Rice Magazine 3

Rice Magazine • No 1 • 2008 1
40|LiteraryGold • 9|ScienceofShred • 18|Oscar’sRedCarpet • 44|LightandSpace
24 (RE)DEFININGAVISION
34 HUNTINGRICEHISTORY
36 HAPPYBIRTHDAYTOUS
38 TAKINGCAREOFBUSINESS

ContentsContents
3 Three Rice luminaries
are elected to the
American Academy of
Arts and Sciences.
4 Student applications top
the record — twice.
8 The world’s richest and
largest business plan
competition is even
better.
7 Not your parents’ career
services center
4 A major gift will transform
the way engineers are
educated at Rice.
9 SciRave mixes a little
science with a lot of
15 Healing physical problems
doesn’t automatically
improve the quality of life
for elderly patients.15 The award-winning
journal, positions,
comes to Rice.
10 It’s enough to make
you sweat.
5 Kinetic learning is a Wii
bit of fun.
14 What is that word?
16
On the cover: Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Rice alumnus Larry McMurtry
delivering a recent Friends of Fondren Library Distinguished Guest Lecture
12 Rice researchers
are ratting outare ratting out
cardiovascular
disease,
osteoporosis and
Alzheimer’s.
shred.
6 If a picture is worth aIf a picture is worth a
thousand words, thenthousand words, then
Rice’s new image of aRice’s new image of a
virus’s protective coat isvirus’s protective coat is
seriously undervalued.seriously undervalued.
11WARP wireless isWARP wireless is
whetting the appetiteswhetting the appetites
of communicationsof communications
technology
heavyweights.heavyweights.

Rice Magazine • No. 3 • 2009 1
Features
24 Defining and Realizing Vision
The vision with which Edgar Odell Lovett defined
Rice opened the university to possibilities he could
not have dreamed of.
B y D a v i d W . L e e b r o n
26 Unique Leadership for a Unique Time
James Crownover, chairman of the Rice Board of
Trustees, reflects on his past and the university
that has played such a large role in his life.
B y M i k e W i l l i a m s
30 Larry McMurtry: On Rice, Writing and
the Fate of Books
Larry McMurtry is fond of saying that his parents
wanted him to stay on the ranch and herd cattle,
but he wanted to herd words.
B y D a v i d D . M e d i n a
34 Super Sleuth
A modern-day Nancy Drew, Rice’s centennial
historian Melissa Kean experiences both thrills
and chills in her fearless hunt for Rice history.
B y M e r i n P o r t e r
36 The Countdown Begins
Rice’s 100th birthday is fast approaching. Here’s a
preview of the centennial anniversary celebration
already in the works.
B y M i k e W i l l i a m s
38 Taking Care of Business
Executive Education is not only a source of
revenue, but also an important connection
between the university and the practicing
professionals in Houston’s business community.
B y W e e z i e K e r r M a c k e y
40 Literary Gold
A lot of people dream about finding buried
treasure. Most don’t succeed, but occasionally, a
rare individual actually does make a discovery
worth noting. You can add literary detective Logan
Browning to that list.
B y C h r i s t o p h e r D o w
Students
18 They came.They filmed.They
conquered.
20 Weightless
21 An undergraduate entrepreneur
finds success in an organic
produce co-op.
22 Pioneering stem cell research to
aid stroke victims gets personal
for a Rice doctoral student.
23 Owl Microfinance student
group honored by Clinton Global
Initiative University
Arts
42 The infamous FEMA trailer is
transformed by art.
43 Developing a master plan for
public art on the Rice campus
44 It’s not unusual to hear artists talk
about the use of light and space.
It’s pretty rare when one’s art
consists of light and space.
Bookshelf
46 John Anderson likes to joke that
he studies the Antarctic in the
winter and the Gulf Coast in
the summer, but what he sees
happening along theTexas coast
is no laughing matter.
47 Richard Smith’s friends and
colleagues warned him not to
tackle the evolution of the “Yijing.”
47 A neuroscientist uses fictional
vignettes to explore the
possibilities of the afterlife.
Sports
48 Vaulting to new heights.
20
18
21

Rice Magazine
Vol. 65, No. 3
Published by the
Office of Public Affairs
Linda Thrane, vice president
Editor
Christopher Dow
Editorial Director
Tracey Rhoades
Creative Director
Jeff Cox
Art Director
Chuck Thurmon
Editorial Staff
B.J. Almond, staff writer
Jade Boyd, staff writer
Franz Brotzen, staff writer
Merin Porter, staff writer
Jenny West Rozelle, assistant editor
Jessica Stark, staff writer
Mike Williams, staff writer
Photographers
Tommy LaVergne, photographer
Jeff Fitlow, assistant photographer
The Rice University Board
ofTrustees
James W. Crownover, chairman; J.D.
Bucky Allshouse; D. Kent Anderson; Keith
T. Anderson; Subha Barry; Suzanne Deal
Booth; Alfredo Brener; Robert T. Brockman;
Nancy P. Carlson; Robert L. Clarke; Bruce W.
Dunlevie; Lynn Laverty Elsenhans; Douglas
Lee Foshee; Susanne Morris Glasscock;
Robert R. Maxfield; M. Kenneth Oshman;
Jeffery O. Rose; Lee H. Rosenthal; Hector
Ruiz; Marc Shapiro; L. E. Simmons; Robert
B. Tudor III; James S. Turley.
Administrative Officers
David W. Leebron, president; Eugene Levy,
provost; Kathy Collins, vice president
for Finance; Kevin Kirby, vice president
for Administration; Chris Muñoz, vice
president for Enrollment; Linda Thrane, vice
president for Public Affairs; Scott W. Wise,
vice president for Investments and treasurer;
Richard A. Zansitis, general counsel; Darrow
Zeidenstein, vice president for Resource
Development.
Rice Magazine is published by the Office of
Public Affairs of Rice University and is sent
to university alumni, faculty, staff, graduate
students, parents of undergraduates and
friends of the university.
Editorial Offices
Creative Services–MS 95
P.O. Box 1892
Houston, TXHouston, TXHouston, T 77X 77X 251-1892
Fax: 713-348-6751
E-mail: ricemagazine@rice.edu
Postmaster
Send address changes to:
Rice University
Development Services–MS 80
P.O. Box 1892
Houston, TX 77251-1892
©JULY 2009 RICE UNIVERSITY
F O R E W O R D
Sometimes, momentum is everything.
As in, if you don’t keep peddling the bicycle, you will topple
over. Or if you pause to enjoy your lead, you may find your-
self bringing up the rear on the homestretch. Rice has always
had the kind of momentum necessary to carry it into the up-
per echelons of higher education — a momentum that is a
direct result of the high aspirations set forth by the university’s
founding president, Edgar Odell Lovett.
It has been a century since Lovett traveled around the world to develop those aspirations. Lovett
visited great universities in England, Europe and Japan to understand what made an exceptional
institution of higher learning. His journey led to two of Rice’s enduring principles: A great university
must be international in scope, and it must be flexible enough to change with the times and take
advantage of unforeseeable opportunities. Thus, Lovett endowed Rice with the ability to capitalize
on and significantly contribute to the subsequent century’s monumental advancements in computa-
tion, digital communications and nanoscale science and technology well before the basic tenets of
those fields were even conceived.
With that momentum behind us, we will celebrate, in three years, the university’s most impor-
tant birthday yet: its centennial. Preliminary preparations already are under way, and you can read
about them in “The Countdown Begins.” Be sure to read, also, our piece on Melissa Kean, Rice’s
centennial historian.
After assuming Rice’s helm five years ago, President David Leebron charted a fresh set of des-
tinations for Rice with his Vision for the Second Century. While building on Lovett’s original intent
to keep Rice a great undergraduate university, Leebron’s vision expands the scope of Rice’s gradu-
ate education and deepens and broadens the university’s research
mission. Added to the many disciplines in which Rice already ex-
cels are newer fields, such as biosciences and biomedicine and the
study of cultural and religious differences, that will affect, on many
levels, the lives of people around the world.
This issue of Rice Magazine is filled with stories of advance-
ments and discoveries being made by Rice researchers across the
board, from the sciences and engineering to the social sciences,
humanities and professional schools. And read, also, about alumna
Suzanne Deal Booth’s contributions to Rice’s artistic environment; the new university art director,
Molly Hubbard, who will have an active role in bringing more public art to campus; and LouAnn
Risseeuw, the woman responsible for the interior design of Rice buildings. They help create a cam-
pus environment that allows our community to flourish.
Nowhere is the fact that Rice encourages excellence more evident than in its students and
alumni. Students who stand out in this issue are seniors Faheem Ahmed and Anish Patel, who won
the “Oscar Correspondent Contest” sponsored by MTV’s 24-hour college network and the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and wound up hobnobbing with the stars on the red carpet at
the Academy Awards ceremony. Other standouts are the students who created Owl Microfinance,
recognized recently by former President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative University for
their efforts to help the poor help themselves by starting businesses. And last but not least, be sure to
read this issue’s profiles of two very different alums whose work has had far-reaching impacts: Rice
Board of Trustees Chairman James Crownover and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry.
Momentum and a well-charted course have, indeed, carried Rice far, and the achievements and
influence it has realized during the last century are a fitting commemoration to Lovett’s aspirations.
But Rice’s journey is just beginning. The Vision for the Second Century and the Centennial Campaign
provide focus and fuel for our momentum. Enjoy the ride with this issue of Rice Magazine.
Christopher Dow
cloud@rice.edu

The Rice University scientist, along with
two Rice alums — philanthropist John
Doerr and economist Karen Davis —
joined the reclusive novelist, the U2 singer
and a host of others renowned in their
fields when they were elected members of
the prestigious American Academy of Arts
and Sciences.
Halas, Rice’s Stanley C. Moore Professor
in Electrical and Computer Engineering and
professor of chemistry, biochemistry and
bioengineering, is an expert in photon-
ics and plasmonics whose lab deals in
biomedicine, advanced display technology,
solar power and many other applications
that depend on the nanoscale manipulation
of light. Recent breakthroughs have led to
human trials of a novel cancer treatment
and have suggested the possibility of an
invisibility cloak.
She’ll certainly make tracks for
Cambridge, Mass., to be among the
inductees in October. “A friend who is also
a member told me I can’t miss it,” Halas
said. “I’ll never get another chance to see
Kenny Barron, Nelson Mandela and Dustin
Hoffman all in the same place.”
Other marquee names among this year’s
group of 212 new fellows and 19 foreign
honorary members are James Earl Jones,
Marilyn Horne and Emmylou Harris.
Doerr ’73, who earned undergraduate
and master’s degrees in electrical engineer-
ing at Rice, is a venture capitalist with
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers whose
interests as an entrepreneur and philanthro-
pist include innovative green technology,
urban public education, poverty abatement
and the advancement of women as leaders.
He was an early champion of Google and
Amazon, among many other companies.
Doerr, Rice’s commencement speaker
in 2007, and his wife, Ann ’75, recently
donated $15 million through their Beneficus
Foundation to establish the Rice Center for
Engineering Leadership.
Davis ’65, president of the
Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based
health care think tank, is a former assistant
professor of economics at Rice who earned
both her undergraduate and doctoral
degrees here, the latter in 1969.
Before joining the fund, she chaired
the Department of Health Policy and
Management at the Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health, where
she also was a professor of economics.
She was deputy assistant secretary for
health policy in the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services from 1977
to 1980, a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution and a visiting lecturer at
Harvard. In 1991, Rice recognized her
achievements with its Distinguished
Alumni Award.
Davis returned to Rice last year to
speak at the James A. Baker III Institute
for Public Policy’s “Campaign 2008: The
Issues Considered” event on health care
reform.
Halas wasn’t aware she’d been nomi-
nated to join the academy, and she admitted
she didn’t know the particulars of how
her name rose to the top of the list. “But
certainly the area we work in — nanopar-
ticles and light — has become a hot topic
in nanoscience,” she said. “It has really
exploded in the last year or two. I think that
probably played an important part.”
Halas appreciates the challenge of
keeping pace with her peers, especially
since being named an associate editor of
Nano Letters, the most highly cited journal
in nanoscience and nanotechnology. “This
area has absolutely caught on fire across a
bunch of different disciplines because it’s
very useful,” she said. “So I get to enjoy the
burden of the success of this field. There’s
a lot of great new work coming out every
single week.”
—Mike Williams
Move Over Bono — Naomi’s Here
Naomi Halas recently found herself searching Wikipedia to learn
about Thomas Pynchon and delighting in the possibility that, some-
where out there, Bono was Googling her.
“A friend who is also a member told me I can’t miss it.
I’ll never get another chance to see
Kenny Barron, Nelson Mandela and Dustin Hoffman
all in the same place.”
—Naomi Halas
SallyportT H R O U G H T H E
Commonwealth Fund, a New York-based
health care think tank, is a former assistant
professor of economics at Rice who earned
Before joining the fund, she chaired
Bloomberg School of Public Health, where
health policy in the U.S. Department of
to 1980, a senior fellow at the Brookings
speak at the James A. Baker III Institute
for Public Policy’s “Campaign 2008: The
Issues Considered” event on health care
Naomi Halas

4 www.rice.edu/ricemagazine
The gift from the Benificus Foundation, a
private charitable organization set up by
alumni John ’73 and Ann Howland Doerr
’75, will fund the new Rice Center for
Engineering Leadership and raise the bar for
engineering educators nationwide. The cen-
ter’s mission is to broaden Rice engineering
education by incorporating current and
emerging crises facing society and develop-
ing personal leadership skills needed to
solve pressing global problems.
“Our increasingly complex and global
world demands great, ethical engineering
leaders,” Ann Doerr said. “And you can’t
fake integrity.”
“The world’s best engineers are
entrepreneurs and leaders,” added John
Doerr, who was No. 1 this year on Forbes
Magazine’s Midas list of the world’s top 100
tech deal makers. “They’re willing to take
risks. They know innovation matters but
execution is everything. It takes leadership
to change the world.”
Doerr earned undergraduate and
master’s degrees in electrical engineer-
ing from Rice and an MBA from Harvard
University. His interests as an entrepreneur
and philanthropist extend to innovative
green technology, urban public education,
fighting poverty and the advancement of
women as leaders. Ann Doerr, who earned
bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical
engineering at Rice, is an environmental
activist and a trustee of the New York-based
Environmental Defense Fund.
The gift brings the Doerrs’ commitment
to the Centennial Campaign to $22.5 million.
A matching component of their donation
could bring an additional $10 million to the
center. Their other recent donations funded
computational cancer research administered
by the Ken Kennedy Institute for Information
Technology and two endowed chairs, one
named for Kennedy’s parents and currently
held by Professor Krishna Palem and one
held by Professor Keith Cooper.
—Mike Williams
Word is spreading that Rice University
is on the move, and prospective
students are hearing the call. This
year, undergraduate applications
passed the 10,000 mark for the first
time in Rice history and then went on
to officially top 11,000.
Vice President for Enrollment Chris
Muñoz credits Rice’s standing as
one of the best values in educa-
tion for keeping the university as
the top choice for the best students.
“Students know we are taking our
exceptional educational experience
to even higher levels; populating our
campus with great new educational,
residential and recreational build-
ings; and setting our sights on being
one of the best research universities
in the world,” Muñoz said.
Although applications from
residents of Texas, historically Rice’s
strongest constituency, were up 10.5
percent, the most dramatic increases
were from foreign nationals, African-
Americans and non-Texans. The
number of female applicants to Rice
rose 15.2 percent, compared with a
9.8 percent increase for males.
The figures are good news as
Rice prepares to admit its largest
freshman class ever. With two new
residential colleges nearing comple-
tion, the university will have the
capacity to welcome an estimated
900 new undergraduates in 2009, up
from the record 2008 freshman class
of 789.
—Mike Williams
Two Rice University alumni with engineering degrees — he a famed venture
capitalist, she an environmental activist — have given their alma mater $15
million to transform the way engineers are educated.
$15 Million
Gift to
Redesign
Engineering
Education
“Our increasingly complex and global world demands great,
ethical engineering leaders, and you can’t fake integrity.”
Learn more about the Centennial Campaign and
giving to Rice University:
››› www.rice.edu/centennialcampaign
—Ann Doerr
John Doerr
Application Boom

The project follows up on O’Malley’s
pioneering work that utilized robots to map
out how people learn physical tasks. The
study was used to treat stroke victims, but
its ultimate goal was to program robots to
teach in new ways.
With the new NSF grant, O’Malley
and Byrne will spend the next three years
measuring the motions involved in tasks
as mundane as playing paddleball and as
complex as flying a fighter jet. To do that,
having a motion-capture device at hand will
be invaluable. The device is called an ac-
celerometer, but video game fans know it as
a Wiimote, the handheld wand that serves
as a wireless interface between player and
screen.
“It’s the only part of the system we
really need,” said O’Malley, director of
Rice’s Mechatronics and Haptic Interfaces
Laboratory. The researchers will compare
data from the Wiimote to that from a more
expensive Vicon motion capture system to
“see how good the Wii really is.”
“We’re already grabbing motion data
from the Wiimote.” said O’Malley, “Soon,
we’ll be able to measure a range of motion
and then turn it into a mathematical model.”
For the researchers, that’s where the
games really begin. Their plan is to bring
together robotics and virtual reality in a way
that lets people absorb information through
repetition of the motor pathways. Think of
hitting a tennis ball. Learning by trial and
error is fine, but it would be much easier if
a robotic sleeve could tell you exactly where
that hitch in your swing is and gently prod
you to hit the ball correctly.
O’Malley and Byrne’s research into what
they term the “cognitive modeling of human
motor skill acquisition” will focus on three
types of learners. “There are experts, who
learn at a slow, steady pace, but they get
there,” O’Malley said. “There are novices,
who learn at a slow, steady pace, but
sometimes they never get there. And then
there are those who start off awful, but
somewhere in the middle of training they
suddenly ‘get it.’ We’re interested in how
these groups of performers differentiate
and if there are inherent characteristics of
movement and control policies that lead to
expertise.”
Here’s where Byrne’s own expertise
comes in. An associate professor of psychol-
ogy who specializes in computer–human
interaction, he’ll analyze feedback on the
range of motion used in performing a task
and figure out precisely where the most
efficient learning happens.
“I work with the sort of mathematical
computational theory of human perfor-
mance that’s never been extended to the
kind of dense motor activity we want to
study,” said Byrne. “We find that some Wii
games have really good learning properties
we can measure, and there also are some
that people don’t seem to get a lot better at.
I can tell you I’m about as bad at Wii golf
now as I was when I started playing it.”
—Mike Williams
Collecting Data
Is a Wii Bit of Fun
Why are some people fast learners?
Can we teach everybody to be like them? Yes, Wii can.
In a research project recently funded by the National Science Foundation, Rice
professors Marcia O’Malley and Michael Byrne are making use of Nintendo’s
popular Wii video game technology to codify learning systems in ways that
can be used in a range of human endeavors, from sports to surgery.
Read more about engineering at Rice:
››› engr.rice.edu
Discover the research being conducted in psychology:
››› socialsciences.rice.edu
Find out how you can contribute to Rice’s research:
››› www.rice.edu/centennialcampaign
Their plan is to bring together robotics and virtual reality in a way that lets people
absorb information through repetition of the motor pathways.

More than three years in the making, the
image contains some 5 million atoms —
each in precisely the right place — and it
could help scientists find better ways to
both fight viral infections and design new
gene therapies.
The stunning image, which debuted in
the Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, reveals the structure of a type
of protein coat shared by hundreds of
known viruses containing double-stranded
RNA genomes. Painstakingly created from
hundreds of high-energy X-ray diffraction
images, the image paints the clearest picture
yet of the viruses’ genome-encasing shell,
called a “capsid.”
Capsids come into play because viruses
can reproduce themselves only by invading
a host cell and hijacking its biochemical ma-
chinery. But when they invade, viruses need
to seal off their genetic payload to prevent it
from being destroyed by the cell’s protective
mechanisms.
“When these viruses invade cells, the
capsids get taken inside and never com-
pletely break apart,” said lead researcher
Jane Tao, assistant professor of biochemistry
and cell biology at Rice.
Though there are more than 5,000
known viruses, including whole families
that are marked by wide variations in ge-
netic payload and other characteristics, most
of them use either a helical or a spherical
capsid.
team created a precise 3-D image of the
spherical capsid.
Previous studies had shown that spheri-
cal capsids contain dozens of copies of the
capsid protein, or CP, in an interlocking
arrangement. The new research identified
the sphere’s basic building block: a four-
piece arrangement of CP molecules called
a tetramer, which could also be building
blocks for other viruses’ protein coats. By
deciphering both the arrangement and the
basic building block, the research team
hopes to learn more about the capsid-
forming process.
“Because many viruses use this type of
capsid, understanding how it forms could
lead to new approaches for antiviral thera-
pies,” Tao said. “It could also aid researchers
who are trying to create designer viruses
and other tools that can deliver therapeutic
genes into cells.”
The research was supported by the
National Institutes of Health, the USDA,
The Welch Foundation, the Kresge
Science Initiative endowment fund, the
Agouron Foundation and the San Diego
Supercomputer Center.
—Jade Boyd
Learn more:
›››ricemagazine.info/02
Viral Mug Shot
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Rice University’s pre-
cise new image of a virus’s protective coat is seriously undervalued.
In their attempt to precisely map the
spherical variety, Tao and lead author
Junhua Pan, a postdoctoral research associ-
ate at Rice, first had to create a crystalline
form of the capsid that could be X-rayed.
They chose penicillium stoloniferum virus
F, or PsV-F, a virus that infects the fungus
that makes penicillin. Although PsV-F does
not infect humans, it is similar to others
that do. By analyzing the way the X-rays
scattered when they struck the crystals, the
Junhua PanJane Tao
Painstakingly
created from
hundreds of
high-energy
X-ray diffraction
images, the
image paints the
clearest picture
yet of the
viruses’ genome-
encasing
shell, called a
“capsid.”

Unlike most college career centers, which focus on job placement, the CSPD offers
resources that help students far beyond their initial employment by focusing on three
core areas: postgraduate planning, employment research and professional communi-
cation. Tailored to meet the needs of Rice students, the center aims to increase student
understanding of personal strengths, professional
options, pre-employment communication skills,
and knowledge of institutions, organizations and
companies. The focus on education and skill
building has transformed the CSPD from a col-
lection of services based on job placement to a
resource and training center that helps students
understand their interests and values and trans-
late that self-knowledge into sound judgments
about which industries, ﬁelds and graduate pro-
grams to choose.
One of the center’s principal resources is its new Web site, which expands the
reach of the CSPD and provides students a more streamlined, user-friendly resource that
supports their professional development needs. Future versions of the site will include
innovative software for job and internship exploration.
—Jessica Stark
Learn more about the Center for Student Professional Development:
››› www.cspd.rice.edu
Not Your Parents’ Career Services Center
If Rice’s Career Services Center was the chrysalis, then the butterﬂy
istheCenterforStudentProfessionalDevelopment(CSPD),adynamic
and interactive learning center designed to enhance Rice students’
knowledge and skills for long-term professional advancement.
Make a contribution to the
rich archival past of Rice
Universitybyansweringthe
Fondren Library Woodson
Research Center’s call for
materials on the history of
the student experience at
Rice University.
Among the items the center is seeking are
student letters that describe undergradu-
ate and graduate life at Rice — academic
and extracurricular — along with items
such as uniforms, costumes, class rings,
party favors, trophies, photographs and
scrapbooks. It also is soliciting memoirs on
every aspect of the student experience, in-
cluding sports, professors, dorm (and later,
college) life, dances and anything else that
may have helped characterize your time
at Rice. A contribution from Jean Thomas
McCaine ’45 will facilitate the cataloging
of these materials.
To submit collections of letters or other
items, please contact Fondren Library’s
Head of Special Collections Lee Pecht at
713-348-2120 or pecht@rice.edu.
To donate your student memoirs, please
send them to Rice University, Woodson
Research Center–MS 215, P.O. Box 1892,
Houston, TX 77251.
Be sure to include your name, major and
original hometown with your submission,
as well as the dates you attended Rice and
a brief summary of your post-Rice life.
ShareYour
RiceMemories

That’s essentially the finding of a
team of Rice University researchers
who have created hybrid carbon-
nanotube/metal-oxide arrays as
electrode material that may improve
the performance of lithium-ion
batteries.
With battery technology high on the list
of priorities in a world demanding electric
cars and gadgets that last longer between
charges, such innovations are key to the
future. Electrochemical capacitors and fuel
cells also would benefit.
The Rice research team, led by
Pulickel Ajayan, the Benjamin M. and
Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor in
Mechanical Engineering and Materials
Science and professor of chemistry, is
growing nanotubes that look — and act —
like the coaxial conducting lines used in
cables. The coaxial tubes consist of a man-
ganese oxide shell and a highly conductive
nanotube core.
“The nanotube is highly electrically
conducting and also can absorb lithium,
and the manganese oxide has very high
capacity but poor electrical conductivity,”
said Arava Leela Mohana Reddy, a Rice
postdoctoral research associate. “When
you combine them, you get something
interesting.”
That would be the ability to hold a
lot of juice and transmit it efficiently. The
researchers expect the number of charge/
discharge cycles such batteries can handle
will be greatly enhanced, even with a
larger capacity.
“At this point, we’re trying to engineer
and modify the structures to get the best
performance,” said Manikoth Shaijumon,
also a Rice postdoc. The microscopic nano-
tubes, only a few nanometers across, can
be bundled into any number of configura-
tions. Future batteries may be thin and
flexible. “And the whole idea can be trans-
ferred to a large scale as well,” Shaijumon
said. “It is very manufacturable.”
The hybrid nanocables grown in the
Rice-developed process could also elimi-
nate the need for binders — materials used
in current batteries that hold the elements
together but hinder their conductivity.
The project is supported by funding
from the Hartley Family Foundation, and
the findings appear in a paper written
by Reddy, Shaijumon, doctoral student
Sanketh Gowda and Ajayan in the online
version of the American Chemical Society’s
Nano Letters.
—Mike Williams
Batteries GetBatteries Get
a Boost
Need to store electricity more efficiently? Put it behind bars.
BusinessPlanCompetition
Offers a Wealth of Opportunity
Pulickel Ajayan, left, and
Sanketh Gowda
The Rice Business Plan Competition,
which has become the world’s richest
and largest business plan competition,
saw a 45 percent increase in entries for
this year’s event in April.
Forty-two teams were chosen from nearly 340
entries submitted from around the globe. The
teams presented their new technology business
plans to more than 200 venture capital investors,
entrepreneurs and business leaders who served
as judges. At stake was a chance to win a share of
more than $800,000 in cash and prizes.
Thirty-six of the teams contended in four cat-
egories — life sciences, information technology,
energy/clean technology and sustainability — and
the other six competed in the area of social entre-
preneurship, a new category this year.
Carnegie Mellon University’s Dynamics team
won the $325,000 grand prize with a marketing
proposal for interactive credit and debit cards.
The team’s next-generation interactive payment
cards use programmable magnetic stripes to com-
municate dynamic information to the 60 million
1970s-era magnetic stripe readers that process
day-to-day payment card transactions.
“We hope this year’s crop of competitors turn
out to be as successful as last year’s,” said Brad
Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance for
Technology and Entrepreneurship. “Through the
mentoring and networking available at the Rice
Business Plan Competition, nearly 70 percent of
last year’s competitors have gone on to success-
fully launch their companies, raise funding and
build their businesses.”
The Rice Business Plan Competition is
hosted by the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of
Business and the Rice Alliance, which was formed
as a strategic partnership between the George R.
Brown School of Engineering, the Wiess School of
Natural Sciences and the Jones School. FORTUNE
Small Business magazine co-sponsored the com-
petition again this year and featured the winners,
teams and competition in its June 2009 issue and
on CNNMoney.com.
—Mary Lynn Fernau
For a comprehensive list of winners visit:
››› ricemagazine.info/19

Tour, the Chao Professor of Chemistry andTour, the Chao Professor of Chemistry andT
professor of mechanical engineering and
materials science and of computer sci-
ence, covers a lot of beats in the world of
nanoscience at Rice, where he developed
the first nanocar and recently ushered in a
breakthrough in graphene that may make
memory for computers and devices cheap
and plentiful.
His new twist isn’t meant for scientists,
but for scientists-to-be. “SciRave,” developed
through a grant from the National Science
Foundation, aims to work the basics of a
science education into “Guitar Hero” and
“StepMania,” both proven winners in the
world of video games.
Tour, who developed “SciRave” as an
extension of his NanoKids project, wants
“SciRave” (called “SciJam” in its “Guitar
Hero” incarnation) to feed the mind and
body and believes that all work and no
play is not necessarily the best way to teach
material that can be abstract at best.
“Finnish kids are blowing everyone
away, science-wise,” he said. “In Finland,
they alternate 20 minutes of instruction with
20 minutes of play. There’s a lot to be said
for not making a kid who’s bursting with
energy sit in a seat for two hours straight.”
Two sample songs on the “SciRave”
Web site put cellular biology to a funk-
metal track (“All the Pieces”) and a robotic
reading of measurements to a scratch beat
(“SI System”). Tour went to eighth- and
ninth-grade textbooks, reduced each
chapter to about 10 bullet points and gave it
to the composer, who converted the bullet
points into lyrics with music. The repetitive
natures of metal, hip-hop and scratch make
the styles perfect for embedding scientific
concepts in young minds.
The compositions are by Bram Barker, a
1999 graduate of Rice’s Shepherd School of
Music now living and working in Japan, and
Aidin Ashoori, a Martel College sophomore
and biochemistry major who also writes
music for video games. With undergraduate
students Matt Szalkowski, Gustavo Chagoya
Gazcon, Keenan May and Johnny Li han-
dling game programming and Web design,
the costs have been relatively low.
Downloading components for
“StepMania” or “Guitar Hero” from the site
gets users a half-dozen or so songs for the
games, which can be played on a computer
with or without dedicated controllers. All of
the downloads are free.
The big question among Tour’s col-
leagues is, of course, has he tried out the
dance pad? He admitted he has, sort of. “I
watched my son do the dance pad, and he
was very good. I tried it for about five sec-
onds and said, ‘This isn’t possible for me.’”
—Mike Williams
Visit SciRave:
››› www.scirave.com
You wouldn’t expect to hear
the names “James Tour” and
“Guitar Hero” in the same
sentence. Until now.
The much-honored Rice University professor and a team of students have been
working away on a set of songs for the popular video game that mixes a little
science with a lot of shred. And for those who’d rather move their feet than
their fingers, well, Tour’s got something for them, too.
ScienceRocksScienceRocksat Rice
Tour went to eighth- and ninth-grade textbooks, reduced each chapter to about 10 bullet points
and gave it to the composer, who converted the bullet points into lyrics with music.

10 www.rice.edu/ricemagazine101010 www.rice.edu/ricemagazinewww.rice.edu/ricemagazinewww.rice.edu/ricemagazine
the fusiform region is considered to be
associated with sexual motivation and
behavior,” Chen said. “Our results imply that
the chemosensory information from natural
human sexual sweat is encoded more ho-
listically in the brain rather than specifically
for its sexual quality.”
Humans are evolved to respond to
salient socioemotional information, and just
as distinctive neural mechanisms underlie
the processing of emotions in facial and
vocal expressions, so, too, do mechanisms
for human social chemosignals.
The research, co-authored by Chen
and Wen Zhou, graduate student in the
Department of Psychology, was sup-
ported in part by the National Institutes
of Health and published in the Journal of
Neuroscience.
—Franz Brotzen
To find out, Denise Chen, an assistantTo find out, Denise Chen, an assistantT
professor of psychology, used functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to look
at how the brains of female volunteers
processed and encoded the smell of sexual
sweat from men. Nineteen healthy female
subjects inhaled olfactory stimuli from four
sources, one of which was sweat gathered
from sexually aroused males. The study
is the first fMRI study of human social
chemosignals.
The results of the experiment indicated
that the brain recognizes chemosensory
communication, including human sexual
sweat, and that several areas of the brain
are involved in processing the emotional
value of the olfactory information. These
include the right fusiform region, the
right orbitofrontal cortex and the right
hypothalamus.
“With the exception of the hypothala-
mus, neither the orbitofrontal cortex nor
“Our results imply that the
chemosensory information
from natural human sexual
sweat is encoded more
holistically in the brain
rather than specifically for
its sexual quality.”
—Denise Chen
Scientists have long known that animals use scent to
communicate. But how much does the human sense
of smell complement the more powerful senses of
sight and hearing?

“It was incredibly frustrating,” said Ashutosh
Sabharwal, director of Rice University’s
Center for Multimedia Communication
(CMC). So, in 2006, CMC set out to change
that by creating a turnkey, open-source
platform that would let wireless researchers
expand their tech menus. Now, the plat-
form — dubbed WARP — is whetting the
appetites of heavyweights like Nokia, MIT,
Toyota, NASA and Ericsson, and it’s already
being used to test everything from low-cost
wireless Internet in rural India to futuristic
“unwired” spacecraft.
WARP stands for “wireless open-access
research platform,” and physically, WARP
is a collection of circuit boards containing
a powerful processor and all the transmit-
ters and other gadgets needed for high-end
wireless communications. What makes
WARP boards so effective is their flexibility.
When researchers need to test several kinds
of radio transmitters, wireless routers and
network access points, all they need to do is
write programs that cause the WARP boards
to act as those devices.
The concept is starting to pay off. At
Rice, CMC Project Manager Patrick Murphy
— the former CMC doctoral student who
developed the original WARP architecture
— is collaborating with graduate students to
use WARP in proof-of-concept technologies
for “cognitive wireless.” The cognitive wire-
less concept stems from the fact that up to
half of the nation’s finite wireless spectrum
is unused at any given time. Sabharwal
said researchers have talked for years about
designing smart, “cognitive” networks that
can shift frequencies on the fly, opening up
vast, unused amounts of the spectrum for
consumer use.
Motorola is using the system to test
an entirely new low-cost architecture for
wireless Internet in rural India. It’s the sort
of low-profit-margin project that probably
wouldn’t have gotten beyond the drawing
board if not for WARP. Another early adopt-
er, NASA, is using WARP to look for ways
to save weight, cost and complexity in the
wiring systems for future spacecraft. Several
large wireless companies are using WARP
to test schemes for wireless phone networks
that can transfer data up to 100 times faster
than current 3G networks. Toyota is using
WARP to test car-to-car communications
— systems that automotive engineers hope
to use in the future for collision avoidance,
traffic management and more.
Some users are even partially disassem-
bling the boards to add new functions.
“When you put a new technology
into people’s hands, they’ll inevitably find
innovative ways to use it,” Sabharwal said.
“That’s one of the best things about WARP.
It is going to lead to innovations that we
never could have anticipated.”
—Jade Boyd
Learn More:
Wireless at WARP Speed
Nothing kills innovation like having
to reinvent the wheel, and that’s
especially true for electronics
researchers who had to build every
test system completely from scratch
to assess new high-speed wire-
less technologies.
“When you put a new technology into people’s hands,
they’ll inevitably find innovative ways to use it.”
—Ashutosh Sabharwal

research
project at Rice
has brought
scientists to the brink
of comprehending a
long-standing medical
mystery that may
link cardiovascular
disease, osteoporosis
and perhaps even
Alzheimer’s disease.
And for that, we can
thank the rat.
Read the paper in Artery Research:
Rice evolutionary biologist Michael Kohn and his collaborators — Roger
Price of Baylor College of Medicine and Hans-Joachim Pelz of the Julius
Kuehn Institute in Germany — report they have found that common rats
with a genetic mutation have developed a resistance to rat poison, aka
warfarin. That’s good news for the rats, but it comes at a price. The mu-
tation also leaves them susceptible to arterial calcification and, poten-
tially, osteoporosis, and that’s good news for humans.
In the mutated gene, the researchers found what could be the
link that solves the calcification paradox: the puzzling association
between metabolic bone disease and vascular calcification that
has eluded researchers for years. Kohn said a good part of the
answer lies in the vitamin K cycle, which is known to regulate the
coagulation of blood — clotting. It also is suspected of helping
keep calcium out of the body’s vessels and in its bones, which has
particular ramifications for postmeno-
pausal women for whom loss of bone
density is a serious issue.
Warfarin has long served humans as
a medicine called Coumadin, because
it interferes with the vitamin K cycle. In
regulated doses, it thins the blood by
reducing its ability to coagulate, which
helps prevent heart attacks, stroke and
blood clots. In larger doses, it once
excelled as rat poison; rats that ingested
the poison would simply bleed to
death. But the genetic mutation in rats
effectively blocks that interference.
“I have a feeling the mutation predated the introduction of
warfarin,” said Kohn. “But it was rare because it causes side effects.
It’s not an advantageous mutation unless it’s exposed to warfarin.”
Rats without the mutation died, while those with the muta-
tion multiplied. “These rats, in the absence of poison, suffer from
cardiovascular disease, just like we do,” said Kohn, who added that
the kidneys of rats in the study were “calcified to an extent that is
shocking.”
His hope is that the equivalent gene in humans turns out to be
the key to a number of ills.
“As you look at humans, this calcification of arteries is, I sus-
pect, a very important precondition to thrombosis and stroke,” he
said. “So to find such a strong effect astonished us. We had a tough
time publishing the paper because people might have thought it
was too good to be true, that you can explain the effect to such a
degree by looking at just one gene.”
Kohn and his colleagues have begun a study on osteoporosis
in rats that have the mutation, and early results are promising. “The
prediction is the mutant rats have a lower bone density,” he said. “I
think if we complete and confirm that as well, it would be a major
breakthrough. That means one gene — one mutation — explains
the so-called calcification paradox.”
Finally, he noted, Alzheimer’s patients tend to be vitamin
K-deficient, which opens up avenues for further study. “Could there
be one mutation that explains osteoporosis, arteriosclerosis and
Alzheimer’s?” he wondered. “That would be huge.”
—Mike Williams
Michael Kohn

Most of us forgive ourselves the occasional
forgetfulness, but for stroke patients suffering
from aphasia, the inability to find the right
word can be frequent and profound. Tatiana
Schnur wants to know why.
When speaking, a person must select
one word from a competing set of words. A
speaker who wants to mention a specific ani-
mal, for example, has to single out “dog” from
“cat,” “horse” and other similar possibilities.
Schnur, an assistant professor of psychology,
wondered whether a particular part of the
brain is necessary for resolving the competi-
tion for choosing the correct word.
She and her colleagues compared brain
images from 16 healthy volunteers and 12
volunteers who suffer from aphasia, a lan-
guage disorder acquired as a result of stroke.
People who have aphasia frequently experi-
ence difficulty with speech. The study cov-
ered two experiments where people named a
series of images and conflict between words
increased as more images were named. In
the first experiment, healthy speakers’ brain
activations were measured using functional
magnetic resonance imaging. The second
experiment mapped performance deficits to
lesion locations in participants with aphasia.
The researchers found that while two
parts of the brain — the left inferior frontal
gyrus (LIFG) and the left temporal cortex —
respond to increased conflict among words
competing for selection during speech, only
the LIFG is necessary to resolve the competi-
tion for successful word production. The LIFG
includes Broca’s area, which is responsible
for aspects of speech production, language
processing and language comprehension.
It is of particular interest to the researchers
because damage to this area may explain
the hesitant, nonfluent speech exhibited by
those described as Broca’s aphasics.
By looking at direct parallels between the
healthy and aphasic volunteers, Schnur and
colleagues coupled location in the brain with
specific speech processes, and they learned
that the ability of aphasic speakers to resolve
competition that arises in the course of lan-
guage processing does appear to depend on
the integrity of the LIFG.
The study, “Localizing interference dur-
ing naming: Convergent neuroimaging and
neuropsychological evidence for the func-
tion of Broca’s area,” was published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences. It was funded by the National
Institutes of Health.
—Franz Brotzen
Read the study
Ever been frustrated because the word
you’re looking for is eluding you?
WhatIsThatWord...?
Rice Ranks
Third in
Nanotoxicology
Publications
A new study by researchers
at the University of
California at Santa Barbara
(UCSB) finds that Rice
University ranks third
globally in publications
in the growing field of
nanotoxicology.
The study noted that peer-
reviewed research on the
toxicology of nanomaterials has
grown nearly 600 percent since
2000 and that Rice scholars
have authored 23 papers on the
subject. That’s just a handful
of papers fewer than the entire
University of California system
and just two fewer than the
Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The UCSB study made
significant use of the Virtual
Journal of Nanotechnology
Environment, Health and Safety,
or VJ-Nano EHS, published
by the International Council
on Nanotechnology, an
affiliate of the Rice Center for
Biological and Environmental
Nanotechnology. The virtual
journal is the only repository
that attempts to compile
all published research
on the safety, health and
environmental implications of
nanomaterials.
—Jade Boyd
Read the study in the Journal of
Nanoparticle Research:
›››ricemagazine.info/13
Visit ICON’s Virtual Journal of
Nanotechnology Environment,
Health and Safety:
››› icon.rice.edu/
virtualjournal.cfm

Healing an elderly patient’s physical prob-
lems does not automatically improve the
patient’s quality of life.
That’s what Vikas Mittal of Rice’s Jesse H.
Jones Graduate School of Business and co-
researchers at the University of Pittsburgh
learned from a study of residents in two
nonprofit elder-care nursing homes in
western Pennsylvania.
“A lot of people look at the care of
elderly people in terms of clinical outcomes
such as ulcers, depression and pain,” said
Mittal, the J. Hugh Liedtke Professor of
Management. “The conventional think-
ing has been that if you heal the patient’s
physical condition, their quality of life will
automatically improve. We found that this
isn’t always the case. While there is an
overall connection between physical health
and self-reported quality of life, not every
finding was consistent.”
The researchers interviewed the patients
at six-month intervals over a three-year pe-
riod to determine the association between
changes in clinical health factors and the
patients’ perception of their quality of life.
They found that patients with improved
physical conditions didn’t always feel their
quality of life had improved.
The results show the need for incorpo-
rating psychological factors into evaluating
nursing homes and the care they provide
to the elderly, Mittal said. Currently, the
U.S. government mandates the data used
One of the world’s leading in-
terdisciplinary journals on Asia,
Rice University-based positions:
east asia cultures critique, was
unanimously selected as the win-
ner of the 2008 Council of Editors
of Learned Journals (CELJ) award
for Best Special Issue for “War
Capital Trauma.”
to monitor the health and quality of life in
nursing homes, but all measurements are
based on clinical factors. Consequently,
when evaluating nursing homes for their
elderly relatives, people may not be able to
understand the extent to which their loved
ones could have a high quality of life there.
“The system is completely devoid of
psychological factors,” Mittal said. “This is a
very limiting approach because it treats the
elderly person as a set of symptoms and not
as a whole individual.”
The study also suggests racial and
cultural implications for nursing home
patients, but the sample was too small for
valid conclusions. The researchers plan
long-term studies with larger sets of patients
across more nursing homes. What they learn
could prove extremely useful, especially in
culturally diverse states.
“Forty years ago the national focus was
on taking care of children,” Mittal said.
“Now we see more and more people strug-
gling to care for elderly family members.
It is critical for us to better understand the
psychological factors that comprise quality
of life for the elderly, as well as physical
health of these individuals, so that we can
provide them with the best possible care.”
Learn more:
››› www.ricemagazine.info/14
Read the study in The Gerontologist
Healing vs. Quality of Life
“Forty years ago the national focus was on taking care
of children. Now we see more and more people
struggling to care for elderly family members.”
—Vikas Mittal
Journal Takes Top Honors
Edited and founded by Tani Barlow,
director of Rice’s Chao Center for
Asian Studies, the publication also
received the prestigious 2005 Best
New Journal award from CELJ.
The special issue explored the
notions of trauma and memory
in relation to societies in Asia in
recent history. Essays ranged from
discussions of ghosts and politics to
analysis of militarized sexual slavery
during Japanese imperialism. It
also included reflections on surviv-
ing Khmer Rouge extermination
camps in Burma, an examination
of the 1997 Asian finance crisis and
a discussion of fantasies about the
atom bomb contained in the manga
“Akira.”
“I am particularly proud of this
award because ‘War Capital Trauma’
seeks to make a historical and
philosophical contribution to thinking
about our own moment,” said Barlow,
who also serves as the T.T. and W.F.
Chao Professor of Asian Studies. “It
is a great honor to receive the Best
Special Issue award from our peers
and to know that scholars and readers
are claiming a stake in this debate
about politics, capital, suffering and
the future.”
—Jessica Stark
Read the introduction to
“War Capital Trauma”:
For more information about the
Chao Center, visit:
››› chaocenter.rice.edu

BRC à la Cart
When the BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) begins blaz-
ing new biomedical trails in July, faculty, staff and students travel-
ing to the new center from campus will need a trail of their own.
Fortunately, Rice’s Facilities, Engineering and Planning department
anticipated the need and has constructed a 1,000-foot-long path for
that purpose.
For use by pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers of the university’s
small electric service carts, the path originates near Wiess College,
passes through the storm-water detention basin, and runs between
Main Street and the track stadium. Since university carts are not
allowed to cross public thoroughfares, the path ends in a cart
parking lot at the corner of Main Street and University Boulevard.
Pedestrians and bicyclists can then access the BRC via the inter-
section’s pedestrian crosswalk.
Rice University graduate stu-
dents have a new place to call
home with the opening in January
of the Rice Village Apartments,
located on Shakespeare Street,
one block south of the Rice
Village. The four-story residential
building, totaling 119,000 square
feet, features 237 beds in 137
fully furnished units, a bike room
and dedicated shuttle service to
and from the university.
Ryan Moore, manager of networking for
Network Management, put his ingenuity to work
to create this family of tiny Lego owlets, which
were displayed in the second floor conference
room of the Mudd Building.
An Advanced Degree of Living
Owlets
Let Your Mind Fly
It was no mere flight of fancy. To commemorate the December
1903 flight of Orville and Wilbur Wright — and in the “spirit of
intellectual mischief” — anonymous students stealthily mount-
ed an overhead display of paper airplanes in the main foyer of
Anne and Charles Duncan Hall. At least that’s what the note
they left said. The note also encouraged passersby to “take a
moment to appreciate being here,” “take on the knowledge of
the ages” and “feed an intellectual curiosity.” No one has
come forward to claim responsibility for this feat, which,
according to Carolie Allgood, school administrator in
the George R. Brown School of Engineering, “took a
good bit of planning and fishing line.”
OwletsOwletsOwletshen the BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC) begins blaz- Owlets
Anne and Charles Duncan Hall. At least that’s what the note
they left said. The note also encouraged passersby to “take a
moment to appreciate being here,” “take on the knowledge of
the ages” and “feed an intellectual curiosity.” No one has
come forward to claim responsibility for this feat, which,
according to Carolie Allgood, school administrator in
the George R. Brown School of Engineering, “took a
OwletsOwletsOwlets

“Subha’s experience with integrating diversity
into one of the world’s leading financial com-
panies, and Suzanne’s commitment to pro-
tecting visual and cultural heritage around
the world will give our board special insight
into issues that have become increasingly
important as Rice extends its international
reach and interaction,” board Chairman Jim
Crownover ’65 said. “They are wonderful ad-
ditions to our board.”
President David Leebron
said Barry and Deal Booth
have already benefited Rice in
many ways. “Subha’s interna-
tional expertise and network
were a huge help when Sallie
Keller-McNulty and I made our
visit to India in 2007 to meet
with educational, business and
government leaders,” he said.
“Suzanne’s active involvement
with the Rice Art Committee
has helped expose our stu-
dents to all aspects of art, and
she has also helped Rice build
collaborations with Houston’s
art community and museums
through the Suzanne Deal
Booth Collaborative Arts Fund.
(See story on Page 44–45.)
“Both bring expertise and
experience that will contribute richly to the
objectives we’ve set in our Vision for the
Second Century, extending our international
reach and Houston outreach among them.”
Barry earned a master of business and
public management degree and a master of
accounting degree from Rice’s Jesse H. Jones
Graduate School of Business in 1985 before
joining Merrill Lynch in 1989. There, she has
served as a financial adviser and branch
manager in the private client group and cre-
ated the firm’s Multicultural and Diversified
Business Development group, which helped
establish Merrill Lynch as the pre-eminent
wealth-management firm among diverse
and multicultural markets. She then served
as head of Global Diversity and Inclusion for
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., with responsibility
for managing and integrating existing and
new diversity efforts across the corpora-
tion worldwide. In 2005, she was appointed
to her current role as managing director at
Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Barry serves on the board and the
Corporate Circle advisory committee of the
National Council for Research on Women.
She is a Corporate Council member of the
White House Project and a Hidden Brain
Drain Task Force member. She also serves
on the advisory board for Voice, Hyperion’s
imprint for women.
Barry’s awards include the Women’s
Fund of New Jersey Award for Outstanding
Achievement in Banking and Finance, and
she has been inducted into the YWCA of
the city of New York’s Academy of Woman
Achievers. The National Organization for
Women honored her as one of its 2008
Women of Power and Influence. A three-time
cancer survivor, Barry supports and coaches
newly diagnosed patients with coping strate-
gies and work/life balance.
Barry serves on the Jones School’s
Council of Overseers and has been exten-
sively involved with Rice by attending alum-
ni events in the New York area and Jones
School events on campus. She and her hus-
band, Jim ’84, are Rice Associates and estab-
lished the James and Subha Barry Fellowship
in Business to provide financial assistance
to students at the Jones School. One of their
children — Tara — is an undergraduate in
Rice’s class of 2010.
Native Texan Deal Booth graduated cum
laude from Rice in 1977 with a B.A. in art
history. Through the work-study program
at Rice and her later studies at New York
University’s Institute of Fine Arts, where she
received an M.A. degree in art history and
a certificate in art conservation, Deal Booth
benefited from the direct guidance of legend-
ary Houston art collector and philanthropist
Dominique de Menil.
Inspired by de Menil, Deal Booth has
made a career of preserving art and his-
tory. She has worked at such notable insti-
tutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
the Menil Collection and, with a grant from
the Smithsonian Institution, at the Museum
of New Mexico. Her postgraduate fellowship,
funded by the Kress Foundation, took her
to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, where she
restored important 20th-century
paintings. She then moved to
Los Angeles to work at the Getty
Conservation Institute and, later,
as a consultant at the J. Paul
Getty Trust.
Deal Booth and her hus-
band, David, created the Booth
Heritage Foundation, which
provides many cultural activities
and community services, and
founded the Friends of Heritage
Preservation, a nonprofit or-
ganization that responds to
critical preservation needs in
the United States and abroad.
They also established the Booth
Family Rome Prize Fellowship
for Historic Preservation and
Conservation at the American
Academy in Rome. Deal Booth
recently started a publishing
company, Orsini Press, which published
“Venus Rising” by her father, Harry William
Deal.
She serves on boards for the Centre
Pompidou Foundation, the American
Academy in Rome, the Geffen Playhouse,
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the
Institute of Fine Arts at New York University
and the art committee for the University of
Chicago Booth School of Business.
At Rice, in addition to co-chairing the Rice
Art Committee, she serves on the Humanities
Advisory Board and the Art History Advisory
Committee. She has supported lecture series
and museum collaborations and commis-
sioned art pieces, such as the James Turrell
public art installation that will be located by
the Shepherd School of Music. She is a mem-
ber of Rice Associates and the William Marsh
Rice Society.
—B.J. Almond
Subha Viswanathan Barry Suzanne Deal Booth
Barry, Deal Booth Elected Rice Trustees
Rice University alumnae Subha Viswanathan Barry and
Suzanne Deal Booth have been elected to the Rice Board
of Trustees.

18 www.rice.edu/ricemagazinewww.rice.edu/ricemagazine
They are Faheem Ahmed ’09 and Anish Patel ’09, who entered the “Oscar
Correspondent Contest” sponsored by MTV’s 24-hour college network
and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The prize was the
chance to hobnob with the stars on the red carpet while serving as special
mtvUcorrespondentsfortheAcademyAwardsceremony.Alltheyhadtodo
to win was impress film professionals and a huge, video-savvy audience.
The competition called for teams of two student journalists to submit short videosThe competition called for teams of two student journalists to submit short videos
explaining why they would make great correspondents for the 81st Academyexplaining why they would make great correspondents for the 81st Academy
Awards. Ten semifinalist teams were selected, and online voters narrowed the listAwards. Ten semifinalist teams were selected, and online voters narrowed the list
to three and finally selected Ahmed and Patel as the winners.to three and finally selected Ahmed and Patel as the winners.
The duo knew they’d be up against some tough competition, so they pulledThe duo knew they’d be up against some tough competition, so they pulled
out their unconventional wisdom to create a two-minute video essay that brokeout their unconventional wisdom to create a two-minute video essay that broke
the mold of typical contest entries in which hopefuls list reasons they should bethe mold of typical contest entries in which hopefuls list reasons they should be
chosen. Ahmed suited up in a tuxedo, grabbed a microphone and began inter-chosen. Ahmed suited up in a tuxedo, grabbed a microphone and began inter-
viewing other Rice students, who acted as celebrities.viewing other Rice students, who acted as celebrities.
“Most of it was improv,” Ahmed said. “Anish and I would see someone we“Most of it was improv,” Ahmed said. “Anish and I would see someone we
knew on campus, grab them and explain to them quickly what we were doing.knew on campus, grab them and explain to them quickly what we were doing.
Then we’d come up with a celebrity for them to be and go from there. EveryoneThen we’d come up with a celebrity for them to be and go from there. Everyone
was happy to help.”was happy to help.”
The finalists were then asked to do a short follow-up video about people theyThe finalists were then asked to do a short follow-up video about people they
were looking forward to meeting at the Oscars. While the other contestants listedwere looking forward to meeting at the Oscars. While the other contestants listed
celebrity names, the Rice students used a Bollywood-style dance number to showcelebrity names, the Rice students used a Bollywood-style dance number to show
their hopes of meeting the cast of “Slumdog Millionaire,” the Oscar-winning filmtheir hopes of meeting the cast of “Slumdog Millionaire,” the Oscar-winning film
set in Mumbai, India.set in Mumbai, India.
“I can’t wait to ask the directors how they take the written word and turn it“I can’t wait to ask the directors how they take the written word and turn it
into a motion picture,” Ahmed said before leaving for his assignment. “But we’reinto a motion picture,” Ahmed said before leaving for his assignment. “But we’re
also excited to ask actress Freida Pinto if she’s single — you know, get answers toalso excited to ask actress Freida Pinto if she’s single — you know, get answers to
the important questions.” Pinto was lead actress in “Slumdog Millionaire.”the important questions.” Pinto was lead actress in “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Theycame.Theyfilmed.Theyconquered.
FaheemandAnishGotoHollywood

Students
A trip to the 81st Academy Awards might not be a professional mile-
stone for most premed students, but Ahmed and Patel, both members of
the highly selective Rice University/Baylor College of Medicine Medical
Scholars Program, are anything but conventional. Their love for medicine is
matched perhaps only by their love for entertaining others. Actively involved
in Rice Sketch Comedy and the South Asian Society, both students dream
of going to medical school, practicing medicine and then becoming medical
correspondents.
“This experience gave us a glimpse into how the media influences peo-
ple,” Patel said. “We would like to use that influence to help and entertain
people.”
“I don’t know if I’d say it changed my life,” Ahmed said, “but it definitely
impacted my career path.”
Did they accomplish their objective of meeting the cast of “Slumdog
Millionaire”?
Of course.
“Interviewing them was definitely the most memorable part of the night,”
Patel said. “Their story is incredible. Not just the movie, but also the people
who played those characters. It’s probably the biggest transition ever seen at
the Oscars — from the slums of Mumbai to the red carpet of Hollywood.”
“The kids were my favorite because they were the most genuine and
were so excited to be there,” Ahmed said. “Like us, it was their first time on
the red carpet. They reflected a lot of what we were feeling — that happiness
and excitement, that ‘I can’t believe this is happening to me.’”
Ahmed and Patel asked the children to show them some dances, but
unfortunately, that didn’t help them win the affections of Freida Pinto.
“I blurted out, ‘I’m in love with you,’” Ahmed recalled. “But then I turned
to Dev Patel [the film’s male lead] and told him I felt the same way about him.
You know, I had to cover my tracks.”
Among others they got to meet were Danny Boyle, Frank Langella, Danny
Glover, Marisa Tomei, Anthony Hopkins, Queen Latifa and Baz Luhrmann.
They also got to interview Oscar winners in the backstage pressroom and
attend the Governor’s Ball.
“It was exciting to see how it feels to be a celebrity,” Patel said, “but
I definitely want to do something behind the camera. My real passion is
writing.”
“I love everything about the camera,” Ahmed said. “Being in front of
it or behind it, I love it. This experience made me realize I can’t discount
my passion for journalism. Instead, I’ll have to find an
entertaining way to do both that and medicine.”
So, could the duo take to the red carpet as Oscar
hopefuls themselves?
“We definitely would want to keep medicine
as our focus, but who’s to say we won’t incor-
porate that in some way to make something
Academy Award–worthy?” Patel said. “Maybe it’s
not probable. But, then again, it wasn’t probable
that two students from Rice — a small private
school without a journalism program — would
win a contest for student journalists.”
—Jessica Stark
See the winning videos:

Montgomery, a bioengineering major, served
as both an investigator and a test subject in an
experiment to examine how a person’s sense
of direction is impacted by lack of gravity
and whether a simple device can improve the
ability to navigate. The students, mentored by
Scott Wood of the National Space Biomedical
Research Institute, planned details of the ex-
periment while working as interns last summer
at the NASA Johnson Space Center.
“We use our sense of gravity as an anchor
to orient ourselves, but in a microgravity
environment, the sense of down isn’t clear,
and that can cause problems when navigat-
ing around a large space craft like the space
station,” said Wood. “The inner ear plays a
role in detecting your orientation relative
to gravity, so some patients with inner-ear
disorders have similar navigation problems.”
The students tested a belt-like device to
determine if it improved navigation ability.
The wide belt contained a series of equally
spaced pagerlike vibrators that signaled the
direction of the floor to the wearer. The ex-
periment was conducted in an aircraft that
simulates weightlessness, or microgravity,
by going into steep dives. A chair aboard
the aircraft was fixed in a tilted position
that could be rotated and then locked into
any one of 360 degrees. One student served
as the subject, seated in the chair wearing
sound-canceling earphones and virtual-
reality goggles, and the other students ran
the experiment.
During each microgravity period of the
flight, the subject was turned in the chair
to a random position and shown an image
in their goggles of a location in the plane
— cockpit, rear, or left or right side. Using a
hand controller, the subject then indicated
the direction needed to travel to get to that
area of the plane. During the experiment,
the subjects were randomly tested with and
without the belt’s cues.
The students will analyze the results to
Kate Montgomery was both researcher and guinea pig in an experiment to learn if a simple tactile device can improve a person’s sense of direction in a weightless environment.
FindingYourWayWhenYouDon’tWeighaThing
determine if the belt improved a person’s
ability to navigate while in micrograv-
ity. They hope to publish the results of
the study in a scientific journal, but the
immediate benefit of the study will be to
elementary- and middle-school classes in
the students’ hometowns.
“Each of us committed to give pre-
sentations to local schools,” Montgomery
said. “We hope to teach younger students
a little about microgravity and our experi-
ment while showing them that science can
definitely be fun.”
But the belt’s usefulness doesn’t stop
there. It also could be modified for use in
extravehicular activities on the moon — vi-
brators could be programmed to fire in the
direction a crew member needs to go. In
addition, it could become an aid for patients
with neurological disorders experiencing
navigation problems.
The student research was supported by
funds from the National Space Biomedical
Research Institute and the private corpora-
tion Excalibur Almaz and was conducted
through NASA’s Reduced Gravity Student
Flight Opportunities Program.
—Kathy Major
Want an education that is out of this world? Find
out what’s happening in the Rice Department of
Bioengineering:
››› engr.rice.edu/
Discover how Rice’s Centennial Campaign is helping prepare Rice students for the world: ››› www.rice.edu/centennialcampaign
Many people resolved to lose weight this year, but
Kathryn “Kate” Montgomery ’09 and her student col-
leagues from six other universities aspired to be weightless.

“Thursday’s child has far to go,” says the old nursery rhyme, and Kristina
Carrillo-Bucaram ’09 is proof positive. For the founder and administrator
of the Rawfully Organic produce co-op, Thursdays start at 6 a.m. as she
works with area farms to order and pick up organic fruits and vegetables,
sorts them along with produce from a local distributor, sells them to co-
op members from her home in west Houston and then spends the rest of
the day tying up loose ends and preparing for the following Thursday’s
co-op.
Carrillo-Bucaram does it for love. “I have more than 800 people on my mailing list,
and I fill 60 to 90 orders per week,” she said. “I don’t make one dollar off of it, but
I don’t want to say I do it all for nothing because I’ve met the most amazing people
through the co-op — people who have become like family.”
Participants join the co-op for the same reasons she started it in 2008: to enjoy
fresh organic fruits and vegetables without paying retail prices. But for Carrillo-
Bucaram, it was also a way to economically sustain a lifestyle that just may have
saved her life.
While a junior in high school, she began to suffer from crippling dehydration,
migraine headaches and vomiting. Diagnosed with hyperglycemia, she was hospi-
talized numerous times. Carrillo-Bucaram tried overhauling her diet by cutting out
sugar and fruit and opting instead for chemically sweetened foods but found that
her symptoms only grew worse. She lost so much weight that her classmates be-
gan to spread rumors about her “eating disorder,” and she missed so much school
due to hospitalization that she was only one absence away from failing to graduate
— despite being at the head of her class academically.
Then she met a vegetarian at a local health food store. A raw foodist who
ate more than 10 pounds of fruits and veggies a day, he told her about his dietary
lifestyle — known as raw foodism — in which participants eat only uncooked
fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Although Carrillo-Bucaram was skeptical about
the wisdom of a hyperglycemic gorging on fruit, she was desperate to feel better
and decided to give it a try.
“After the first day, I felt okay — no vomiting and no migraines,” she said. She
kept up the diet, eventually incorporating raw vegetables, and a week later realized
that her hyperglycemic symptoms had disappeared completely. Now, almost four
years after going raw, Carrillo-Bucaram hasn’t even had a cold.
Getting enough calories eating raw fruits and vegetables requires huge vol-
umes of produce: An entire head of romaine lettuce contains only about 85 calories
and a large banana about 100 calories. To sustain her raw food diet, Carrillo-
Bucaram bought organic produce in bulk from local health food stores, but she was
still spending upwards of $300 per week on groceries.
When she asked a local organic produce distributor about buying from them
wholesale and learned that their minimum order was 40 cases, she knew it was
time to start thinking big. She gathered 12 foodie friends interested in healthy eat-
ing, and together they split the first order. Word spread, the co-op grew — and the
rest, as they say, is history.
“I still pay for my own food, but I spend about $80 a week max,” Carrillo-
Bucaram said. “There are some weeks when we have so much extra food that
I don’t even have to pay, and we can donate surpluses to the Salvation Army,
fire stations, underprivileged neighborhoods or local churches. It’s so much fun,
and so much good comes out of it. It really is food that loves you back on every
single level.”
—Merin Porter
Raw Deals
For Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram,
helping raw foodists feed the habit
is all in a day’s work.
Getting enough calories eating raw fruits and vegetables requires huge volumes of produce:
An entire head of romaine lettuce contains only about 85 calories and a large banana about 100 calories.
Students

Research by
graduate student
Christy Franco
focuses on using
stem cells to help
stroke victims
recover neurological
function.
Sometimes the Research
Becomes Personal
When Christy Franco learned she’d be doing pioneering re-
search on using stem cells to help stroke victims recover
neurological function, it was the science that drove her enthu-
siasm. But things turned personal when her father suffered a
debilitating stroke soon after the bioengineering doctoral stu-
dent began her work at the Rice Institute of Biosciences and
Bioengineering.
“For several days my father lost the ability to communicate,” she said.
“He couldn’t speak or even write. You could see his frustration. He
wanted to communicate, but he couldn’t.”
Franco and her family were relieved when her father recovered,
but Franco knows that not all stroke victims are so fortunate. Nor
are sufferers of such brain disorders as Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and
Alzheimer’s diseases, and that knowledge now spurs her enthusiasm.
Specialized neural stem cells help make up the body’s central
nervous system during human development. They also can transform
themselves into any type of brain cell and can be used to replace
cells lost to disease or injury.
“Since we know the brain has very limited capacity for self-
renewal and repair after an injury,” Franco said, “the idea is to find
an effective niche to allow neural stem cells to grow and differentiate
in the lab.”
As part of the process, the Dallas native collaborated with
colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine to gather stem cells for
microscopic encapsulation into tiny polymer beads through a unique
emulsion technique. The gelatin-like polymer substance is specially
designed to help regenerate both brain tissue and blood supply. It
is hoped that microencapsulated cells from the niche can be placed
into the damaged brains of stroke patients to provide a source of
neural and vascular cells that may develop and differentiate. The
process could lead to repairing injured tissue and restoring function
in stroke victims or people with other brain diseases.
This summer, Franco flew to the Centre for the Cellular Basis of
Behaviour at King’s College London to share the microencapsulation
technique. It was used there for the first time in trials to inject cells
into the brains of stroke-damaged rats.
“To date, one of the greatest challenges in reconstructing brain
tissue in stroke victims has been to provide structural support to
neural stem cells in a cavity,” said Michel Modo, the Wolfson Lecturer
in Stem Cell Imaging at King’s College London. “What the research
from the Rice team has allowed us to do now is to inject these cells
into this hole with a support structure that potentially could recon-
struct the lost tissue.”
Franco’s research at Rice is supervised by Jennifer West, the
Isabel C. Cameron Professor and chair of the bioengineering depart-
ment. The work is being funded by a three-year, $2.9 million inaugu-
ral Quantum Grant from the National Institutes of Health. Rice and
Baylor researchers are the recipients and head up an international
collaborative effort to push the research.
Franco is happy to be contributing to the research and plans to
continue working in the field after she earns her doctorate. “I really
believe in this work,” she said. “And my dad says he’s waiting for me
to come up with a cure for people who’ve suffered strokes.”
—Dwight Daniels

Clinton Honors Microfinanciers
Small thinking brought a big honor to officers of Owl Microfinance in
February when they were recognized at the Clinton Global Initiative
University for their efforts to help the poor help themselves by start-
ing businesses.
The group began in a bioengineering class taught by Rice 360˚
Director Rebecca Richards-Kortum, where juniors Josh Ozer and
Dillon Eng worked out a training program for microentrepre-
neurs. The students raise money from events, tutoring and private
donations to microfinance projects in Tanzania, the Dominican
Republic, Mexico, China, Cameroon and elsewhere. Along with
vice presidents Tommy Fu ’09 and sophomore Elena White, Ozer
and Eng are working with a Rice alum at a Houston law firm to
incorporate Owl Microfinance, transforming it from a student club
into a nonprofit organization. —Mike Williams
Sandheep Surendran ’00, who now engineers solar
technologies, is one of many recent graduates who
have risen to the challenge by making a gift to the
Rice Annual Fund for Student Life and Learning. After
earning a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Rice,
Surendran worked in the toy and automotive industry
designing products that he later realized were ulti-
mately destined for the landfill. Concerned by the
environmental and social effects of global warming,
he chose to pursue a new path in clean technology.
Today, he provides solar technology expertise as an
independent consultant with Surya Design and also
develops his own solar solutions.
L E A R N M O R E
w w w.rice.edu /centennialchallenge
Sandheep Surendran with stacks of concentrated photovoltaic receivers that he designed
“I want to support an
environment and culture
environment and culture
that I am a product of.”
[ W H Y I G I V E
]
Centennial Challenge to Young Alumni
The officers of Owl Microfinance were honored at the
Clinton Global Initiative University: L–R, standing: Dillon
Eng, Tommy Fu and Elena White ; sitting: Josh Ozer.
See a video of Clinton talking about Owl Microfinance and making the
presentation: ››› ricemagazine.info/05
Students

Definingand
Realizing
B Y D A V I D L E E B R O N
Definingand
Realizing
Defining
Realizing
Definingand
Realizing
and

It
is especially powerful
because the aspirations he
put forth were more ambi-
tious and farsighted than an
institution of Rice’s modest
beginnings and size had any
right to expect. After all, Rice matriculated
a mere 59 students that first year, and they
were taught by a faculty of 10 on a campus
that consisted of four buildings. Lovett saw
more: He saw an institution that would
“aspire to university standing of the highest
grade” and that would “assign no upper limit
to its educational endeavor.”
Rice’s founding Board of Trustees shared
that ambition. They could have purchased
30 acres in downtown Houston on which to
build the institute. Rather, they purchased
nearly 300 acres at what was then the consid-
erable distance of three miles from down-
town. They wanted enough land for growth
for Rice to emerge as a leading university
across a broad spectrum of human endeavor.
Early maps actually included sites for a medi-
cal school and a law school.
Some might have called that hubris. In
the northeast, where I come from, we call it
chutzpah. But there is no doubt that Lovett
and the founders had big plans for Rice and
the courage to take the necessary actions,
and even some risks, to realize them. Lovett
took that courage even further when he
embarked, in 1908, on an arduous nine-
month journey to personally survey leading
academic institutions around the world.
He interviewed university presidents and
professors, recruited eminent faculty and
toured facilities in an effort to distill the best
elements of higher education and apply them
to the new institute. Lovett returned to Texas
from that journey just over 100 years ago.
Two things emerged with clarity from his
voyage: his view that Rice should aspire to
be among the best universities of the world,
and that it should take an international
perspective in formulating its ambitions and
measuring its success. The Rice University
we know and esteem today is, in large part,
a product of that journey of discovery.
Each of my predecessors since President
Lovett has contributed to the further
achievement of his vision. Each seized op-
portunities that the times presented. The sig-
nificance of NASA coming to Houston — and
of John F. Kennedy promising, in his famous
speech in Rice Stadium, a manned landing
on the moon by the end of the 1960s — was,
for example, not lost on President Kenneth
Pitzer, who responded to Kennedy’s gesture
by creating, in 1963, the first university space
science department.
Pitzer also notably increased the breadth
of scholarship and research at Rice. To make
the young institute immediately viable, Lovett
had advocated a concentration on science
and engineering, but he also recognized
the need to later strengthen the arts, which
included the humanities and social sciences.
Under Pitzer’s tenure, Rice further developed
the School of Architecture, the Department
of Art and Art History and the Office of
Continuing Studies — now the Susanne M.
Glasscock School of Continuing Studies.
When we herald the 100th anniversary
of Rice’s opening in three years, we will
remember much more than a single event.
Rather, we celebrate all that has flowed
from the founding accomplishment and
the hard work and sustained vision since
then. These include the launching of suc-
cessful interdisciplinary efforts such as the
Rice Quantum Institute, the Chao Center
for Asian Studies and the Center for the
Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality.
The success of the James A. Baker III
Institute, The Shepherd School of Music
and the Jesse H. Jones School of Business
is testimony to the capacity of Rice to
think boldly and expand the scope of its
endeavor. We have been bold and yet pru-
dent, and that combination has enabled us
to move our great institution forward in
changing and challenging times.
The Rice that people attended 50 years
ago is not the same Rice of 25 years ago or
the Rice of today. The question that demands
our attention as we celebrate our centennial
is what the Rice of 25, 50 or 100 years from
now will be. Will we have continued on our
historic trajectory toward greater scope and
prominence, or will we have paused and,
in so doing, perhaps fallen behind in the
dynamic and highly competitive landscape of
higher education?
Of course, even as we progress and
adapt, there are things about our beloved
Rice than must endure, and it is equally
critical to our success that we recognize and
sustain those. These include, for example,
the extraordinary quality of our students,
our supportive and collegial atmosphere, the
small classes and the access students have
to their professors, the college system, the
beautiful green campus environment and the
sense of student responsibility that we seek
to nurture. These values and characteristics
of Rice are not obstacles to our progress, but
essential elements of it.
We have earned the right to celebrate
Rice and all we have achieved on the occa-
sion of our centennial. But we will celebrate
not merely by looking back, but rather by
taking from that history a sense of confi-
dence and destiny that informs and shapes
a bold future. Four years ago we launched
the Call to Conversation, which produced the
Vision for the Second Century. Over the next
few years, it is the continuing responsibility
of all of us who care deeply about Rice to
continue the process of defining and real-
izing the vision that will not merely carry on
the legacy of our founding, but will take us
to ever greater achievement.
An early and abiding image of Rice University is a
photograph of our first president, Edgar Odell Lovett,
articulating his vision for the university before an
international audience of scientists, scholars and
dignitaries at Rice’s opening ceremony on Oct. 12, 1912.
PresidentF R O M T H E

The chairman of the
Rice Board of Trustees reﬂects
on his past and the university
that has played such a large
role in his life.
By Mike Williams
Unique

Jim Crownover ’65was in the Rice
infirmary suffering
from the flu when he got a lesson that may have been the most last-
ing of his undergraduate days.
“I remember a professor of chemical engineering, Harry Deans,”
said Crownover. “He was young, but he was a bigger-than-life figure,
a real terror. A brilliant guy. He came by the infirmary. I will never
forget that. He just sat there, and we talked — about school and all
sorts of different things. For me, it captured the feeling, which is still
here, of the relationships Rice students have with their professors.”
That incident motivates Crownover to this day. He feels respon-
sible for preserving Rice as a place where those close relationships
can form, because he knows what they’ve meant to him, even as he
guides the university through a period of change and growth.
“I was smart enough to seek people out,” Crownover said recent-
ly as he relaxed with coffee cup in hand in an Allen Center confer-
ence room. “Life is a contact sport — you’ve got to seek people out.
Talk to them. Find out their views. And I learned that here at Rice
because people were so accessible. Even if you didn’t quite know
what you were going to learn, you learned something.”
My simple, simple life
After a career in the contact sport of business consulting, Crownover
came back to Rice, where he’s still learning: He’s even taken a
couple of undergraduate Spanish classes in recent years.
A member of the Rice Board of Trustees since 1999, he replaced
Bill Barnett as chairman in 2005. Recently, he was elected by his
fellow trustees to a second term that will run until 2013, which will
take him through Rice’s Centennial celebration and complete his
service to the board.
Crownover characterizes himself as “a very loyal, steady guy.”
“I have a wife of 32 years, I have a clothier of 32 years, I worked
with McKinsey for 30 years. I went from Rice to Stanford, Stanford to
McKinsey and then back to Rice,” he said. “Welcome to my simple,
simple life.”
Simple? Crownover’s friends would disagree. Armed with an
MBA from Stanford (where his daughter, Mary Corwin Crownover,
now studies architecture), he joined the global management consult-
ing firm McKinsey & Co. in 1968, eventually rose to its board of
directors and also served as co-chairman of McKinsey’s worldwide
energy practice.
In the early years, charged with running the Houston-based
southwest office, Crownover found himself trying to gain a foothold
in an energy industry that, he said, deeply mistrusted outsiders.
Thanks to his perseverance and skill, McKinsey survived and thrived
in Houston while many competitors failed.
“Jim became really important in my life when I persuaded him
to go to Texas,” said his former boss, D. Ronald Daniel, who headed
McKinsey in the 1970s and 1980s. “The office kind of went sideways
until I was able to get Jim there, and then McKinsey in Texas really
took off.”
You’re lucky! This is a good deal!
Crownover was thrilled at the prospect of moving back to Texas, but
not his wife, Molly. “When it looked like we were going to move,
Molly was tearful,” he recalled. But Crownover had an ally in her
parents, native Californians who were stationed in Corpus Christi
during World War II. “They said, ‘You’re lucky! This is a good deal!’
They had a tremendous affection for Texas.”
It didn’t take long for both Jim and Molly to become well known
and respected, in part because of their generous contributions of
time and talents to the Houston community. Crownover has served
on the boards of the United Way, Houston Grand Opera and many
other worthy causes.
“The man has a heart bigger than Texas,” said Anna Babin,
president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Houston, which
named Crownover its Volunteer of the Year — twice. “When Jim
Crownover speaks, it’s after much thought and consideration, and
people listen.”
“Jim is able to help people understand the key role we play and
establish great relationships,” added Anne Neeson, United Way’s
vice president of donor relations. “That’s the basis of his approach
to fundraising.”
Neeson considers Crownover her mentor. “I have this little
card in my desk with something I’ve heard him say often. He says
you’ve got to constantly ask yourself, ‘Am I a valued member of a
team in pursuit of a noble purpose?’ I think about that a lot.”
The Stanford Graduate School of Business also appreciates
Crownover’s extensive input and honored him last year with its
John W. Gardner Volunteer Leadership Award. “He’s just phenome-
nal in what he’s done as a volunteer,” said Robert Joss, the school’s
dean. “Helpful and selfless — he’s a terrific guy. The last three
reunions in a row, his class has set fundraising records. And he’s a
real leader of that class.”
for a Unique Time

This one is too big …
At 6 feet 2 inches tall, with sparkling blue eyes and a big smile,
Crownover projects a warmth that tells you something about how he
thrived for so long in the world of business consulting. In conversa-
tion, he doesn’t shy away from topics that can be controversial. He
prefers to deal with them head-on while keeping the Rice board
focused on the long view.
Those issues include the growth
of the campus and expansion of the
undergraduate student body, financial
challenges caused by the struggling
global economy and its effect on Rice’s
endowment, and discussion of a pos-
sible combination with nearby Baylor
College of Medicine. He expects that
the Rice–Baylor issue alone — still in
discussion between the two institu-
tions as of press time — will keep the
board occupied through many hours of
meetings.
“For some issues, we can form an
ad hoc committee and say, ‘Look, you
study this thing and come back with a
recommendation,’” Crownover said. “This one is too big for that. I
want the entire board to get all the information possible.”
Having Baylor as a member of the Rice family “appears to make
a great deal of strategic sense for the university,” he said, although it
would be a complex undertaking that requires a mixture of vision,
courage and prudence. “There are many issues the board has looked
at, but the most difficult questions are: Can we bring all the neces-
sary participants together, and can we make it work financially?”
People told me I had no chance
Crownover deserves considerable credit for bringing David Leebron to
Rice as its seventh president. He led the search committee for a suc-
cessor to retiring President Malcolm Gillis and was the first from Rice
to meet with Leebron, then dean of Columbia Law School.
“People told me I had no chance,” Crownover recalled. “They said,
‘You’re not going to get him to leave New York.’”
But, as he said, you’ve got to go seek people out.
“I had breakfast with David at the Palace Hotel in New York and
met him at 7:30 or 8,” he recalled. “At 11 o’clock, we parted, and I
don’t think either one of us looked at our watches. Just three hours,
locked in.”
“We really hit it off, and my first impression was that Jim was
very engaging,” said Leebron. “Jim is an incredibly thoughtful, dogged
person. Sometimes when you’re talking on the phone you have to ask,
‘Are you still there?’ Because he’s thinking, listening. He’ll often leave a
meeting and call me five minutes later with a question or another idea
because he’s still thinking about it.”
Crownover had an early ally in his campaign to lure Leebron to
Rice in Y. Ping Sun, Leebron’s wife and now university representative.
“Partway through the process, I’d given him some advice, and
there was a moment when Ping turned to David and said, ‘Trust
Jim,’” he recalled, pleased to have won her confidence. “That was
important.”
“Jim felt from the beginning,” said Leebron, “that the secret to get-
ting me was getting Ping.”
I just dropped off the face of the Earth
Crownover’s own reconnection with Rice took a while, and there was
a note of frustration in his voice when he said he had no contact with
the university for decades, despite his status as a community leader
in Houston. “Literally, I was not contacted by Rice for more than 20
years, other than maybe a letter,” he said. “I just dropped off the face
of the Earth.”
A series of chance meetings with Rice trustees spurred the quest
to get him more involved, and Crownover quickly found out why. He
recalled the wisdom of a Rice financial officer at his board orientation
in 1999. “The very first words out of his mouth were, ‘The big endow-
ment is good news and bad news.’ I said, ‘I think I understand the
good news, but what’s the bad news?’ He said, ‘Rice always felt like
it had a lot of money. It developed in a way that’s very different from
other universities. It didn’t feel the need to be aggressive.’”
Something needed to change, and Crownover came back to Rice
as great change was brewing. There was a new emphasis on fundrais-
ing that has evolved into the current $1 billion Centennial Campaign,
and the board was evolving as well. Among other things, it had grown
from a two-tiered organization with permanent appointees to a larger
board with fixed terms. As an agent of change in the business world,
Crownover was quite comfortable taking on a new set of challenges
— even though he said it sometimes felt “like building a bridge under
traffic.”
McKinsey’s Daniel understands the challenges business profes-
sionals face in an academic environment — he served as one of the
seven board members of the Harvard Corporation and as the univer-
sity’s treasurer and also has been on the boards of Brandeis, Wesleyan
and Rockefeller universities. He said Crownover is uniquely suited to
Jim Crownover addressed an enthusiastic crowd at the campus
Centennial Campaign kick-off celebration. With him, from the left, were
Rice President David Leebron and campaign co-chair Bobby Tudor.

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