to our campus. I know that Rice is certainly capable of it. Who wouldn’t want to hire a Rice graduate?

Looking at the list of companies attending this year’s official career fair, however, I see a different picture.

According to Handshake, the career fair this year contains just ONE bioengineering company. No Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck, Moderna to be found recruiting at the No. 9 bioengineering school in the entire country. As Rice celebrates 60 years from President Kennedy’s famous speech, I wonder what happened to our connection with space exploration and aerospace? Only two aerospace companies recruit at Rice, and none of them are Boeing, Lockheed Martin or SpaceX. Why are semiconductor companies like Intel, Texas Instruments, NVIDIA and AMD, that are desperate for talent, not recruiting our electrical engineers? Apple is building a

$1 billion campus and hiring 4,000 new employees a mere three-hour drive away in Austin; Tesla recently completed its Gigafactory there. IBM, Google, Oracle, GM and many others have huge campuses in the city too. Yet, if a Rice student wants to work at any of those companies, their best option now is to upload their resume along with thousands of others and hope for the best. I can count on one hand the number of fellow students I know who’ve been successful at that endeavor. Getting into Rice should be the hard part.

I firmly believe that the simplest way for Rice to jump from regional to national prominence is for it to attract the greatest companies from across our nation to our campus.

When I tell friends and family about this issue, they’re taken aback. “Those companies don’t recruit at Rice?” They’re not alone either. Some frustrated Rice student-run organizations even took it upon themselves to create “Night of Networking” to expand opportunities for Rice engineering students. This event is only for engineers though and occurs very late in the recruitment cycle (when many companies are already interviewing candidates). It also doesn’t use Rice’s official recruitment platform Handshake.

As someone who’s been through four recruitment cycles, I see how those factors greatly limit the event’s impact. The bigger issue I see here though is why aren’t the companies that attend an unofficial Rice event at the official career fair?

It makes me wonder if Rice ever even reached out to any of the above-mentioned companies regarding recruitment. Surely many companies are seeking the highcaliber talent that Rice offers. Many of them go to career fairs at other Texas universities, like the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University, to fill their open roles.

I will say that Rice does find some great opportunities, particularly in oil & gas. But it leaves so much on the table, especially for non-engineering students and those looking beyond a career in energy. I also don’t wish to bash any companies currently attending the career fair. I thankfully found a job through the career fair that I absolutely enjoy. I merely feel that given Rice’s reputation, it should attract a much broader set of companies and should expand far beyond just the energy industry. It’s no surprise to me that Rice ranks the lowest of the top 20 schools for outcome in The Wall Street Journal’s 2022 ranks, falling right below the University of Florida.

I went to a large Texas high school that usually sends a few students to Rice every year, and I often receive calls from younger students interested in Rice. I always tell them the same thing: Rice is awesome, I absolutely love it. But if you want a job in industry, think twice about coming to Rice. Save your money, go to UT or A&M, and you’ll have more career options. Until Rice provides its students with the career opportunities that they deserve, my belief stands firm.

Wills Rutherford

WILL RICE COLLEGE ’22

Dare to be wise

Ben Baker-Katz* Editor-in-Chief Morgan Gage* Editor-in-Chief Bonnie Zhao* Managing Editor NEWS Hajera Naveed* Editor Maria Morkas Asst. Editor Keegan Leibrock Asst. Editor OPINION Nayeli Shad* Editor FEATURES Riya Misra* Editor ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Michelle Gachelin* Editor SPORTS Daniel Schrager* Editor Pavithr Goli Asst. Editor SPECIAL PROJECTS Prayag Gordy* Editor BACKPAGE Timmy Mansfield Editor Ndidi Nwosu Editor Andrew Kim Editor COPY Jonathan Cheng Editor Annika Bhananker Editor PHOTO, VIDEO, & WEB Katherine Hui Photo Editor Cali Liu Asst. Photo Editor Jasmine Liou Video Editor Camille Kao Asst. Video Editor Eli Johns-Krull Asst. Video Editor Brandon Chen* Web Editor DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION Robert Heeter Art & Design Director Anna Chung News Siddhi Narayan Opinion Alice Sun Features Ivana Hsyung Arts & Entertainment Olivia Robson Sports Lauren Yu Backpage BUSINESS Edelawit Negash Business Manager Ariana Moshiri Social Media Jazmine Castillo Distribution

ABOUT The Rice Thresher, the official student newspaper of Rice University since 1916, is published each Wednesday during the school year, except during examination periods and holidays, by the students of Rice University.

Letters to the Editor must be received by 5 p.m. on the Friday prior to publication and must be signed, including college and year if the writer is a Rice student. The Thresher reserves the right to edit letters for content and length and to place letters on its website.

Editorial and business offices are located on the second floor of the Ley Student Center: 6100 Main St., MS-524 Houston, TX 77005-1892 Phone: (713) 348 - 4801 Email: thresher@rice.edu Website: www.ricethresher.org

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* Indicates Editorial Board member

I was so caught up in avoiding ridicule or making a mistake that I became a passive observer in my education instead of taking an active role.

CORRECTIONS Shannon Walker was Baker College ’87, not Brown ’87.

Paul Mayer

ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING GRADUATE STUDENT BROWN COLLEGE ’18

The Thresher is a member of the ACP, TIPA, CMA, and CMBAM. © Copyright 2022

ricethresher.org

6 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

LILY REMINGTON / THRESHER

ALLISON HE

THRESHER STAFF Rice has scores of undergraduates interested in pursuing a health profession.

Roughly 40% of advising cases at the Office of Academic Advising are for health professions, according to Director of Academic Advising Christine Martinez.

But many pre-health students — such as those looking to pursue dentistry, physical therapy or physician assistant — said they experience a lack of advising and resources compared to those offered to pre-meds.

Martinez said that Office of Academic Advising advisors are trained to have a breadth of knowledge across health professions.

“All of our advisors are registered as official health professions advisors with the Association of American Medical Colleges,” Martinez said. “We regularly attend info sessions for various programs and annually attend conferences for our professional organizations including the National Academic Advising Association, National

THE RICE THRESHER

Forgotten health professions: Checking in with Rice’s pre-health students Association of Advisors for the Health Pro f e s s i o n s and Texas Association of Advisors for the Health Professions, to name a few.”

But despite the OAA advisors’ qualifications, some students said that their advisors did not seem very knowledgeable in prehealth professions other than pre-med.

Kofo Thomas, a Wiess College sophomore pursuing pre-physical therapy, said the OAA did not provide her advice specific to prephysical therapy.

“I met with the OAA who also didn’t really know about pre-PT and requirements,” Thomas said. “A lot of [advisors] tend to group it with pre-med because there are similar requirements, but they’re also different when you look at the specifics.”

Elizabeth Quach, a Duncan College sophomore pursuing the pre-physician assistant track, said the OAA’s advice on prehealth professions lacked specificity.

“I used the Office of Academic Advising for specifically the pre-health professions, and [they weren’t] that useful,” Quach said. “They were very general and said ‘you should ask your Peer Academic Advisors,’ who I asked, and they said to go to the Office of Academic Advising.”

Ginny Qian, a Hanszen College senior, said that the lack of advising for pre-PA left her feeling isolated and propelled her to reach out to others for help.

“Figuring everything out myself and finding [resources] was really frustrating because I felt really alone,” Qian said. “But I think what’s really important is to stress outreach. If you put your name out there … it’s guaranteed you’ll find a community.”

Not all pre-health students found little guidance from the OAA advisors. Pablo Alarcon, a Duncan College senior and copresident of the Rice Pre-Dental Society, said that OAA advisor Marcos Canales mentors members of the Rice Pre-Dental Society.

There’s so much more that can be done than having a singular webpage.

Sofia Roa JONES COLLEGE SENIOR

“[Canales] is always involved in the PreDental Society. You see him going to pretty much all our big meetings,” Alarcon said.

“He always sends us a lot of opportunities like mock interviews [and] workshops. I did my meeting for Open File with him, and I think that was really helpful.”

In addition to offering advising, the OAA facilitates of the Open File process for medical and dental school applicants, freshman and sophomore health profession sessions and a health professions newsletter, according to Martinez. The Open File process gives the Health Professions Advising Committee information to draft evaluations for health profession graduate school applicants, according to the Open File webpage. Such resources are posted to the OAA’s Pre-Health Professions webpage.

“This webpage includes our PreMedical and Pre-Dental guide, AP Credit List for Medical Schools, links to special

programs and test preparation resources,” Martinez said.

For McMurtry College senior Grace Waterman, the abundance of on-campus resources for pre-meds is one of the reasons she transitioned from pre-dental to pre-med.

“I was always kind of on the cusp, like ‘Do I wanna go to medical or dental school?’ Waterman said. “But there were more resources at Rice and more opportunities for me to see the medical path rather than dental.”

The OAA also has an Allied Health Guide webpage specifically for students pursuing non-premed health professions. According to Sofia Roa, a Jones College senior pursuing pre-physical therapy, the Allied Health Guide provides insufficient guidance for many prehealth students.

“I think there’s so much more that can be done than having a singular webpage that has all these pre-health sources that, when you click on the link, leads you to this [nationwide] professional organization,” Roa said.

Aryana Suhartono, a Hanszen sophomore pursuing the pre-physician assistant track, said that the lack of available resources for pre-physician assistants makes it difficult to gauge their quality .

“Because there are so few resources available, there’s not much to judge,” Suhartono said. “In terms of mentoring and advising, I wouldn’t say there’s great quality just because it’s not available.”

Roa said there is a lot that Rice can and should do to improve the quantity and quality of resources for all pre-health students.

“There’s always room ... to have our voices heard and to have access to similar quality and quantity of resources and not just have the professional organization website,” Roa said. “Have Rice-specific classes [and information on] whether AP classes will be accepted into this certain PT program or vetschool program, whatever it may be.”

Explore culture and coffee in Houston’s Third Ward

SARA DAVIDSON

THRESHER STAFF

Across State Highway 288 from Rice, the Third Ward neighborhood of Houston is an area teeming with rich history, great restaurants and fun activities. Our recommendations below are great starting points to get a better feel of Third Ward’s thriving culture and history.

Emancipation Park This park is not only the oldest park in Houston, but also in the entire state of Texas. It was purchased in 1872 by four former slaves for the purpose of celebrating Juneteenth. The purchase not only symbolized their freedom, but it also stood for the community’s union. In 1909

COURTESY PERKINS + WILL Emancipation Park (below) is the oldest park in state of Texas, though it’s been renovated quite a bit since it opened in 1972. the first De-ro-loc No-tsu-oh (“colored Houston” spelled backwards) was hosted here, which included a Wild West show and football game between local colleges.

Until the 1950s, this park was the only public park and swimming pool open to Houston’s Black community. Today, this park is home to an aquatics center, tennis court, baseball field, playground, outdoor pavilion, fitness center, theater and cultural center. Additionally, classes and gatherings are often hosted among the outdoor park spaces.

Address: 3018 Emancipation Ave., Houston, TX 77004

The Nook Cafe and Bar Located practically on the University of Houston campus, this small coffee shop and bar is perfect for studying or relaxing off campus. Offering both coffee and cocktails in the same cafe, they have a beverage for any of your cravings. Outdoor seating is also available, with many board games that are perfect for a study break.

Plenty of seating is also available inside, with cute window seats as well as big comfy couches perfect for getting some work done while staying cozy.

Address: 4701 Calhoun St., Houston, TX 77004

through celebrating both art and African American history. The project was started in 1993 and has so far renovated 39 shotgun homes into art studios that are available to tour on the weekends. The art is not only kept in the studio but also used for neighborhood revitalization, local youth education, programs by local activists and more. The Project Row Houses serve as gathering spots for the greater Third Ward community. Project Row Houses is open from noon to 5 p.m.

Wednesday through Sunday.

Address: 2521 Holman St., Houston, TX, 77004

The Original Frenchy’s This fast food chain serves Louisianastyle fried chicken throughout the greater Houston area, but the original location lives in Third Ward. Founded in 1969 to serve New Orleans inspired Creole comfort food, this chain expanded from a sandwich shop to 11 locations across Houston. Their website describes their food as rich in flavors, combining French, Spanish, Caribbean and African influences. The original restaurant is the closest to campus with plenty of po-boys, dirty rice, sweet potato pies and more available for purchase.

Address: 4646 Scott St, Houston, TX 77004

Third Ward Bike Tours A more unique way to explore the neighborhood of Third Ward includes themed bike tours that take you around the area, explaining some of Third Ward’s history along the way. The project started out with the goal of community engagement, and it now has various themed bike events including “Bike & Brunch” and night rides with lit-up bicycles. They accept bikers of all levels and include stops at local neighborhood hotspots. Taking you through Emancipation Park, Project Row Houses and many more spots, these bike tours are an option for anyone at Rice — from the Beer Bikers to the casual cyclers — looking for a fun way to explore Third Ward.

Address: 3409 Emancipation Ave., Houston, TX 77004

Project Row Houses Project Row House is an art installation located in northern Third Ward with the goal of transforming the community

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 • 7

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Rice pursues a NEWT solution Inside the lives of Rice’s for water treatment newest RAs MADISON BARENDSE

FOR THE THRESHER

“The chemical engineering problem I want to solve is to figure out how to make chemical reactions more sustainable, more CO2 friendly, more energy-friendly and more raw-materials friendly,” Wong said.

According to Wong, NEWT has been instrumental in spurring water treatment research.

“If NEWT did not exist, I would still be doing this research, but the progress of the research would be ten times slower,” Wong said. “So the NEWT center has really catalyzed our efforts – not just in my group, but in other people’s groups.”

Within Wong’s lab, several groups of researchers have collaborated with NEWT to pursue nanotechnology-based water treatment solutions. Bo Wang, a Rice graduate student who works in Wong’s lab, said that NEWT’s emphasis on academic collaboration has been helpful to his research.

“Normally, when you first start doing research, it’s hard to do all these things on your own,” Wang said. “But NEWT is a research center combining four universities, so you can collaborate with students outside of your university and research group.”

This article has been cut off for print.

Read the full article at ricethresher.org.

For some, it is all too easy to take fresh water for granted. However, in many parts of the United States and the world, clean water is a commodity. Dozens of labs and organizations are working to solve this problem, including the Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Center on Rice’s campus.

The NEWT Center is an engineering research center that aims to advance global water-treatment technologies.

Other universities — Arizona State University, University of Texas at El Paso and Yale University — are also involved with NEWT. Dr. Rafael Verduzco, a Rice professor and researcher at NEWT, said that the connections between these universities are an important part of the center.

“NEWT has brought me in contact with so many other people,” said Verduzco. “I’ve learned a lot, and I think Rice as a whole has benefited a lot from NEWT – from the people it has brought in and the work that has been accomplished in the center.”

According to Verduzco, NEWT research has a particular importance in water treatment in low-income communities.

“I think where NEWT can really make an impact is in certain locations that are off the grid or in not very developed areas, where you need a compact, portable, lowpower water treatment system,” Verduzco said. “NEWT has really emphasized these types of technologies.”

Research at NEWT is organized into five groups which collaborate on technology development. The first group is called Thrust1 or Multifunctional Nanomaterials, and it focuses on creating chemical structures that can break down toxic molecules and viruses in water. Dr. Michael Wong, a Rice professor and chair of the chemical and biomolecular KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER engineering department, said he NEWT’s office headquarters conducts much of his research in in Lovett Hall. this group.

FELICITY PHELAN

FOR THE THRESHER

When Bianca Lopez arrived on the Rice campus in 2019, she received a warning about the resident associate program: “Only crazy people do that.”

RAs, a unique feature of Rice’s residential college system, are adult members of the community who live alongside and support students in residential colleges, often with their partners and children. Despite the warning, Lopez, who works in asset management for Rice Management Company, was excited to get involved.

“It sounded like a great opportunity to make a difference in the Rice community and to expose the kids [Lopez’ children – Lucas and Olivia] to something a little different, [something] non-traditional,” Lopez said.

Lopez and her husband, Carlos Escobedo, joined Sid Richardson College as RAs last month. They’re two of the several RAs who have started positions in the past year. The Thresher talked to some of these so-called “crazy people” about their new roles.

Stephanie D.C. Parker, Lovett College RA, joined the Rice community in Aug. 2021 as the associate director of the program in writing and communication. She and her spouse, Matt Wells, started as RAs this August, applying on the suggestion of Jennifer Wilson, the director of the PWC and a former RA. For Parker, increased opportunities to interact with students was a big benefit of being an RA. “At Syracuse, I was teaching a lot. I had tons of students that I was connecting with and getting to know,” Parker said. “One of the drawbacks [of my PWC position] is I teach less … the RA position helps take away [that] negative, because I’m still getting to know students and

ZEISHA BENNETT / THRESHER Lovett’s new RAs, Stephanie Parker and Matt Wells. putting together events and doing all this exciting stuff.”

Jessica Krom, the associate director of MBA admissions at the Jones School of Business and a Brown College RA, had a similar motivation. Krom started as an RA for Brown in November 2021, moving in with her husband, Daniel, and their son, Houston.

“I work in the business school, so before the undergraduate major came online, I only worked with graduate students,” Krom said. “There’s something special about undergrads …[they] are so visionary … I think the older you get sometimes you might be a little bit more averse to risk … but undergraduate students [will] just try anything, they’ll do anything, they’re so open to the possibilities that the world has, and I love seeing it.”

Both Parker and Krom agree that their interactions with students are about sharing experiences and being a resource, rather than exercising authority. “[Being an RA is] not always providing my opinion, but providing my lived experiences,” Krom said. “Being a listening ear, not trying to solve everyone’s problems, but being available.”

Oftentimes, RAs’ personal experiences equip them to better understand and connect with specific students.

This article has been cut off for print.

Read the full article at ricethresher.org.

8 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

Rice’s newest acapella group chimes in on Chinese culture

COURTESY LU LU The Chimes perform at this year’s MidAutumn Festival on Saturday, Sept. 10.

PARKER BLUMENTRITT

FOR THE THRESHER

Rice’s newest acapella group, the Chimes, is adding to campus’s vibrant music community. According to the club’s vice president, Anita Zhou, it is the first and only Chinese acapella group at Rice.

Co-president Alexia Huang was inspired by the chimes, a Chinese instrument, in creating its name.

“They usually make a set of chimes and each plays a different tone … and then [they] harmonize them together,” Huang, a Wiess College junior, said. “[It] has [a] similar feeling as acapella, where we also play different tones and try to harmonize with each other.”

Founder and co-president Lu Lu started the club two years ago during the pandemic as a remote student in Shenzhen, China.

She then registered the Chimes as an

Review: Houston Ballet’s ‘Peter Pan’ soars above expectations MICHELLE GACHELIN

A&E EDITOR

Neverland has never been so magical.

The last time choreographer Trey McIntyre’s “Peter Pan” appeared at the Wortham Theater Center for the Houston Ballet was ten years ago during the 2012-2013 season.

This season, the show returned from Sept. 9 to Sept. 18 in full fashion, featuring fairies, flying flips and fantastical sets.

One of the most exceptional production elements was the flying, which was present throughout the show. Peter Pan (Simone Acri) soars through the stage not by the momentum of his pirouettes, but rather thanks to steel wires and harnesses. The stage lighting is cleverly altered for each flying scene by the Ballet’s Production Team to create the illusion of flight and to hide the steel cables. Peter Pan teaching Wendy (Kellen Hornbuckle) how to fly is one of the highlights of the show. Both dancers’ movements beautifully express their hesitancy and enjoyment during their flight, and it’s a touching glimpse into the sweet connection between the two characters.

Thomas Boyd’s set design is another standout. Throughout the three acts, the set models are changed to reflect the story’s tone through color, shape and shadow.

In Act I, the Darling nursery is brightened with flowers and floating door frames.

Vivid reds and deep blues paint the scene of the mermaid lagoon in Act II, and the shadowy, menacing setup in the final act is completed by Captain Hook’s pirate ship.

The set’s moving pieces are also well done — the automated crocodile even makes a few appearances slithering through the stage.

COURTESY LAWRENCE ELIZABETH KNOX, HOUSTON BALLET Principal Charles-Louis Yoshiyama as Peter Pan in Trey McIntyre’s ‘Peter Pan.’

Initially, I was skeptical of the dancers’ ability to convey their characters’ depth solely through dance. Some scenes are more intuitive, and others, like the mermaid creatures’ dance sequence, are unnecessarily drawn out. Again, Peter Pan and Wendy’s connection and individual quirks are wellexecuted — for instance, when Peter Pan endearingly falls to the floor after Wendy kisses his cheek. Captain Hook (Connor Walsh) is appropriately scary in demeanor and movement, Tinker Bell (Allison Miller) twinkles with her typical charm, and the Lost Boys shuffle around like the unkempt misfits that they are, somehow succeeding in balancing their roughness with the grace demanded by ballet.

My biggest point of contention was the beasts’ dance scene, which is also unnecessarily drawn out somewhere in Act II. The beasts hopped around in Truffula tree-like costumes that, while colorful and probably fun for younger viewers, were too ambiguous to clue me into their role in the show. For all other parts of the production, viewers who were faintly familiar with the story of “Peter Pan” could reasonably follow along, but this scene was confusing and didn’t add anything to the larger storyline except runtime.

All in all, “Peter Pan” is a well-executed production made all the more appealing by its gorgeous flying scenes, thoughtful set design and the undeniable talents of its dancers. If they follow in Peter Pan’s demipointe, the Ballet’s upcoming shows this season are sure to be a treat.

official club after returning to Rice last year. Since its founding, the group has grown — the Chimes just had their first auditions and now has around fifteen members. According to Huang and Lu, the group now totals around fifteen members, in addition to a photographer, composer, web developer and social media team.

Now that the group has expanded, Lu said that they plan to continue performing at various events and charity venues, in addition to collaborating with some of the other acapella groups on campus.

“Last year we performed at a Parkinson’s disease fundraiser, and this year we’re looking for similar opportunities,” Lu said.

The group is using a mixture of songs arranged by their composer, Moses Zhao, a Wiess College sophomore.

“The song that we are going to do [for] the rehearsals this afternoon is called the Big Fish. It’s an [original soundtrack] of a very famous Chinese movie called The Big Fish and Begonia,” Lu said. “It’s a movie in cartoon style, but it tells the stories that happen in ancient times.”

In the future, they would like to arrange songs that feature both Mandarin Chinese and English.

“We definitely previously thought we wanted to be all Chinese or Mandarin so that it can represent more about [our] culture,” Zhou, a Will Rice College senior, said. “But fusion is a better choice when it comes to promoting the culture and also letting more people get involved in singing itself. So what we’re going to do is try to design songs that [have] an English version and a Chinese version.”

Zhou said that another way the club is increasing accessibility is by offering oneon-one mentoring to help new members improve their music skills.

“We would like to design a mentormentee program so that all the people who would love to sing and know more about music theory can join this program, and we can have a one-on-one relationship and [help] them develop as singers,” Zhou said.

Other projects include producing an album with past and future performances.

“We plan to [release] our first album this semester or the beginning of next semester,” Lu said. “This will include at least six or seven songs from our past performances and also possibly three or four songs from this semester’s rehearsals.”

Review: ‘The Hardest Part’ is the sound of love’s funeral Top Track: ‘My Side of the Bed’

COURTESY COLUMBIA RECORDS

FRANCESCA BLISS

FOR THE THRESHER

Like a prism turns light into color, Noah Cyrus turns pain into music.

Emotion moves through Cyrus’s sound without resistance, leaving nothing lost in translation between her experience and her expression. While Cyrus cultivates a beautifully melancholic palette in “The Hardest Part,” I’m left equally impressed with her lyricism as I am with her musicality. “The Hardest Part” does more than provide listeners with ten pretty songs to cry to, it paints Cyrus’ world of doomed love, addiction and fragility with vivid colors and palpable grief.

The opening lyric in the album’s first song, “Noah (Stand Still),” immediately draws us into the story Cyrus is telling: “When I turned twenty, I was overcome / With the thought that I might not turn twenty one.” Cyrus has found the key to writing short, simplistic and impactful lyrics by expressing lyrical meaning through thoughtful production. At the first mention of the song’s title, Cyrus emphasizes the word “still” by placing it on an upward inflection after the two preceding lines rather than the anticipated final downward inflection.

Cyrus also embeds the word’s definition in her musicality — her decision to pair a monosyllabic word with a singular pitch leaves us with the halting feeling this song is meant to evoke. It is an impressive feat when an artist successfully defines their lyricism not only with words, but

equally with composition, recognizing that the two work in tandem and that coalescence will only strengthen their message in the listener’s consciousness.

“Ready to Go” exemplifies Cyrus’ mastery of the bittersweet sound we’ve come to associate with breakup music.

This track falls under a subcategory of heartbreak songs: selfless, one-sided love. We can find similar tones and themes within the music of artists such as Lana Del Ray and Amy Winehouse.

The sound of one-sided love seems to be largely feminized within modern music, placing a heavy emphasis on the kinds of higher, softer tones that are so consistent throughout “Ready to Go” and the album as a whole.

The beauty of “My Side of the Bed” lies in how the accompaniment complements the words. Cyrus’s use of suspension at the end of phrases in both the instrumentals and vocals creates a visceral experience of the emotion she’s conveying. By noticeably slowing down the tempo upon arriving at the words “over the edge,” Cyrus has replicated the physical feeling of hanging over the edge of something. It is attention to such details that distinguishes a thoughtful musician from a forgettable one.

“The Hardest Part” does what good music does: it takes us into another world. It fulfills that desire to teleport into a story other than their own, which fuels our consumption of art across mediums. Noah Cyrus knows the sound of loving the wrong person, and by the end of “The Hardest Part,” so do we.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 • 9

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FROM FRONT PAGE

lost Latine writings. According to Kanellos, discovering and making available the narratives left out of “If we don’t have opportunities history books, museums and cultural to celebrate our history, culture and institutions transforms national history art, where will we go? So having Arte from a Eurocentric perspective to a Público Press locally to be able to help multicultural and multilingual one.

“At this particular moment in support and empower all communities with that rich history is extraordinary,” history, where Latinos form the major Stipeche, now the director of human enrollments at the largest school services at the Houston-Galveston Area systems in the country, it’s so important Council, said. “I tell folks, ‘I have a that we have materials that the students world class education,’ yet I didn’t even can relate to and call their own, and not know much about my own history and forever be told that they’re outsiders, culture. It is because of leaders and that they’re foreigners, that they didn’t institutions such as Arte Público Press contribute anything, and just learn that we can celebrate the rich history about some boatloads of Europeans that that exists and the future that we have landed at Plymouth and defined what the United States would be,” Kanellos together.”

Often, these historical narratives said. “That’s absolutely a jaundiced aren’t represented in our education view of what the country is.”

Richard Tapia, a Rice mathematics systems. Arte Público’s founder Nicolás Kanellos created the press in 1979 professor whose upcoming book, from a literary magazine, “Revista “Losing the Precious Few: How America Chicano-Riqueña,” which grew in Fails to Educate Its Minorities in Science and Engineering,” popularity during will be published the Chicano through Arte M o v e m e n t .

Público, said that According to I tell folks, ‘I have a he experienced Kanellos, there world class education,’ people telling him was such a need he was inferior for Latine history yet I didn’t even know as a Mexicanto be told that much about my own American growing university classes history and culture. It is up in Los Angeles’ were using barrios. To Tapia, separate issues because of leaders and representing U.S. of the magazine institutions such as Arte minorities ensures as textbooks. 40 Público Press that we can nation. years later, the celebrate the rich history a healthy “We want Press is still wary that exists. to improve of pushback. representation “We have Juliet K. Stipeche of domestic suffered the RICE ALUMNA underrepresented slings and arrows of conservative culture in the United minorities for the health of the nation, States, of white nationalism and not the health of the discipline,” Tapia Christian nationalism,” Kanellos said. said. “In other words, you can’t have “Our books have been censored, they a country where a significant and have been pulled out of curriculums, growing population is not represented they have been pulled out of libraries. in backbone activity. And backbone Some of our books have even been activity in this country is science, set fire to … And right now, of course, technology and engineering.”

Tapia said that he wanted Arte there’s these lists floating around that the legislature started in Texas that a Público to publish his title for their couple of our books are on that have advocacy work around Hispanic issues.

“Arte Público has done a brilliant become targets. … We’re always looking over our shoulder to see who wants to job of trying to promote that history, and trying to promote anything about censor us.”

In 1992, the publishing house Hispanic issues,” Tapia said. “So it just launched the Recovering the US naturally felt, when I started to write my Hispanic Literary Heritage project, book, to think of Arte Público because which is the first nationally coordinated they’re progressive [and] because effort to recover, index and publish Kanellos has done great things.”

ARTE PÚBLICO

MICHELLE GACHELIN / THRESHER A Solero Flamenco dancer performs at the Arte Público Press gala last Thursday.

Stipeche, who worked with Tapia, said that he empowered underrepresented minorities and women in his program by building community, and that this includes celebrating culture, art, music and literature.

“That is a part of what Rice celebrates: unconventional wisdom.

And unconventional wisdom requires us to take time to sit down and to see what’s around us — to look for wisdom beyond what’s in the traditional settings,” Stipeche said. “Arte Público Press opens up a world of opportunity for us to be able to embrace a more holistic perspective of community and of the world that surrounds us.”

For some, that world includes space exploration. Former astronaut and author José M. Hernández, who hosted the gala, has written three books through Arte Público about his journey to NASA from a family of Mexican migrant farmers. Hernández will be played by Michael Peña in an upcoming Amazon Prime film about his life, set for release in 2023. He said that his books inspire children to make their own dreams come true.

“It’s important because it’s an empowerment process,” Hernández said. “People look at me and they see [that I’m] similar to them and of similar socioeconomic background.

And because of that, it has some type of empowering effect. [They say,] ‘Hey, if he was able to do it, why can’t I?’ So that’s why I love my story being told.”

Houston author, translator and educator Jasminne Mendez has also penned stories for younger readers with the goal of sharing diverse and empowering narratives.

Mendez’s second young adult memoir, “Islands Apart: Becoming Dominican American,” was published by Arte Público last week and details her life as a Black Latina growing up in the south.

“One of the things that has always appealed to me is that they only focus on publishing Latine and Hispanic writers and amplifying those voices,” Mendez said of Arte Público, which selects 25 to 30 texts to be published every year. “They’re very specific to the kinds of stories by Latine writers that they publish that really focus on exposing the culture, and amplifying those distinct and individual experiences and opportunities that are found within specific Latine subgroups, cities and nationalities.”

Review: ‘See How They Run’ JAY COLLURA

THRESHER STAFF

The prospect of writing a whodunnit is undeniably challenging – as Adrien Brody’s character says in “See How They Run,” “Once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.” Audiences have been accustomed to solving the mystery due to both the formula’s consistency and the Internet’s role in facilitating fan theories, creating a generation of filmgoers looking out for every detail. However, despite this challenge, the whodunnit genre is seemingly making a comeback: 2019’s “Knives Out” was a major success with a sequel coming out later this year, and “See How They Run” debuted in theaters to positive reception this past Friday. “See How They Run” forges its own identity by simultaneously taking a comedic approach to the whodunnit through parody and creating a loving tribute to the mystery subgenre.

The premise for “See How They Run” is intentionally unremarkable. Sam Rockwell plays Inspector Stoppard, a grizzled detective tasked with solving the murder of American director Leo Kopernick (Adrien Brody).

This article has been cut off for print.

Read the full article at ricethresher.org.

Review: ‘BORN PINK’ JACOB PELLEGRINO

THRESHER STAFF

Top Track: ‘Shut Down’ On “BORN PINK,” BLACKPINK creates an addicting album that melds elements of pop, hip-hop and rock, leaving listeners wanting more. Drawn from a wide range of locations and forged through years of preparation in K-pop’s trainee system, BLACKPINK has found a unique sound that draws from both the strengths of its members Lisa, Jennie, Rosé and Jisoo, as well as the combined production savvy of their agency, YG Entertainment, and producer Teddy Park.

For those unfamiliar with K-pop, the closest American equivalent to YG Entertainment’s role in BLACKPINK’s success would have to be Berry Gordy’s Motown Records throughout the ’60s and ’70s. Both labels put together groups based on the strengths of each member and provided assistance with the artists’ instrumentation, songwriting and production desires. This system brought musicians like The Supremes, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder to the forefront of American popular music at their peaks.

Motown and similar labels served as major inspirations for many South Korean entertainment companies. This tight-knit relationship between label and artist can lend a level of polish and consistency that is often harder to attain in bands that form in more traditional ways.

“BORN PINK” begins with its lead single, “Pink Venom,” a track that combines a hip-hop beat with traditional Korean instrumentation. “We wanted to relay our identity in the song as much as we could. Since ‘pink’ and ‘venom’ have contradicting images, we thought they were kind of reminiscent of us,” Jennie said of the song. “Pink Venom” combines the traditional feminine prettiness of the color pink with poison, emphasizing that the girl group’s music will go “straight to ya dome” like the titular poison it is compared to.

This article has been cut off for print.

Read the full article at ricethresher.org.

10 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

THE RICE THRESHER

Football puts an end to longest winning streak in CFB PAVITHR GOLI

McCaffrey. The Ragin’ Cajuns scored another touchdown after McMahon threw his third interception of the first half, but The Rice football team broke the the Owls’ two-minute drill got them into nation’s longest winning streak when position to hit a 31-yard field goal, sending they defeated the University of Louisiana them into halftime down 14-13.

According to McMahon, who started at Lafayette 33-21 on Saturday night. The Ragin’ Cajuns had won 15 straight games, in place of an injured Wiley Green, the going back to last season, before their trip support that his teammates and coaches to Rice Stadium over the weekend. The gave him enabled him to bounce back victory against the Ragin’ Cajuns puts the in the second half despite his poor Owls at 2-1 on the season as they head into performance to start the game off.

“The coaches still had faith in me, they their last week of non-conference play.

Head coach Mike Bloomgren said that the were calling plays and telling me that upset win felt like a reward for the hard they trusted me in operating,” McMahon said. “Awesome teammates and awesome work that he and his team have put in.

“It was a fun sideline to be on, and coaches are what helped me out.”

The Owls’ offense became that locker room party was pretty cool,” Bloomgren said. “We have a lot of guys much more active in the second half, scoring on their that can roll first possession of through and play the third quarter good football. It on a McMahon feels great, it feels touchdown pass like there are a lot It was a fun sideline to be to redshirt senior of people that did on, and that locker room wide receiver, a lot of things for party was pretty cool ...

Bradley Rozner. this program, and There are a lot of people The Owls opted to I’m glad that we go for two but a got rewarded for it that did a lot of things for this program, and I’m glad failed conversion today.” attempt left the Both teams that we got rewarded for it score at 19-14. started slowly today.

Another McMahon with the opening touchdown to drives for each side Mike Bloomgren McCaffrey at the ending in punts. HEAD COACH start of the fourth However, the Owls capitalized on a first-quarter interception quarter and a successful two-point by graduate safety George Nyakwol, conversion made the score 27-14. The Ragin’ converting a 23-yard field goal after failing Cajuns responded with a touchdown after to get into the endzone. Louisiana then putting together an efficient two-minute returned the favor later in the quarter, and eight-second drive in the fourth intercepting junior quarterback TJ quarter to make the score 27-21. However, a McMahon’s pass and running it into the two-yard touchdown run by redshirt junior running back Ari Broussard that gave the endzone for a Ragin’ Cajuns touchdown.

In the second quarter, the Owls went Owls a 33-21 lead with three minutes left on an eight-minute drive that ended in a sealed the game.

The Owls’ defense played a critical McMahon eight-yard touchdown pass to redshirt sophomore wide receiver Luke part in the team’s victory, giving the ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

FROM FRONT PAGE

VOLLEYBALL

Finding themselves down one, in a potentially final set, the Owls dominated both sides of the ball and won set four 2521, tying the match. Offensively, the Owls hit 0.375 as a team in the set, with junior outside hitter Sahara Maruska connecting on seven kills in the set while Adekunle continued to patrol the net on both sides of the ball, holding the Bluejays to 0.171 hitting. According to Adekunle, the Owls ability to come back from deficits is from

LUPITA FRIAS / THRESHER Senior outside hitter Ellie Bichelmeyer attempts a kill against Creighton. The Owls topped the No. 17 Bluejays in five sets to earn the No. 23 spot in this week’s rankings.

the way they buy in to each other and their team.

“It just shows how much we’re bought into the program and how hard we fight,” Adekunle said. “No matter if we win or lose the first couple sets we’re always going out and giving all we have the whole match. We strive to not let being down a few points determine how the game will end and grit it out to the end.”

The final set was as contested as they come. With four ties and three lead changes, the set was tied at 14 until junior outside hitter Danyle Courtley, who

LUPITA FRIAS / THRESHER Quarterback TJ McMahon lines up to take a snap against Louisiana on Saturday.

McMahon’s three touchdowns helped Rice end the Ragin’ Cajuns’ 15 game win streak.

offense numerous opportunities to take the lead. Coming into the game averaging 416 yards of offense per game, the Ragin’ Cajuns managed only 175 total yards and nine first downs. According to Bloomgren, the defense made their mark known on every play.

“Defensively, I thought our defense got some really great push,” Bloomgren said. “Whether it was in our throw game to get pressure on our quarterback or the rushing game, I just felt like our guys were in the backfield all night long. I was always seeing all the guys, all over the place, all night long.”

Sophomore cornerback Jordan Dunbar, who tied for the team lead in total tackles with four, said that the defensive unit played with vigor and a strong mentality.

“We had so much energy on the defensive line, the linebackers and the secondary,” Dunbar said. “Everyone

was working so well together. We had the same mentality to go out there and dominate while trusting our teammates to go out there and get the job done.”

Before starting conference play, the Owls will travel across town to TDECU Stadium for the Bayou Bucket Classic against the University of Houston Sept.

24 at 5 p.m. The Owls will kick off their conference play when they host the University of Alabama at Birmingham Oct. 1 at 6:30 p.m.

McMahon said that he is not letting the win get to his head as he is aware of the tough schedule that awaits him and his squad.

“We have a lot more football left to play,” McMahon said. “We have to learn from the good, and especially the bad.

We are going to be playing a lot of teams down the road where, if I have a first half like that, we are not going to be able to win those games.”

connected on four kills in the set, blocked of discipline put the team in an early hole.

“I don’t think anything flipped for us, a Creighton attack to bring match point and then connected on her tenth kill of the it just took us too long to play our game,” Volpe said. “Defensively we were out afternoon to complete the upset.

In the three-hour marathon of a match, of whack and they were out-defending fifth-year senior setter Carly Graham us. We were not very disciplined and I rallied the Owls and earned her seventh could sense that our defense was kind of Conference USA Setter of the Week award affecting our offense.”

The Owls never faltered after falling with an impressive 57 assist, 14 dig doubledouble. Volpe had nothing but praise for behind 2-0, and thanks to a slew of Creighton but said she was proud that her Wildcat errors, a 10-2 run in the fourth set and a dominating team came out on Owls offense, the top.

Owls completed “Creighton is the reverse sweep, just an awesome winning the next team and we have We can never sell three sets and a ton of respect for ourselves short ... We’re sealing the match them,” Volpe said. always going to try to keep 3-2. Volpe said “They came out and that after some were exactly what those standards extremely adjustments on we thought they high. both ends of the were going to be, court, the Owls great defensively Genny Volpe execution shined. and offensively. But HEAD COACH “After two sets like we talked about at the end of the game, we can never sell of it, our team was able to finally start ourselves short ... We’re always going to try executing at a high level,” Volpe said. “We started serving a little better where we had to keep those standards extremely high.”

Before defeating the Bluejays, the been struggling. I thought [Kansas State] Owls opened up the Adidas Invitational II did a good job of attacking us but once we against the Kansas State Wildcats earlier did a better job of putting up a better block in the weekend. Rice dropped the first two that helped us.”

The Owls will enter non-conference play sets against their Big 12 opponent; the first went back and forth until a late 6-1 run by with a 10-1 record, riding a six-game win the Wildcats put it away. The second was streak. They return to the court this Friday even closer, with the WIldcats taking it at Tudor Fieldhouse against the University 26-24. Service errors proved costly for the of Texas, San Antonio, looking to improve Owls in the first part of the match and their win streak against the Roadrunners to following the match, Volpe said that a lack 13. The first serve is at 6 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 • 11

SPORTS

50 years later, Rice’s first Black student-athletes reflect on their impact DANIEL SCHRAGER

SPORTS EDITOR

Stahlé Vincent came back to Rice over the weekend. But this time, he got a different reception than he did when he first set foot on campus over five decades ago. “[When I first got here] there was not an open-arm reception,” Vincient said. “There were people who never spoke [to me], people avoided me, I had professors who wouldn’t call my name at roll. There was an animus there that you could feel.”

Vincent, a member of the first class of Black student-athletes at Rice, was among six alumni to be honored on Friday for their role in integrating Rice athletics. Vincent (’72), along with Rodrigo Barnes (’73) and Mike Tyler (’72) of the football team, along with Leroy Marion (’72) of the basketball team, were recognized for being the school’s first Black student athletes, while former volleyball player Denise Bostick (’80) and runner Leila Freeman (’79) were honored for being the first Black female Owls. According to Vincent, the event came together after he wrote a letter to athletic

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Rodrigo Barnes (’73) poses for a photo during his time at Rice. Barnes was among six Black former student athletes honored by Rice last week for integrating Rice sports.

director Joe Karlgaard and deputy athletic director Rick Mello during the fall of 2020.

“I was watching a game day pregame show,” Vincent said. “[It was] 2020, the pandemic, Black Lives Matter, the whole bit, and athletics is taking the forefront, because schools are going around honoring their first African-American players. I’m thinking, ‘what about us?’ So I wrote a letter.”

The event coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the class of ’72, of which Marion, Tyler and Vincent were members.

According to Barnes, who graduated a year later, seeing the progress made in the halfcentury since his time at Rice was much more rewarding than the honor itself.

“I am thrilled because I know how it got started, and I know the sacrifice I paid for it,” Barnes said.

When he first arrived on campus, Barnes said it was clear that he wasn’t particularly wanted there.

“Rice was trying to make an adjustment to get the NASA money, so they invited us,” Barnes said. “It wasn’t because they loved us or anything … It was economic. They did not attack me. There was no [Ku Klux Klan] coming at me on campus. There were people individually that did a lot of small, stupid, silly things.”

Specifically, Barnes rememberers facing blatant discrimination in the classroom.

“In the textbook it said I was inferior,” Barnes said. “In the science book it said I was incapable. The answer to the question on the test was [that] I was inferior and not capable.”

Even though they arrived on campus just a few years later, Bostick and Freeman said that they have mostly pleasant memories of their time at Rice.

“There was some racism on campus,” Bostick said. “But it’s something about athletes, that, even though I was the first Black woman – and really, to be honest, I didn’t even focus on that – but when you’re an athlete, [I felt that] the racism is not as prevalent because you have a … common goal [with your teammates].”

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS Stahlé Vincent (’72) takes on a tackler during a game against Baylor. Vincent won the Bob Quin Award, which goes to Rice’s top student athlete, in 1972.

According to Freeman, her background growing up in a military family helped prepare her for being one of the only Black women athletes at Rice.

“I may be very naive when it comes to that, but I never felt out of place,” Freeman said. “I never did, because my background is this: I’m a proud Black person, but I was raised in a military family … I was always in an integrated situation. And I felt that was normal. People just didn’t make me feel different, as far as I could see.”

Vincent, on the other hand, said that the few Black student athletes at the time often had to lean on each other for support.

“A couple of times a week, Rodrigo, Mike Tyler and my roommate, we’d get together and prop each other up, because we made a decision to come here,” Vincent said. “We’re gonna make it work. But psychologically and emotionally … I was not ready for what I encountered.”

However, like Bostick and Freeman, Vincent said that he also found more acceptance when he was among his teammates.

“It was much better with my teammates,” Vincent said. “Because if we look at the sports arena, if you can play, it doesn’t matter. Rodrigo, Mike, and I — I’m not gonna brag, but we could play — so whether you

like it or not, we were going to help the team win. Therefore, [teammates would think] you need to play and we need to support you.”

Barnes went to great lengths to create community and resources for Black students on campus. According to Barnes, he was a founder of the Black Student Union, served as its first president, and helped organize a protest to spur the hiring of more Black staff members.

“We [once] picketed the halftime of a basketball game,” Barnes said. “They got worried. They decided to hire a Black coach, and they hired a Black person to work with the kids as a psychiatrist.”

Barnes said that he faced backlash for his activism, even well into his NFL career, but at a certain point he thought the school had no choice but to accept him.

“I made all-conference, but my school didn’t promote me to be all-American,” Barnes said. “They were offended because here is a 19 year old, 20 year old kid forcing them to have Black coaches, Black professors, recruit a few more [Black] students, to change the culture … I was kind of like the enemy on campus. But they had to tolerate me because of who I was athletically and as a person.”

This story has been cut off for print. Read the full article at ricethresher.org.

After 350 wins, Volpe still isn’t thinking about her legacy LANDRY WOOD

FOR THE THRESHER

KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER Head coach Genny Volpe coaches her players during a recent game. Volpe, who recently reached 350 career wins, has led the Owls to seven NCAA tournament appearances.

During her 19-year tenure, Rice volleyball head coach Genny Volpe has led the Owls to seven NCAA tournaments, two conference championships, 14 winning seasons and, as of Aug. 26’s victory over the University of Houston, 350 wins. With the Owls back in the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s top 25 as of Monday, those numbers seem poised to keep improving. This is a flooring amount of success for a program that had never even been to the tournament until Volpe was hired, but she is far from willing to take sole credit.

“It’s not one thing — building a program takes time,” Volpe said. “Rice is such a unique place, and we’ve worked really hard over the years to recruit the right players that fit Rice University in general. It’s taken time to develop a culture, develop a system.

I really try to surround myself with great staff.

I’ve had great assistant coaches …

They’ve stayed a long time and worked well with me and with the players. [We’re] focusing more on the day-to-day teaching, getting players to buy in and not get frustrated when the process isn’t going super smooth. Our trust goes both ways — the players trusting the coaches about the process and the coaches trusting the players … that they’re giving it their all.”

Volpe’s players certainly share these feelings of trust and admiration.

According to Carly Graham, a fifth-year senior and the Owls’ all-conference setter, Volpe’s empathetic coaching style and her ability to exist in the present moment are inspiring and worthy of learning from.

“Genny is truly one of the best coaches in the game,” Graham said. “She takes

personal care for each person on the team and knows how to create a program where everyone is bought into the same common goal … Genny is the type of coach that inspires everyone to work together and to work hard. Volleyball is a game of constant adjustments, and she is able to teach and coach how to feel and understand those adjustments the other side is trying to make.”

The Owls’ libero, junior Nia McCardell, echoes these praises, emphasizing Volpe’s skill at making improvements and corrections on the fly.

“I would describe Genny’s coaching style as very hands-on,” McCardell said. “She won’t hesitate to stop a drill to correct little things like technique to make sure we have something to focus on. In practices and games she is always engaged in the plays or drills and able to provide support or feedback if needed.”

Volpe began her collegiate volleyball career as a student-athlete at Texas A&M University, later serving as an assistant coach there and at Southern Methodist University. In her first season as Rice head coach, she saw the Owls to a 25-5 record and their first ever appearance in the NCAA tournament. That was also her only season in the Western Athletic Conference, with the 18 years of play from then to now occurring in Conference USA. Despite this long standing familiarity, Volpe shows little anxiety over the university’s switch to the American Athletic Conference in 2023.

“It’s just another league,” Volpe said. “We’re going to have some different opponents, but we’ve been through different schedules, we’ve

been through COVID, so this is like nothing. The way we’re looking at next year in a new conference is new faces, new opportunities, new rivalries. We’re excited about the change … It’ll be an adjustment, but we also have a lot of young players who probably won’t even blink.”

It would be easy for a lesser coach to become absorbed in the dramatic idea of sending a message this particular season, at the end of the Owls’ nearly two-decade-long campaign in the C-USA. In Volpe’s case, however, nothing could be further from her mind.

“I really avoid talking about big endgames,” Volpe said. “I stopped doing that years ago. I think early in my career I was very much focused on the end rather than the progress. We haven’t even talked about ‘this is the last year of C-USA,’ ‘we’ve got to make a statement,’ nothing like that. And I think that’s key to our success because as soon as you start looking ahead, someone’s going to come up and bite you on the tail.”

It can be easy for figures that have enjoyed the level of success Volpe has to lose focus on the here-and-now. But instead of reveling in her brick-intomarble transformation of Rice volleyball, Volpe shows total lack of interest in any of those ideas of legacy.

“My goal has always been to be part of elevating Rice volleyball to new heights,” Volpe said. “It’s relationships that end up mattering more than anything to me, the relationships I’ve built with my staff, my players and my former players.

What would give me the most joy is for everyone that’s played here at Rice to have a lot of pride.”

12 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022

Electronics for Sale 6 laptops and 2 iPads, lightly used. Received as a gift from ex-Best Buy franchisee. $100 each OBO. EVERYTHING MUST GO ASAP!!!!

Cash only, in $10 or $20 bills. No returns. Dead drop.

Pick up details will be delivered to you via Instagram DM in vanish mode.

Selling earplugs ahead of Baker Christmas!

BACKPAGE

CHEM 211 Office Hours Thursdays at 7:00-10:00 am, open to all willing to learn

7:00-7:15 am

Opening Prayer

7:15-8:15 am

Special Topics Review

8:15-9:00 am

Lecture: “Current Science Models for a Spherical Earth are Nonsensical”

9:00-9:05 am

Prayer Break

9:05-9:45 am

Gentlemen’s Prayer Session

9:45-10:00 am Debrief: CHEM 211 Midterm Review

The first 25 students to arrive will receive a free signed and inscribed Bible from Dr. Tour!

John 11:35

$10 per ear, $15 per ear if from WRC. $10 express surcharge if you need them before Whale Day. Each earplug has innovative noise-canceling technology to neutralize Christmas-adjacent music! You’ll get an email from your college president at 12:30pm on Wednesday, September 21 with a wristband form for the earplug line on Saturday morning.

RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY. Be your own Boss.

10-14 hours per week. Responsabilitys include researching your research, and 2: recruiting other people to also reserch the research, so they can find people to resarch. too . Do not googel “MLM”, it means “man loving men”. Special preference given to children of divorce.

PLease bring your father to the interview to act as a reference.. If interested, please email dilfhunter69@rice.edu with a family photo and your father’s phone number

Don’t try to find earbuds locally, you won’t. :) The Backpage is the satire section of the Thresher, written this week by Ndidi Nwosu, Andrew Kim, and Timmy Mansfield and designed by Lauren Yu. For questions or comments, please email dilfhunter69@rice.edu.