rice magazine issue 10

8/6/2019 Rice Magazine Issue 10

1/52

The Magazine of Rice University No. 10 | 20

MUSICAL CONNECTIONSFREEDOM AND FIRE

ON THE WINGS OF SONG

HITTING THE RIGHT NOTE

ALL IN THE FAMILY

BEYOND PERFORMANCE

LETS GO TO MARKET

8| Taxes 9|Musical Bridges 10|Exercise and Memory 12| Survey Results 42|Skysp

The Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra

Freedomand Fire


2/52

Contents

40 Rice film school

6

4 Ah, to be a Freshman 15or Seventeen.

9A commitment tomusic helps bridgethe language gapor Shepherd Schoolaculty in China.

4 I youre putting on apoker ace at work, youmight be harming your

health.

8 Taxes may be anecessary evil, but is it

possible to make themmore equitable andless onerous?

10 Having trouble remembering to get out and exercise?Maybe youre putting the cart before the horse.

10Having supportiveriends is as importantor countries as it isor individuals.

12 Thanks or yourresponses to our

survey. And now, theresults.

5 The latest rankingsname Rice tops in value,quality and reputation.

6When it comes time toheed the call to publicservice, Rice studentsstep up and stand tall.

3 The AmericanAcademy o Artsand Sciences againtaps Rice or a newmember.

11 Observant Servants

47


3/52Rice Magazine No. 10

Students

Features

Students16 Looking for summer internship

possibilities used to be a chore,

no longer, thanks to the enterpr

students who founded wisga.co

17 Tropical memories warm the ShSchool faculty and students who

their talents to audiences throu

the Caribbean.

Arts40 At first glance, it looked like Ric

was empty except for a section

wooden flooring. Then, as if cas

nowhere, faint shadows began

across the walls and floor.

41 Training musicians might be theobvious contribution of the She

School, but studying the way m

affects individuals, society and hculture can be as important as p

42 The new skyspace by celebrateJames Turrell moves one step c

reality.

43 The Shepherd School cello proganything but mellow, and the st

would have it no other way.

Bookshel44 Friendship bread is a type of bre

made from a sourdough starter,

also the title of a new heartwarm

novel by Darien Hsu Gee.

44 A reluctant crusader mobilizes aof her children became extreme

following an ordinary meal.

45 Recounting the struggle to reguenvironmental and economic re

of Sewards Folly.

Sports46 Coach Wayne Graham drives in

record win.

46 When Thor says hes going to finsomething, he finishes it.

47 Baseball another successful for the team.

48 The Rice Swim Team gets its fewith its first league title.

18 Musical Connections

Music connects us not only to other people, but

also to our own histories.

B y D a v i d L e e b r o n

20 Freedom and FireThe Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra isnt

just one o the best student orchestras in the

country; its one o the best, period.

B y C h r i s t o p h e r D o w

24 On the Wings of SongTraining to sing Mozart or Verdi requires more

than just making a good voice sound better.

B y K e l l y K l a a s m e y e r

28 Hitting the Right NoteFrom contemporary classical to electronic music

to soundtracks, the music o Rice composers is

playul, adventurous and challenging.

B y D a v i d T h e i s

30 All in the Family

Is music in the blood? For armation, you needlook no urther than the our Kuchak siblings

currently enrolled at the Shepherd School o Music.

B y L e s l i e C o n t r e r a s S c h w a r t z

34 Beyond PerformanceBringing classical music to the stage takes more

than adept ngers on strings and keys it also

requires knowing your sources.

B y T r a c y W u

36 Lets Go to MarketEvery Tuesday aternoon, the parking lot next to

Rice Stadium comes alive with the sights, sounds

and smells o the Rice University Farmers Market.

B y T r a c e y R h o a d e s

20

24

30


4/522 www.rice.edu/ricemagazine

Rice Magazine

No. 10

Published by theOce o Public Aairs

Linda Thrane, vice president

EditorChristopher Dow

Editorial DirectorTracey Rhoades

Creative DirectorJe Cox

Art DirectorChuck Thurmon

Editorial StaB.J. Almond,staff writerJade Boyd,staff writer

Franz Brotzen,staff writerJenny West Rozelle, assistant editor

David Ruth, staff writerMike Williams,staff writer

PhotographersTommy LaVergne,photographer

Je Fitlow, assistant photographer

The Rice UniversityBoard o Trustees

James W. Crownover, chairman; J.D.Bucky Allshouse; D. Kent Anderson;

Keith T. Anderson; Laura Arnold; SubhViswanathan Barry; Suzanne Deal Boot

Robert T. Brockman; Nancy P. CarlsonT. Jay Collins; Lynn Laverty ElsenhansDouglas Lee Foshee; Susanne MorrisGlasscock; Lawrence Guey; James T.

Hackett; John Jaggers; Larry Kellner; RobR. Maxeld; M. Kenneth Oshman; RalpParks; Jeery O. Rose; Lee H. RosenthaHector de J. Ruiz; L. E. Simmons; CharleSzalkowski; Robert B. Tudor III; James

Turley; Randa Duncan Williams.

Administrative Ofcers

David W. Leebron,president; GeorgeMcLendon,provost; Kathy Collins,

vice president for Finance; KevinKirby, vice president for AdministratioCaroline Levander, vice president fo

Interdisciplinary Initiatives; Ron Loninterim vice president for Investments atreasurer; Chris Muoz, vice president f

Enrollment; Linda Thrane, vice presidefor Public Affairs; Richard A. Zansitis, v

president and general counsel; DarrowZeidenstein, vice president for Resourc

Development.

Rice Magazine is published by the Oco Public Aairs o Rice University and

is sent to university alumni, aculty, stagraduate students, parents o undergrad

ates and riends o the university.

Editorial Ofces

Creative ServicesMS 95P.O. Box 1892

Houston, TX 77251-1892

Fax: 713-348-6757Email: [email protected]

JUNE 2011 RICE UNIVERSITY

ONLINE AT: WWW.ISSUU.COM/RICEUNIVERSITY

F O R E W O R D

2 www.rice.edu/ricemagazine

T H E L A N G U A G E O F M U S I C

The Shepherd School o Music, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year, maybe one o the countrys youngest university music schools, but it also is one o the mostprestigious. The school attracts stellar aculty and an international student body, and it

educates musicians on the undergraduate, graduate and proessional levels who go onto make beautiul music all over the world.

Part o the schools success is due to its top-notch students, who requently win major com-petitions and graduate into the ranks o some o the best orchestras and musical groups.Rice musicians populate much o the Houston Symphony and Bach Society, or example;at a recent all-Ravel weekend hosted by the symphony, about 40 percent o the musicianson stage either studied or taught at the Shepherd School. Other Shepherd School musicianscan be ound in coveted positions in orchestras and opera companies around the globe,including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the San Franciscoand Chicago symphonies, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Orchestre National deFrance, to name but a ew.

The extraordinary success o Shepherd School graduates is a tribute to our phenom-enal aculty members, who embody excellent musicianship, deep musical scholarship andacclaimed teaching skills. Many have been nominated or and won Grammies, Englands

Gramophone Record o the Year and other major music awards. Rice composer Karim Al-Zand, or example, has just been named a member o the American Academy o Arts andLetters and received the Arts and Letters Academy Award in Music.

The Shepherd School connects the university with the world in ways that only musiccan. The schools more than 350 ree concerts and recitals attract more than 75,000 listen-ers each year. Its engagement beyond the hedges can be as close as the Caribbean, where

several Shepherd School musicians were invited aboardthe debut sail o Symphonic Voyages, a ull-immersion,classical-music-themed cruise, or arther away, whereShepherd School aculty are cultivating a relationship withthe Beijing Central Conservatory o Music.

Dedicating their musical abilities to disaster-stricken Japan, Shepherd School students even hosted a benetconcert titled Dear Japan With Love, 2011 that raisedmoney or the Japanese Red Cross in the wake o the

earthquake, tsunami and resulting nuclear crisis. Less visible, but as important, are thenumerous music programs or underserved youth conducted by Shepherd School alumnion almost every continent. And Shepherd School students have been selected or the JohnF. Kennedy Center or the Perorming Arts Conservatory Project eight out o eight years,and the 2011 edition o the Fiske Guide to Colleges recently called the school one o the10 music schools that should be on your radar.

As President David Leebron notes in his column, music speaks in a universal tonguethat is beyond dierences in language and culture and that even speaks across time.Most o all, the beauty, beat and poetry o music draws on some o the best qualitiesthat we share as human beings. I hope you can tap your toe and hum along with thisissue o Rice Magazine.

C O R R E C T I O N

The author o Rices sustainability policy was Phillip Levine, not class members o ENST 302, as incorrectly stated inFocus on Sustainability (Winter 2007).

Christopher Dow

[email protected]


5/52



Like most other incoming Rice resh-

men, Veronica Saron spent ample timeGoogling suggestions o things to bringwith her to college.

Shed hoped to fnd one resource that could

give her the lowdown o what she needed

in her room and or her classes throughout

that crucial frst year. What

she ound, however, was the

opportunity to become that

resource or other students

when she was chosen as

one o only 15 young women

across the country to chronicletheir reshman years through

blogs, pictures and videos or

Seventeen Magazines Fresh-

man 15.

There were a lot o frsts

universal to the college experi-

ence, Saron said, but I ound

that documenting the Rice-

specifc frsts was especially

un frst O-Week, frst oot-

ball game against UT, frst visit

to the Rice Village, frst timeplaying intercollegiate intra-

murals, frst Beer-Bike, Saron

said. The list goes on, and it

was awesome to be able to

document this collection o

frsts on a national level, and

corny as it may sound, its spe-

cial to be able to look back on

those frsts by siting through

the blog.Jessica Stark

A Freshman 15 or Seventeen

Employees who have to maintain a neutral disposition while they are onclock tend to spend more energy to meet that requirement; thereore, have less energy to devote to work tasks, according to new research Rice University, the University o Toronto and Purdue University.

The researchers ound that workers who must avoid appearing either opositive or negative such as journalists, health care proessionals, s

workers, lawyers and law enorcement ocers suppress expressioemotion more than workers in other service-oriented proessions, wherexpression o positive emotions is called or.

Our study shows that emotion suppression takes a toll on people,Daniel Beal, assistant proessor o psychology at Rice and co-author ostudy. It takes energy to suppress emotions, so its not surprising that wers who must remain neutral are oten more rundown or show greater l

o burnout. The more energy you spend controlling your emotions, theenergy you have to devote to the task at hand.Beal and his co-authors, John Trougakos o the University o Toronto

Christine Jackson o Purdue University, ound that employees will genengage in higher levels o suppression in an attempt to adhere to the nedisplay requirement to meet the expectations o their managers or the pu

Another consequence the researchers noticed was that customers whteracted with a neutrally expressive employee were in less-positive moodsin turn, gave lower ratings o service quality and held less-positive attittoward that employees organization. The ndings suggest that even thneutrality in such jobs is required or a number o reasons to maintain to keep a situation calm, to not infuence the actions o others it maresult in a particularly positive reaction rom others.

When an employee is positive, it transers to the client or customer thworking with, Beal said. Because o that good mood, the client or cust

then would rate the organization better. But i an employee is maintainneutral demeanor, you dont have those good eelings transerred. I an orzations goal is to be unbiased, then that may trump any desire the organizhas to be well-liked.

The study, Service Without a Smile: Comparing the ConsequenceNeutral and Positive Display Rules, was published in the Journal o ApPsychology.

Jessic

Read the study:

ricemagazine.ino/82

Poker-Faced Professions TakeToll on Employees

Read a Q&A with Veronica Saron:

ricemagazine.ino/91

Read the article in Seventeen:

ricemagazine.ino/92



SallyporT H R O U G H T H E

BEST VALUE

For the seventh time in the seven

years o its rankings, Princeton Reviewhas named Rice University one o thenations 50 best value private col-leges and universities. It is the only pri-vate university in Texas on the 2011 list.Selection was based on academics,cost o attendance and nancial aid.

With ample scholarship and aidprograms to deray the costs, thePrinceton Review editors wrote intheir prole o Rice, it is no surprisethat Rice is consistently ranked amongthe nations best value colleges.

The editors noted Rices uniquecombination o a top-ranked re-search institution in an intimatecommunity o only 3,500 under-graduates and described studentsas smart, ultratalented and ambi-tious. Rice has world-class en-gineering and science programs,one o the top ve undergraduate

architecture schools and one o thenations most prestigious music pro-grams, they said. The prole alsonotes that the Princeton Review hasranked Rice No. 1 or best quality olie and No. 2 or lots o race/classinteraction.

See the alphabetical list:

ricemagazine.ino/83

EIGHT RICE GRADUATE

PROGRAMS AMONG

NATIONS TOP 20

Eight areas o graduate study at RiceUniversity are ranked among the top20 nationally in U.S. News & WorldReports 2012 edition o Best GraduateSchools. U.S. News bases the rankingson expert opinions about program quali-ty and statistical indicators that measurethe quality o a schools aculty, researchand students.

Rices bioengineering program is in athree-way tie or eighth place.

Rices environmental engineering pro-gram is in a ve-way tie or 16th place.

Rices computer engineering pro-gram is in a three-way tie or 20thplace.

The entrepreneurship program at theJesse H. Jones Graduate School oBusiness is in a ve-way tie or 14thplace.

U.S. News did not rank the sciencedepartments this year, so their rank-ings rom 2010 remain intact. Those inthe top 20 include:

Atomic/molecular/optical specialtyin physics tied or No. 9.

Geophysics and seismologyspecialty in Earth sciences tiedor No. 12.

Programming language specialty incomputer science No. 12.

Computer science program seven-way tie or No. 20.

For more on the rankings, visit:

www.usnews.com

VERY HIGH RESEARCH

ACTIVITY

Rice Universitys status as a high-er education institution with veryhigh research activity and a com-prehensive doctoral program wasreairmed in the recent CarnegieClassiication o Institutions oHigher Education.

O the 108 research universi-ties classiied as having very highresearch activity, only our arein Texas: Rice, Texas A&M, theUniversity o Texas at Austin andthe University o Houston. Rice alsois a member o the Association oAmerican Universities, an organi-zation o the top 63 research insti-tutions in the U.S. and Canada, andranked among the top 20 schools inthe country by U.S. News & WorldReport.

In Carnegies elective categoryor community engagement, Rice

won classiication as a school thathas a substantial commitment tocollaboration between the univer-sity and its home community.

Read the Carnegie report:

ricemagazine.ino/84

Value, Quality,Reputation

With ample scholarship and aid programs toderay the costs, it is no surprise that Rice isconsistently ranked among the nations bestvalue colleges. Princeton Review

Beneath sunny skies Ma

than 250 decorated cars

annual two-hour trek kno

Houston Art Car Parade,

event o its kind in the w

Included was an entry ro

called Centennial Sammy

eatured a vintage 1912

honor o the universitys

anniversary in 2012 and

Sammy the Owl. A squadSegways driven by Rice

students and sta bedec

Buckyball head gear and

T-shirts accompanied the

President David Leebron

hand to help judge the e

participates in several H

area parades each year a

its engagement with its

WheeOut t

Histo



Presidential HonorsOnce again, Rice University has been named to the PresidHigher Education Community Service Honor Roll or engaginstudents, aculty and sta in meaningul service that achimeasurable results in the community. The honor roll recogn

higher education institutions or exemplary, innovative anective community service programs.

The selection was made by the Corporation or NationalCommunity Service (CNCS), a ederal agency that leads PresBarack Obamas national call to service. It is the highest erecognition a university can receive or its commitment to vteering, academic community service and civic engagement.

Rice was among more than 600 colleges and universities renized or their volunteer eorts to impact issues rom literacyneighborhood revitalization to supporting at-risk youth. Honare chosen based on a series o selectionactors including scope and innova-tion o service projects, percentageo student participation in serviceactivities, incentives or service,and the extent to which theschool oers academic service-learning courses.

Service to the Houstoncommunity is an integral parto the undergraduate studentexperience at Rice University,said Mac Griswold, director o RicesCommunity Involvement Center. Thisrecognition honors the commitments o both the institutionits students.

The Community Involvement Center (CIC) was establishthe center or community service programming or Rice stud

aculty and sta. The CIC seeks to establish a culture o seand an ethic o social responsibility within the university munity by developing one-time and ongoing service progadvising student service organizations and serving as a resoor students, aculty and sta interested in community serviceservice-learning. The CIC coordinates a number o oppoties or civic involvement throughout the year, including O-WOutreach Day; Urban Immersion; two airs highlighting cainternship and volunteer opportunities; the International SeProject to Guatemala; and an Alternative Spring Break progra

The CIC is one o three components o the Center or Engagement (CCE), led by Executive Director Kellie Sims BThe CCE identies and cultivates opportunities or Rice studaculty and sta to engage the Houston community and the wthrough scholarship, service and leadership.

The CNCS oversees the annual Presidents Higher EducHonor Roll in collaboration with the Department o Educathe Department o Housing and Urban Development, CamCompact and the American Council on Education.

Jennie

See the complete honor roll: www.myproject.nationalservice.gov/honorroll

Learn more about Rices Community Involvement Center: www.cic.rice.edu

Dedicated to perorming chamber music, Hawley appears regularlyas a chamber musician and recitalist throughout the United States andabroad. At Rice, he will be a part o the Shepherd Schools celebratedorchestral training program. He succeeds Michael Webster, proessoro clarinet, who retired rom a distinguished teaching career at the endo this academic year.

Hawley was appointed principal clarinet o the CincinnatiSymphony Orchestra (CSO) in 1994 at the age o 23, only two yearsater graduating rom the Curtis Institute o Music. He has since en-joyed a rewarding and multiaceted career as an orchestral clarinetist,recitalist, chamber musician, teacher and clinician. He also has servedas the head o the clarinet department at the University o Cincinnati

College-Conservatory o Music, which under his leadership be-came one o the most outstand-ing clarinet schools in the coun-try. During the summer season,Hawley serves on the aculty atthe Music Academy o the West inSanta Barbara, which holds one othe premier summer estivals orexceptionally talented musiciansrom around the world.

As both a perormer and aneducator, Hawley has been the re-cipient o several coveted awards.In 1988, his trio, Trio Con Brio,

won rst prize at the ColemanChamber Music competition. Thatsame year, he was one o ve mu-sicians to receive the Gold Medalas a Presidential Scholar in the Artsrom Ronald Reagan in a ceremo-

ny at the White House. He has received the Lni F Bland FoundationCareer Grant twice, and he was awarded the 2009 Glover Awardor Outstanding Teacher o the Year at the University o CincinnatiCollege-Conservatory o Musics convocation ceremony.

Hawley began his clarinet studies with Yehuda Gilad at theColburn School o Perorming Arts at age 9. He made his orches-tral solo debut at age 13, perorming Weber with the Los AngelesPhilharmonic as the winner o its student stars competition. At age 14,he perormed Rossinis Introduction, Theme and Variations at oneo the New York Philharmonics young persons subscription concertsas a winner o the Philharmonics national talent search competition.

While a student o Donald Montanaro at the Curtis Institute o Music,Hawley appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Hawleygraduated rom Curtis in 1992.

Hawley is married to Shepherd alumna Maureen Nelson 04, whois a member o the Enso Quartet, which was the schools residentgraduate string quartet rom 2002 to 2004.

Jessica Stark

Critically Acclaimed ClarinetistJoins Rice University FacultyThe trademark velvety, sonorous tone that clarinetist RichieHawley draws rom his instrument will become a eature atRice this all when the critically acclaimed musician joins the

Shepherd School o Music aculty.




Both a materials scientist and a mechanical engineer, Thomas hasspent the past 22 years on the MIT aculty. MITs School o Engineeringand Department o Materials Science and Engineering have beenranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report all 22 years.

As MITs Morris Cohen Proessor o Materials Science andEngineering since 1989, Thomas has worked with electrical engi-neers and physicists on photonics and nanostructure abrication andhas collaborated with synthetic polymer chemists, chemical engi-neers and mechanical engineers.

In 2002, he ounded MITs Institute or Soldier Nanotechnologies(ISN), which has received more than $11 million in annual und-ing and involves some 60 aculty members rom 12 departments.Thomas said research at the ISN benets servicemen and womenthrough the development o lightweight gear that can help reducethe loads in their backpacks, creating a device that can remotelysni or TNT so that humans dont have to risk their lives gettingclose to bombs, and other technologies.

Co-author o the textbook The Structure o Materials, Thomassaid hes also a an o practical engineering and has 14 patents, threeo which are licensed to a company he co-ounded OmniGuide

that specializes in revolutionary minimally invasive CO2 surgery.A perect mirror discovered by Thomas and one o his students isemployed in fexible, hollow-core photonic bers or laser surgicalapplications or endoscopic procedures.

His research in polymeric materials is well-known and re-spected worldwide. Thomas served as director o MITs Program inPolymer Science and Technology and as deputy director o the MITMicrophotonics Center prior to being named head o the Departmento Materials Science and Engineering in 2006.

Coming rom a department with a research budget o $35 mil-lion, 32 aculty members, 225 graduate students, 140 undergraduates

and 83 postdocs, Thomas said that Rices School o Engineerithe right size.

Ill be able to remember the names and aces o everyonthe aculty, he said. Like scouts in sports who can spot players talent, Thomas said he has a good gene or nding talented peIve been successul at helping people who are really good get better, get promoted and get tenure. He also views himsel catalyst and likes to give young aculty really hard problemssaid. The harder the problem, the more interested they are. that actors into why engineering is central to society.

In addition to his role as dean, Thomas will be the WilliamStephanie Sick Chair and a proessor in both the DepartmeMechanical Engineering and Materials Science and the Departo Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Prior to joining the aculty at MIT, Thomas served on the chcal engineering aculty at the University o Minnesota and thechair o the Polymer Science and Engineering Department aUniversity o Massachusetts. In 2009, he was elected to bothNational Academy o Engineering and the American Academ

Arts and Sciences. He has a B.S. in mechanical engineering andgineering science rom the University o Massachusetts and a Pin materials science rom Cornell University.

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Thomas said he will remRed Sox an ater he moves to Houston. He and his wie o 40 yDee, have three daughters and three grandsons.

Thomas will succeed Sidney Burrus, who has served as indean o engineering since Sept. 1, 2010. Burrus also served as Rdean o engineering rom 1998 to 2005. He will remain on the aas the Maxeld and Oshman Proessor Emeritus o ElectricalComputer Engineering.

B.J. A

Edwin Ned Thomas, the chair o the countrys No. 1-ranked Department o MaterialsScience and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute o Technology (MIT), willbecome dean o Rice Universitys George R. Brown School o Engineering July 1.

MITs Head of Materials Science andEngineering Named Dean of Engineering

Ive been successful at helpingpeople who are really good get evenbetter, get promoted and get tenure.

Edwin Thomas


10/52

Taxes may be a necessary evil, but is it possible to make themmore equitable and less onerous? It is, say John Diamond, ad-junct assistant proessor o economics and the James A. Baker IIIInstitutes Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Fellow in PublicFinance, and George Zodrow, the Allyn R. and Gladys M. Cline Chairo Economics and a Rice Scholar in the Baker Institutes Tax andExpenditure Policy Program.

In a new report, Fundamental Tax Reorm: Then and Now, thetwo distinguished economists examine the conditions that led to thepassage o the Tax Reorm Act o 1986 (TRA86), the last major eortto update the U.S. income tax system. They compare those circum-stances to todays environment and conclude that the conditions areright or another sweeping reorm o the tax system. The report thendescribes the researchers views o the general contours that unda-

mental individual and corporate tax reorm should take.Diamond, who is also the orum editor or the National Tax

Journal, and Zodrow, who is also an international research ellowat Oxord Universitys Centre or Business Taxation and editor o theNational Tax Journal, maintain that political conditions in 1986 inmany ways resemble the current environment. In particular, 1986 wascharacterized by a highly partisan atmosphere with each partycontrolling one house o Congress and each seeking political advan-tage or the coming battle or the White House that had mostpundits predicting legislative gridlock.

The report notes the widespread disgust with the income taxsystem that characterized conditions in 1986, including:

the prevalence of tax shelters that enabled wealthy taxpayers toescape much o their tax liability.

high tax rates that hampered economic growth by discouraginglabor supply, saving and investment. distortions of consumption, saving and investment deci-

sions caused by dierential tax treatment o similar economicactivities.

a tax code that was hopelessly complex, resulting in high com-pliance and administrative costs and a pervasive sense that thetax system was undamentally unair as only those knowledge-able enough and willing to game the tax system were able tosignicantly reduce their tax burdens.

Those concerns, Diamond and Zodrow wrote, were sucimportant to win the day or undamental tax reorm 25 yearsin an impressive display o bipartisanship, and the current envment oers similar possibilities. President Barack Obama is looor causes that have appeal to members o Congress on both sidthe aisle, and comprehensive tax reorm could attract both Demoand Republicans.

Diamond and Zodrow point to ve criteria that any tax haul should include. Specically, undamental tax reorm shourevenue-neutral, equitable, simple, ecient and create a avorabl

vironment or oreign investment. It also should reduce or elimmany tax credits, deductions and exemptions, use the resultingenue to reduce rates in a revenue and distributionally neutral maand consolidate and simpliy any remaining tax preerences.

Among the many sensitive issues or individual taxpayers

the authors address are the home mortgage interest deduction,on deductions or employer-provided health insurance, deducor state and local taxes and bonds, and the deduction or charcontributions.

For business taxes, Diamond and Zodrow propose eliminas many tax preerences as politically easible and using the reing revenues to lower the corporate tax rate and ollow the geprinciples underlying the 1986 legislation. Their goal is to recostly distortions o economic decisions and thus promote econgrowth and economic eciency in resource allocation, simpliadministration and compliance, reduce incentives or tax evasiontax avoidance, including incentives or income shiting abroad bymultinationals, and create a airer tax system. The Baker Insbusiness tax proposal also would be a traditional base-broaderate-reducing reorm plan. Among the business deductions sin

out or elimination are accelerated depreciation allowances, thecial deduction or U.S. manuacturing activities and various induspecic tax preerences.

Franz B

Read the report:

ricemagazine.ino/86

View a video interview with Diamond and Zodrow:

ricemagazine.ino/87

President Barack Obamais looking or causes thathave appeal to memberso Congress on both sideso the aisle, and compre-

hensive tax reorm couldattract both Democratsand Republicans.

Is the Time Right for Comprehensive Income Tax Reform





Such was the case in November when Yekovich sat in the Beijing CentralConservatory o Music (BCCM) concert hall.

Joined by only three others in the audience,he listened as teenagers rom the conserva-torys middle school perormed both Chinesefute and erhu, a traditional two-stringed in-strument, alongside violins and cellos.

In technical terms, the students play-ing the Western European instruments were

very, very good, Yekovich said. But thevirtuosity o the students who perormed ontraditional Chinese instruments was stun-ning. The musicality and musical under-standing among them all was proound.

While it may be a bit beore Yekovichdecides to implement an erhu program at theShepherd School, his visit to China was not

without results. He accompanied KathleenWinkler, a violin proessor at the ShepherdSchool, to meet Beijing Conservatory pro-essors Tong Weidong, who runs the stringdepartment at BCCM, and Xing Weikai,

who works in the middle school. The twoChinese proessors recently visited Rice toobserve both teaching and perormance atthe Shepherd School. In a sign o reciproc-ity and a desire to cultivate the relationship,

Yekovich decided to spend a week withthem at their school.

There, Yekovich had the chance to listento multiple concerts and observe a numbero masters-level classes. In addition, at the

middle school, Yekovich led a compositionclass among the students. Despite the lan-guage barriers Yekovich does not speakChinese, and only one o the Chinese stu-dents spoke English the students quicklytook to Yekovichs teaching.

That day, I was essentially the guest cli-nician, he said. The class went very well,and I could tell they comprehended andully digested everything I was saying.

Yekovich was aided by Winkler, whose

work helped ignite the budding relation-ship between the Shepherd School andthe BCCM. Since attending the BeijingInternational Music Festival and Academyve years ago, Winkler has taken a handulo trips to China each year. Not only did shecontinue the relationship with the conserva-tory, but Winkler occasionally took ShepherdSchool students along to both study and per-orm. However, the majority o her trips have

been ocused on working with the Chstudents, who range in age rom 12 toand urthering their skills and helping progress in their education.

Each trip is dierent because I intwith dierent students every time, she One o the most enjoyable things is ling about the students, their commitmemusic and their seriousness o purpose

While the next steps in building thlationship are pending, Yekovich mentithat Weikai and Weidong may return toShepherd School in the near uture and

additional Shepherd School aculty soon travel to China on similar educatexcursions. A ew hurdles nancial-language-based remain beore anchange o students occurs. But even i

students dont travel overseas, their prsors will be bringing back all that theyrom their journeys.

Making inroads in China is not but the middle school has really embrus, and were deeply appreciative o t

Winkler said. We have a wonderul rapand were very anxious to build on that

Casey

From hosting virtuoso proessionals to turning prodigies into prodigious talents,Robert Yekovich has been exposed to the best the musical world has to oer. Soit is a rarity when Yekovich, the Elma Schneider Proessor o Music and deano the Shepherd School o Music, encounters a moment in which anyone, stu-dent or otherwise, evokes rom an instrument a sound unlike any hes ever heard.

Shepherd SchoolCultivates Relationship With

Chinese Conservatory

Each trip is dierent because I interact widierent students every time. One o the moenjoyable things is learning about the studentheir commitment to music and their serioness o purpose.

Kathleen Winkler



The study is considered the rst o its kindto ocus on older adults who are already ex-periencing atrophy o the hippocampus, thebrain structure involved in all orms o mem-ory ormation. The researchers recruitedmore than 120 sedentary older people with-out dementia and randomly placed them inone o two groups those who began an

Having supportive riends is as important or countries asit is or individuals. Thats the message rom a new study,Deense Pacts: A Prescription or Peace?, co-authoredby Rice University Associate Proessor o PoliticalScience Brett Ashley Leeds and Jesse Johnson 09,a ormer Rice graduate student in political science.

Leeds and Johnson exhaustively analyzed deense agreementsaround the world rom 1816 to 2001. We were interested in ana-

lyzing policy prescriptions that leaders o countries can adopt thatmight make war and also militarized conficts short o war less likely, Leeds said. War is costly, most importantly in termso lives lost, but also in terms o nancial resources, destructiono productive capacity and inrastructure, and disruption o trade.

As a result, research aimed at discovering policies that can preventwar is valuable.

The researchers ound that countries that enter into deensepacts with other nations are less likely to be attacked, and whatsmore, those countries are not more likely to attack others.

Leeds believes that this research has current policy relevor the United States and other countries. A current policy deor instance, is whether Georgia should be accepted as a new mber o the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Leeds I Georgia joins NATO, the U.S. and other NATO countries wcommitting to assist Georgia i Georgia is attacked by another

Russia, or instance. While some analysts believe that havicommitment o assistance rom the U.S. could encourage Geto behave aggressively toward Russia, making war more likelystudy suggests that this is not the most common general patter

act, a deensive commitment to Georgia should, according tostudy, make war between Russia and Georgia less likely.

The study was published in the journal Foreign Policy Anaand the National Science Foundation and Rice University uthe research.

Davi

Read the study:

ricemagazine.ino/89

exercise regimen o walking around a trackor 40 minutes a day, three days a week,and those limited to stretching and toningexercises. Magnetic resonance images werecollected beore the intervention, ater sixmonths and at the end o the one-year study.

The aerobic exercise group demon-strated an increase in volume o the let and

right hippocampus o 2.12 percent andpercent, respectively. The same regionthe brain in those who did stretching cises decreased in volume by 1.40 andpercent, respectively.

Spatial memory tests were conduor all participants at the three interThose in the aerobic exercise gshowed improved memory unction w

measured against their perormance astart o the study. This improvement associated with the increased size ohippocampus. The authors also examseveral biomarkers associated with bhealth, including brain-derived netrophic actor (BDNF), a small molethat is involved in learning and memThey ound that the increases in hicampal size were associated with increamounts o BDNF.

A moderate exercise regimen mayonly improve physical health in the elby reducing the risk o diabetes, oband high cholesterol, said Chandrama

Basak, assistant proessor o psycholoRice and co-author o the study. It can improve cognitive abilities, sucmemory.

The study was unded throughNational Institute on Aging and was lished in the Jan. 31 Proceedings oNational Academy o Sciences.

Sharon

Read the paper:

ricemagazine.ino/88

Exercise and MemoryHaving trouble remembering to get out and exercise? Maybe youre putting

the cart beore the horse. A new study conducted by researchers at RiceUniversity, the University o Pittsburgh, the University o Illinois and OhioState University shows that one year o moderate physical exercise can leadto an improvement in spatial memory.

Defensive Military Alliances: Precursors to Peace


13/52

BuildingBridges

Last year, the American Soo Civil Engineers reported thmany as one in our o the natbridges is structurally decieunctionally obsolete, requrepairs or replacement.

Thats where Rices JPadgett comes in. The assi

proessor o civil and envmental engineering believesa new approach is required thance bridge saety.

The inrastructure plem isnt easily solved, Pasaid. Most o the bridgesmore than 40 years old andexposed to a number o thranging rom natural hazardincreased trac loads. Ourproach involves risk assessand lie-cycle modeling that t

into account such actors asergy usage, lie-cycle costspotential downtime o structThe method will provide a newproach or decision-makers toin selecting upgrades or debridges so that saety and susability are improved.

ObservantServants

Our smart phones are not servingus very well, said Lin Zhong, as-sistant proessor o electrical andcomputer engineering and o com-puter science. Most o the time,they wait or us to wake them andpunch some keys. They shouldbe awake all the time, ollow our

moves, know what kind o moodwere in and be ready to help evenbeore we ask.

Smart phones could do this ithey stay in touch with their sens-es: cameras, microphones, ac-celerometers, touch screens andGPS, but these tasks currently ac-cess a powerul central processor,which can quickly drain batteries.

Enter the multicore micropro-cessor. We envision chips withhigh-power central processor

cores alongside ultralow-powercores that could be used or simplethings like sensor-data process-ing, Zhong said. That way, aphone could sense the physicalworld all the time and only wakethe central processor when some-thing interesting happens.

IntracellularCommunications

Inside a living cell, thousands oproteins mingle and exchangesignals that ultimately result in keyactivities like infammation, cellgrowth or cell death. But impor-tant signals that lead to key down-stream activities are sometimespassed in feeting whispers that

are easy to miss.Some o these brie and

leeting signals play key roles inhuman disease, and AssistantProessor o Chemistry ZacharyBall is attempting to create newtools that will enable researc h-ers to see and understandthe leeting interactions. Heand Brian Popp, the J. EvansAttwell Welch PostdoctoralResearch Associate, haveshown that they could evoke

similar reactions with certainsynthetic enzymes, and theirtechnique also works or anaturally occurring protein thatreceives signals, regulates cellgrowth and death and is impli-cated in cancer progression.

HealingLittle Hearts

Discovering the causes o con-genital heart disease and heartdeects and developing tissue-engineering therapies using stemcells derived rom human amnioticfuid is the goal o Jerey Jacot, anassistant proessor o bioengineer-ing at Rice University, an adjunct

proessor at Baylor College oMedicine (BCM) and director o thePediatric Cardiac BioengineeringLaboratory at the Congenital HeartSurgery Service at Texas ChildrensHospital.

Jacot studies the interplay ocardiac muscle by examining itscellular components, their micro-environment and how they unc-tion collectively to contract andpropel blood. He hopes to estab-lish a therapeutically easible stem

cell source and understand how tocontrol the growth o new cardiactissue.

Because the stem cells romamniotic fuid are geneticallymatched to an inant, he said,that gets around a huge numbero issues and makes the techniqueextremely promising.

Rice Magazine No. 10 20


National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Developme(CAREER) Awards support the research and educational development young scholars expected to become leaders in their elds. With on

about 400 per year given out across all disciplines, the grants are amonthe most competitive NSF awards, and so ar this year, our are rom Ric

Jade Boyd and Shawn Hu

CAREER Achievements


14/52


15/52Rice Magazine No. 10 20


T. Jay Collins 68 is serving his rst term onthe board. Collins was, until this past spring,president and CEO o Oceaneering InternationalInc., which serves the oshore oil and gas anddeense and aerospace industries. He joinedOceaneering in 1993 as senior vice president,was named president and chie operating ocerin 1998 and was appointed CEO o the companyin 2006. He has bachelors and masters degreesin chemical engineering rom Rice and an MBArom Harvard Business School (1972). He is chair-man o the Council o Overseers o Rices Jesse

H. Jones Graduate School o Business, ormerpresident o the Jones Partners and serves on theboards o several companies and associations.

Lynn Laverty Elsenhans 78, chairman, presi-dent and chie executive ocer o Sunoco, hasserved two previous terms on the board and, a-ter taking a year o as required by the boards by-laws, was re-elected to a third term. Elsenhansjoined Sunoco as its CEO and president in 2008and was named chairman o the board in 2009.In addition to overseeing one o the largest inde-pendent oil reners in the U.S., she also serves

as chairman o Sunoco Partners LLC. Elsenhanswas previously executive vice president o globalmanuacturing at Shell Oil Co. In 2009, she wasNo. 10 on Forbes list o the 100 most powerulwomen. She previously served on the Rice boardrom 2002 to 2010. She has a B.A. in mathemati-cal sciences rom Rice and an MBA rom Harvard.

Six Trustees ElectedSix prominent leaders in the business world have been

elected to the Rice University Board o Trustees.

Ralph Parks 66, chairman o the Hong oce and senior adviser at Oaktree CaManagement L.P., is serving his rst terthe board. Parks joined Oaktree Capital Magement in 2007 and has been responsibdeveloping investment opportunities and bing closer relationships with governmregulators and companies across the Pacic region. He has held senior managepositions in the Asia Pacic region, Europethe United States and was chairman andat J.P. Morgan Asia Pacic beore worki

Oaktree. Parks has a B.A. in history rom and an MBA rom Columbia University Grate School o Business.

James Turley 77, global chairman and executive ocer o Ernst & Young, has re-elected or his second term on the bTurley leads one o the worlds largest prosional services organizations that provassurance, tax, transaction and advisorypertise. His career with Ernst & Young bin 1977 as an auditor in the rms Houoce. He became chairman and CEO in 2

Now based in New York and London, Tserves as senior advisory partner or mathe rms largest global clients. He serverst term on Rices board rom 2007 to 2He has a B.A. in economics and a masteraccounting rom Rice.

Lawrence Guey 90, a senior managingdirector in the Private Equity group at theBlackstone Group, is serving his irst termon the board. Guey joined the BlackstoneGroup in 1991. Based in London, he leadsall media- and communications-relatedinvestments or one o the worlds topinvestment and advisory irms and man-ages Blackstone Communications Advi-sors. Prior to Blackstone, Guey worked inthe Acquisitions Group at Trammell CrowVentures, the principal investment arm o

Trammell Crow Co. He has a B.A. in mana-gerial studies and English rom Rice.

John Jaggers 73, a general partner atthe Dallas headquarters o Sevin RosenFunds, is serving his irst term on theboard. Jaggers has inancial, legal andadministrative responsibilities at SevinRosen. This top-tier venture capital irmhelps build businesses that transormhigh-technology markets, produce excep-tionally high returns and continue to pros-per long ater the startup phase. Jaggers

joined the irm in 1988 and was originallyocused on sotware and inormation tech-nology companies. Prior to Sevin Rosen,Jaggers was a venture capitalist at RotanMosle Inc. He has a B.A. and an M.E.E.in electrical engineering rom Rice and anMBA rom Harvard.

to the Rice Board


16/5214 rice.edu/ricemagazine14 www.rice.edu/ricemagazine

The 2010 edition o the Princeton Reviews The Best 371 Collegranked Rice No. 1 or best quality o lie and No. 8 or happistudents.

Goal 8: We must become an international universitwith a signifcant orientation toward Asia and LatAmerica.

Rice programs developed under the V2C engage researchers inlarge number o initiatives worldwide, particularly in Asia and La

America.On the Latin American ront, the James A. Baker III Institu

or Public Policys Latin American Initiative osters a better uderstanding o the cultures, economies, histories and conteporary aairs o past and present Latin America. The initiativetwo main programs the Americas Project and the U.S.MexiBorder Program bring together leaders rom government, tprivate sector, academia and civil society to exchange views opressing issues conronting the region. Also signicant is t

Baker Institutes initiative to improve Brazils petroleum prodution inrastructure. Another important development is the establishment o

Chao Center or Asian Studies, which oers undergraduate agraduate students the opportunity to study Asia rom a variety interrelated perspectives: local, regional, national, transnationand global. The center coordinates Rices Asian Studies major aconnects students with study abroad opportunities.

Undergraduates also get a taste o the world through intnational study opportunities and a head start in their careethanks to their global experiences and perspective. Rice now omore than 500 international study opportunities in 74 countrimany o those in Asia and Latin America, and the Leadership RiSummer Mentorship Experience oers student internships in a vriety o locales.

In act, several o Rices high-prole programs regularly sestudents to Latin American and Asian countries. This last springroups o architecture undergraduates and graduate students vited Mexico City, and another group o graduate students wentChina. Shepherd School o Music students and aculty also are the go in Latin America and China, some touring the Caribbeand others creating a cooperative program with the Beijing CentConservatory o Music.

Rice student impact on the global scene has not gone unnoticLast year, the Clinton Global Initiative recognized our studen

VisionCheckupB Y C H R I S T O P H E R D O

A V2C Progress Report Part 3

As we continue our series highlighting achievements that have occurred aRice under President David Leebrons Vision or the Second Century (V2C)

we look at the increase in the student population, some o the acilitieand services that create dynamism and vibrancy on campus, and ways i

which the university is growing in scope and engagement with the world

Goal 7: We must increase the size o the university toattract the very best students and researchers romaround the globe.

Rice has made its renowned undergraduate education available to30 percent more students over the past our years and, in a couplemore, will have 3,800 students enrolled. The graduate student bodynow totals 2,275. And as enrollment grows, so do the diversity andtalent o the Rice student body. Both add to the educational experi-ence and prepare our students or the diverse, globalized worldthey will encounter in their proessional lives.

Eorts to increase enrollment have met with enthusiasm amongprospective students rom the United States and around the world,and this past year saw record numbers o applicants: more than13,800 or admission to the Class o 2015. That includes impressiveincreases in applications rom oreign nationals, Arican-Americansand non-Texans, even as the number o Texans has grown. Ricestudents now hail rom all 50 states and more than 85 countries 17 percent are rom outside the U.S making this the most cultur-

ally and ethnically diverse student body in Rice history.These expansions have caused a ew growing pains, not theleast o which are the need or additional acilities to house and ed-ucate our students. To help accommodate the growth in the under-graduate student body, two new colleges Duncan College andMcMurtry College have been built, and new wings have beenadded to Baker College and Will Rice College. In addition, the new137-unit Rice Village Apartments, located just a couple o blocksrom campus, provide modern housing or graduate students.

New aculty also are being hired in targeted areas, includingnew elds o study such as Latin America, to help maintain Ricesextraordinary studentaculty ratio o less than 6:1 and medianclass size o 15. Additions o research aculty and acilities also haveincreased the opportunities or undergraduates to participate inreal-world research. The addition o classroom and research acili-

ties like the BioScience Research Collaborative and the BrockmanHall or Physics have added state-o-the-art learning spaces, whilethe Raymond and Susan Brochstein Pavilion and the Barbara andDavid Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center have added newspaces or social and athletic activities.

The growth appears to be sitting well with students. A rank-ing based on inormation gathered on College Prowler, an onlinecollege guide created by students, and U.S. News & World Report,named Rice No. 4 on its 2010 list o Americas 100 happiest colleges.Rices sunny student disposition caught the attention o others, too.




or developing a micronance project that ghts poverty in areassuch as China, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The projectaims to help the poor help themselves by starting businesses. Andthis year, our more students were honored or student-designedtechnologies emerging rom Rice 360: Institute or Global HealthTechnologies.

Rice students also can have an international experience righton campus and in Houston, one o the worlds international gate-

ways. One-th o the Rice student body and an estimated 600

scholars and researchers are rom other countries. They bring theircultures and customs into the day-to-day academic and social lieo the university or a truly global experience.

Goal 9: We must provide the spaces and acilitiesthat will cultivate greater dynamism and vibrancy onthe campus.

Its no secret that the technologies o research, teaching and learn-ing have experienced a maniold transormation during recentdecades. The chalkboard, while still in use, is supplemented bystudents connected virtually to multiple sources o inormation viatheir smartphones even as their proessors lecture. The classroom,still a xture, shares students with experiential learning opportuni-ties in the community or other countries. The beakers and Bunsen

burners o the lab have given way to sophisticated equipment andcompounds that, not too long ago, were the stu o science ction.Under the V2C, Rices inrastructure has moved into the van-

guard o educational and research acilities. I you looked no ur-ther, the BioScience Research Collaborative would be sucientevidence. Recently named the best higher education or researchbuilding completed in the past year in Texas or Oklahoma by TexasConstruction magazine, this remarkable new acility both providesresearchers with cutting-edge labs and technology and increasesRices ability to partner with researchers at other Texas MedicalCenter institutions to urther advance our knowledge o the bio-medical sciences in ways that will translate into improved medicalcare and health.

In addition to Brockman Hall, the Gibbs Recreation Centerand Brochstein Pavilion, other new additions and signicant

renovations to Rices academic and support buildings include theRice Childrens Campus, Tudor Fieldhouse and Youngkin Center,Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen and the South Plant.

All new Rice campus building projects and renovations arebeing constructed to meet the U.S. Green Building CouncilsLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.Two buildings have been awarded LEED Silver and two LEEDGold, one o which, Duncan College, is one o the most environ-mentally riendly buildings ever built in Houston.

Goal 10: We must ully engage with the city oHouston learning rom it and contributing to it.

As Houstons oldest and most distinguished university, Rice mattersto its city and, under the V2C, has done more than ever to make the

Rice campus an intellectual and cultural destination.On the academic ront, the Chao Center recently createdHoustons rst Asian-American archive to oster a deeper un-derstanding and appreciation o Houstons immigrant history byresearching, preserving and sharing the rich cultural legacy andcontinuing contributions o Asian-Americans to the city.

The Baker Institute, one o the leading nonpartisan public pol-icy think tanks in the country, has hosted speakers such as NelsonMandela, Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright and several currentand ormer presidents rom around the world. In May 2008, the

institute welcomed ormer President Jimmy Carter and namesaJames A. Baker III or the debut o the HBO movie Recount. Ttwo statesmen participated in a discussion about the U.S. edeelection system, and Recount stars Kevin Spacey and Laura Deadded to the fair o the red-carpet aair.

For the last six years, the School o Architectures Rice BuildiWorkshop has been helping revitalize Houstons poorer urban eas by designing and building low-cost, energy-ecient housiThe school also has engaged with the city through the Rice Des

Alliance, which has been instrumental in holding design comtitions that resulted in the plan or downtowns SesquicentennPark and brought signicant improvements to Hermann Park aMemorial Park.

On a cultural level, the Shepherd School o Music draws mothan 75,000 visitors each year to its concerts, and public lecturacross the spectrum o disciplines bring in many more. Art exhitions and installations at Rice also are an attraction, and Rices nePublic Arts Program and its showpiece, the Suzanne Deal Boopavilion and Turrell Skyspace, currently under construction, is suto make the Rice campus a mecca or art lovers.

Rice students also enjoy Rices Passport to Houston, establishin 2005, which allows them to easily experience all the city has oer. The program provides a METRO card or unlimited accessMetroRail and buses, plus ree or discounted admission to cultu

venues such as the Houston Museum o Natural Science, the zand Houstons big our: theater, symphony, ballet and opera.

Conclusion

As Rice prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012, it contiues to grow in size, reach and impact. Since welcoming its rst sdents, Rice has been guided by Edgar Odell Lovetts vision or Ras an international university o the highest standards, and the RBoard o Trustees and President David Leebron set those standaeven higher when they adopted the Vision or the Second Centu

With the V2C well into its implementation, Rice leaders aaculty members are now exploring the possibilities presented three signicant academic initiatives identied during an extensconsultation by Provost George McLendon: biosciences and hum

health, energy and the environment, and international strategiTask orces are now at work under McLendons direction to dtermine how Rice can best emerge as a distinctive leader in theareas. Each will require a high degree o interdisciplinary collabration across the university, and between academic and administtive leadership, as Rice continues to move into its second centuryhigh aspirations and achievement.

Learn more about the Vision or the Second Century:

www.proessor.rice.edu/proessor/Vision.asp

Rice now oers more than 50international study opportunities in 74 countries, many othose in Asia and Latin Americaand the Leadership Rice SummeMentorship Experience oerstudent internships in a varietyo locales.


18/52

Rice programs oten provide opportunities or student internships,and a ew even require them the School o Architecture, or ex-ample, sends th-year students on a nine-month preceptorship withone o a number o high-prole architecture rms as a key part otheir education. But students in many programs who seek internshipshave been let to their own devices in nding and obtaining intern-ships, and the task can be daunting.

No longer, thanks to a group o enterprising Rice students whohave created a website that not only lists internship opportunities, butalso reviews them rom a student perspective to help students nd a

good match or their skills and goals.The idea or the website www.wisga.com started duringa car trip with a roommate, said junior Eric Li. It was August 2010,and Li, an economics major, had just completed an internship withEasyBib in New York City.

I realized that one o the most helpul parts o applying or theinternship was that I was able to connect with someone who had theposition previously, Li said. They were able to provide personal andhelpul inormation. I saw that I was ortunate to have this connec-tion, but there was no real way or other people to nd experiencedalumni who have experience with particular internships.

We were rustrated with searching or our own internships, saidjunior and Wisga partner Aniruddha Sen.

Thus, Wisga was born. The website, which goes live in Septemwill be integrated with Facebook and will eature reviews romstudents on internships, ellowships and research opportuniti

well as give inormation and advice on how to apply to partinternships. The operation has been completely sel-nanced, wcontributing several thousand dollars or Web development.

Li held a ocus group in November to seek interest and imation rom ellow students regarding their needs or this kin

website. He brought in Sen and junior Akash Morrison, and they

a survey to the Rice community in late 2010, just beore winter bThe survey had 350 responses, with 70 percent o the respondanswering that they would use a ree service such as this. Woaround a pingpong table at Lis home in Katy over the winter bthe three students created a business plan, perormed business asis and designed the websites look. The site will contain only asubscription-based eatures, but the main eatures, such as searcproles, will be ree and will serve only those students and al

with a Rice email account.Wisga will allow students to access more inormation than

would by relying only on Rices Center or Career Developmeby viewing a companys website, such as whether the positionbe a good t and benet the student and whether the position opportunities to be published.

We really ocus on the most relevant and easible experience

said, as opposed to larger job boards like Monster, where there as much tailored inormation. Wisgas main purpose is to help othedents discover and secure the experiences that are the best or thema more socially driven way o nding that great summer opportun

Recently, the Wisga team placed 12 out o 50 companies ielevator pitch contest during the Rice Alliance or TechnologyEntrepreneurships Inormation Technology and Web 2.0 VeForum. The orum, which invited venture capitalists and other epreneurs to the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School o Business, allocompanies to make 90-second pitches or the competition.

We think this is going to be nationally viral, said junior Norgaard, the companys public relations representative. Thisproduct or students, by students.

Leslie Contreras Sc

Finding the

When summer approaches, students turn their attention to new opportunities. Some travel, somend summer employment and some seek intern-

ships to gain real-world experience in their chosenproessions.

(L-R): Aniruddha

Sen, Scott

Norgaard, Eric

Li, and Ian Akash

Morrison

Right Match


19/52

Students

Rice Magazine No. 10 20

The musicians were invited aboard the January debut sail oSymphonic Voyages, a ull-immersion, classical-music-themed cruise.Billed as a ull-fedged onboard classical music estival, eaturing aroster o internationally renowned guest artists, Symphonic Voyagesrounded out its 50-member symphony orchestra with conductorLarry Rachle, Rices Walter Kris Hubert Proessor o OrchestralConducting, and eatured perormances by Cho-Liang Lin, proessoro violin; Susan Dunn, lecturer in voice; and Jeewon Lee, doctoralstudent in piano.

It was incredible, Rachle said. Everyone just clicked. There was

a sense o togetherness ormed through the love o music and a spirito adventure in trying something new. It was a great environment.

There were challenges, though. The theater where the musi-cians played was in the orward o the ship, where passengers and perormers are more apt to eel the waves and movemento the ocean. There were a ew times where I had to hold ontothe bolted-down piano to keep mysel upright, Dunn said. But asa singer, you move around a lot anyway as you perorm, so youquickly learn to just go with it.

Preconcert lectures also gave the audience a chance to learnmore about the music, musicians and Rice University. The ShepherdSchool was talked about a lot aboard the cruise, Dunn said. Riceand the Shepherd School were probably mentioned a hundred timesin the preconcert talks alone.

One o her avorite aspects o the trip was the chance she and

her amily had to connect with the other amilies o Shepherd Schoolmusicians aboard. They dined together most nights, and ound the

Rice table to be among the most international, with Dunn and hermother rom Australia, Lin and his mother rom Taiwan, Lee and hermother rom Korea and Rachle rom the U.S.

Musical Outreach

Another group o Shepherd School musicians also took to the trop-

ics last winter to provide a unique brand o outreach. Under thedirection o Marie Speziale, proessor o trumpet and chair o brass,a quintet eaturing Rice alumni and graduate students made its wayto the U.S. Virgin Islands to perorm during the 350th anniversaryo the St. Thomas Reormed Church and work with local children.It was an honor bestowed upon the musicians because o the stellarreputation o the Shepherd School.

The organist/choirmaster had heard o our successul brassand wind chamber music program at the Shepherd School rom in-dustry proessionals, Speziale said. So as the committee planned

this special celebration, they reached out to me to arrange oo our groups to perorm.

WindSync, the chosen quintet, perormed the anniversaryebrations nale concert: an arrangement o West Side Story. Knor combining old and new works, WindSync perormed in an

active ashion that aimed to expand the woodwind quintet repeand unveil a musical art orm to stimulate public engagement.

WindSync always tries to channel new levels o artistic ouand innovative presentation when putting on a concert produbut they outdid themselves with this perormance, acting, danand singing so enthusiastically, Speziale said. Even though Iveopportunities to perorm all over the world, this experience will as one o the most remarkable or me.

The ensemble eatures Shepherd School graduate stud

Garrett Hudson on fute and Kevin Pearl on oboe, alumni JJohnson 09 on clarinet and Tracy Jacobson 10 on bassoonAnni Hochhalter on French horn.

Rice is such a powerul launching tool or its students, Spesaid. WindSync members are ull-time musicians throughoucity o Houston, maintaining teaching studios and perormingessionally in the area, particularly at our weekly outreach snars in Houston public schools through the Young AudiencHouston program.

Jessic

Musicians of the CaribbeanDespite this winters unusually cold weather, tropical memoricontinue to warm the aculty and students at the Shepherd School

Music who took their talents to audiences throughout the Caribbea

Under the direction o Marie Speziale (third rom let), a quintet eaturing Rice a

and graduate students made its way to the U.S. Virgin Islands to perorm durin

350th anniversary o the St. Thomas Reormed Church.

It was incredible. Everyone just clicked. There was a sense o togetherness ormed through the love o musicand a spirit o adventure in trying something new. It was a great environment.

Larry Rachle



Much o this is true o art gen-erally; however, unlike thecreating o a painting, eachtime music is played it is insome sense created anew,

and each connection between perormerand audience is a new experience. As JoniMitchell once quipped, Nobody ever said to

Van Gogh, Paint Starry Night again, man!Recognizing, o course, that each contem-plation o visual art may inspire a dierentreaction, and that some pieces o art, likethe Turrell now being constructed at Rice,may change dramatically as the environmentchanges.

Music is something in which everysegment o our society, rom the wealthi-est to the poorest, partakes. Music has

meaning to each o us individually, eveni we are embarrassed to sing outside theshower. And while a timeless piece likeBeethovens Ninth Symphony requires anextraordinary orchestra and chorus as inlast years Shepherd School perormance to ully realize its power and beauty, evenmy sons rst playing o the simple melodyrom Ode to Joy on the piano was a thrill-ing experience. And although the most

sounds o gamelan, I am instantly tported back to Indonesia.

Music is intensely cerebral, but in saspects, it shares more characteristics athletics than perhaps any other endeat the university. The music school isonly other part o the university to thodically identiy the individual stude

wants or needs and then recruit them.athletes, music students oten are seleor specic positions or skills.

Also as with athletes, musicians stay in practice, or they likely will not bshape to perorm. I can testiy to this my own personal experience. I plpretty good trumpet when I was younbut ater a couple o decades o not ing, music is not what emerges when I

on a horn. Musicians are, as pianist Fleisher said, small muscle athletes. athletics, musical perormance eorts rrom the individual virtuoso perorm

think about our pole vaulters to eorts in which the individual seeks to contribute to the collective success.although music is not usually perormea competitive exercise, it is judged bymost demanding o standards.

Connection

sophisticated pieces are typically lengthy,the uniqueness o a piece o music is otenestablished in just a ew bars. This is re-fected sometimes in contests to identiy amusical piece ater little more than a hand-ul o notes or in the modern technology oapplications like Shazam or SoundHoundthat listen to a snippet o music and tellus its denitive source.

Music has a mathematical quality anddeep structure, and yet it is able to pro-

voke emotion at an extraordinary level.Perormers can be technically brilliant but,like artists in any eld o art, sometimesail to embody emotion and artistry in theirplaying. Although we relish hearing musicplayed on original instruments, such as aharpsichord, music requently has shown

itsel adaptable to changes in technol-ogy, such as versions o Beethovens workplayed on a synthesizer or the movie AClockwork Orange. Music oten is regard-ed as a universal language, extending po-tentially beyond the earth, as amously rep-resented in a memorable scene in CloseEncounters o the Third Kind. And yet,ew things can represent a culture as dis-tinctively as its music. Whenever I hear the

Music is an odd thing. Like a smell, it can transport us instanacross decades to a time in our youth we remember ondly sometimes not. For me, that might be Cat Stevens, the then-tooten-true Alone Again (Naturally) by Gilbert OSullivan, or evless pleasantly, my sister endlessly playing Donovans Mello

Yellow. Or it can connect in some way to past centuries and covey a bit o the spirit and sensibilities o a time long ago and dra

a connection between classical composers and contemporary audiences. It cbecome a uniter o or a divider between generations. I, or example, wthrilled when my children developed what turned out to be a somewhat temporaliking or Nena, the German pop-rock band that perormed 99 Red Balloon

B Y D A V I D L E E B R O N



Presidents CO L UM

In sum, music is as essential a part ohuman culture and experience as any otherorm o expression. But that doesnt meanthat every university ought to have a schoolo music. Indeed, when the ShepherdSchool o Music was created at Rice 37

years ago rom a und established earlierby Sallie Shepherd Perkins, there was con-siderable skepticism and some outright op-position rom the aculty. In many ways,they were right. There already were a num-ber o great music schools: Juilliard, Curtis,the New England Conservatory. It certainlydidnt make sense or one o the U.S.s bestliberal arts colleges and emerging researchuniversities to have a second-rate school omusic. And on what basis could more beexpected?

Perhaps no one anticipated the ex-traordinary Michael Hammond, or whata university truly dedicated to excellence,even in a eld already teeming with excel-lent endeavors, might achieve. Maybe noone thought we could recruit people likeLarry Rachle to inspire a student orches-tra, Richard Bado to build an extraordi-nary opera program and literally the bestmusician/teachers anywhere, all with an

unrivaled commitment to the succestheir students. Today, the Shepherd Sco Music is one o the ways in which most ully and eectively connects tocity o Houston, while at the same building on an international reputationdraws students and aculty rom arothe world. The school remains one omost important artistic anchors o Ricerepresents perhaps the most successuement o our growing commitment toarts. It is air to say that Rice, withouShepherd School, would be a dierentless balanced institution, diminished in the breadth o its endeavors andcommitments o its student body.

Our music school brings togeanalysis, history, expression, perorma

culture and creativity in ways that are the essence o a university. I agree those who thought more than 30 yearsthat it would make no sense or Richave a second-class music school. BuShepherd School? Thats an entirelyerent story. I you want to hear whatupper limit sounds like, just come tonext concert.

The music school is

the only other parto the universityto methodically

identiy theindividual studentsit wants or needsand then recruit

them. Like athletes,music students otenare selected or

specifc positionsor skills.

David Leebron



B y C h r i s t o p h e r D o w

FreedomF

ire

and



Inside Stude Concert Hall in Alice Pratt Brown Hall,

lutes and piccolos soar, racing up and down scales.Violins and cellos resonate. A lone bassist rehearses his part.Beautiul cacophony. Some o the orchestra members aredeep in thought, others engrossed in conversation.

Enter Larry Rachle, the Walter Kris Hubert Proessoro Orchestra Conducting. He pats a practicing cellist on

the shoulder and passes with a smile. He greets the pianistand waves his arms, indicating the tempo he wants or thepiece about to be played. More welcoming shoulder pats, then

Rachle steps up to the podium. The pianist hits a note, and asolo oboe plays, tuning the orchestra. All goes suddenly quiet.

Good aternoon, everyone, Rachle says. Brahms.


24/5222 www.rice.edu/ricemagazine22 www.rice.edu/ricemagazine

with the Shepherd School Opera.There is no nationally recognized poll or metric to measu

how good music programs are, said Shepherd School Dean RobYekovich. However, among people at other top music schoothere is somewhat o a consensus that the orchestra program heis, i not the best, then one o them.

Yekovich rst heard the orchestra on CD when he was beirecruited to head the school. I was amazed, he said. The selection was Strauss Don Juan, which is a true virtuosity pie

or an orchestra, and they sounded as good as most top-level pessional orchestras. When I heard them perorm live during mrst year as dean, they sounded every bit as good as the recordin

Critics praise Rachle s keen musical instincts, excellent leadship and consistently polished perormances molded with beauand insight. These are dicult results to achieve, considering that the start o every season, university orchestras have to conte

with dierent personalities and musical strengths as students grauate and new ones arrive.

In addition to producing electriying concerts at an astoundily high technical level, Rachle also is expert at teaching orchest

techniques, which prepares graduating studeto go out and get good jobs in major orchestrCristian Macelaru 06, who studied conductiunder Rachle and now serves as guest co

ductor or the Shepherd School Symphony aseveral other orchestras, said that the ShepheSchool Orchestra is on the same tier with mamajor proessional orchestras in the world. Teort that everyone dedicates to this progracoupled with the musicians personal talents aachievements, he said, truly makes this an intnationally recognized ensemble comparable wany proessional orchestra out there.

The credit, he believes, goes to RachleWhen I was a violin student in 1997 Interlochen Center or the Arts, I had the chanto play under Larry, Macelaru said. At the timI realized two things: I was going to be a coductor, and Larry was going to teach me how

do it. Not only is his knowledge o music vabut his passion or teaching is unparalleled. Tcombination makes or a very dedicated mentand he has been nothing short o extraordinar

Rachle achieves his extraordinary results making sure that everyone in the orchestra ge

100 percent o his attention and that they thrive artistically. Asormer member o the violin section, Macelaru said, I can sthat Larry always made me eel appreciated and, at the same timencouraged me to achieve greater things. Students in the orchesrespect him not because o his position, but rather or his uniqintoxicating love o music.

Its a love that Rachle shares unstintingly with his students. the upper-level world o schools o music and conservatories, Lais regarded as being one o, i not the top educating conducto

Yekovich said. Hes extremely dedicated, and his standards arehigh as they can possibly be. Every detail is tended to with grecare, and hes an artist, so theres a strong understanding o tmusical gesture. He also has a real git or getting the musiciansrecognize that shape in the music.

Rachles perseverance, determination and insistence on exclence are balanced by the nurturing way he goes about teachinI want the Shepherd School to continue to attract the very b

young talent that is out there, he said. I also want to bring to thowho come experiences that will serve them well ater theyve le

As the orchestra rehearses its all-Brahms program, Rachleappears to levitate, liting o his eet. His entire body con-ducts, and his every movement reveals the emotion he wantsthe instruments to convey. More than an hour later, the rstrun-through is complete.

Really good, everybody, Rachle says. This is just excellent,excellent work no small eat or just the third rehearsal.

From its inception, the Shepherd School o Music has empha-sized orchestral training as a central element o its perorming cur-

riculum, and as the school has grown and matured, so has theprogram. Originally a small chamber orchestra called the ShepherdSinonia, the group grew to a ull-sized orchestra and, in 1984,changed its name to the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra.

Rachle has directed the orchestra since 1991, and in 1993,he created a chamber orchestra to complement the symphonyorchestra. Under his leadership, the program has risen to newartistic heights, and today, the Shepherd School Symphony is

widely recognized as one o the nest university orchestras inthe world. The group plays major pieces rom a standard orches-tral repertoire, premieres important new works and perorms

There is no nationally recognized poll or

metric to measure how good music pro-

grams are. However, among people at other

top music schools, there is somewhat of a

consensus that the orchestra program here

is, if not the best, then one of them.Robert Yekovich



not only in their proessional development, but also in their queststo ulll their dreams.

Each o the two orchestras perorms three or more concertsa semester. While Rachle decides most o the programming, hedoes seek input rom the perormance aculty at the school, whoregularly drop by orchestra rehearsals to listen and oer sugges-tions. He tries to balance old and new works, challenging studentsto study all types o music.

Playing in an orchestra is denitely a team eort and one

that requires many small elements to t together to produce awhole that is greater than the sum o its parts. To give students awell-rounded musical education, Rachle structures the orches-tras in a way that maximizes students experiences. Typically,orchestras have a hierarchy in which particular musicians per-manently reside as principal violin, principal cello and so orth.The Rachle-led orchestras, however, are more egalitarian, withmembers in constant rotation. Students preer Rachles rotatingsystem because it keeps the orchestra alive and dierent andkeeps jealousies to a minimum.

The benets are obvious or a program that is so rigorous. Inaddition to shouldering a regular course load,orchestra members rehearse ve to seven hoursa week and take repertoire classes or brass,percussion, woodwind and string instruments.

Students audition or concertmaster positions coveted spots and rotate on a regularbasis so each player must learn multiple roles.

The students relish the experience.Macelaru sees two primary advantages. One istime. In preparing or each concert, he said,we have time to really ocus on one or twopieces in-depth or nearly a month and gainincredible insight into the music. The secondis dedication: The students dedication to the

work required, the acultys dedication to sup-port this unique program by giving so mucho their time in aiding with rehearsals, and adedicated and supportive community that os-ters such a great school, both nancially and

with their presence at our concerts. These alltogether make or a very rare and unique or-chestral program, Macelaru said.

Our orchestra members are highly gited,intelligent and dedicated, and they bring aspecial and unique energy to what they do,Rachle said. My job is to help them give great perormances bal-anced with the learning process, and both require an environmentthat is nonthreatening and inspiring as well as challenging.

Although the symphony rehearsals and perormances are de-manding, most students wouldnt trade the experience or anything.Orchestral training is required or all Bachelor and Master o Musicdegree candidates, and they understand that proessional-soundingresults are the product o hard work. They also know that the eort

will pay o when it comes time to seek employment with proes-

sional orchestras. And pay o it does. Among American music schools, theShepherd Schools job-placement rates are impressive. ShepherdSchool alums and aculty comprise more than one-quarter o theHouston Symphony, and other alumni have won appointments

with the New England Conservatory, the Australian ChamberOrchestra, the Colorado Symphony, the Phoenix Symphony, andthe Los Angeles Philharmonic, to name a ew. I recently was guestconducting in Kansas City, Rachle said, and 10 or 12 ShepherdSchool alums were there. Recent graduates also have secured

aculty positions at Texas Christian University, Duquesne UniversTexas Tech University, and Roanoke College, among others.

In addition to providing excellent training or its students, tShepherd School Symphony provides a showcase or Rice. Tact that our concerts are ree brings a lot o people here wmight not otherwise have access to really high-quality musi

Yekovich said. Thats good or the community, or Rice and the Shepherd School.

It also sends a very strong message to the outside world abo

what Rice values. One o the driving actors o the economymajor metropolitan areas one o the attractions or people live and work in a metropolitan area is its cultural lie, Yekovsaid. To say that a university in Texas actually cares deeply aboculture and the arts is an important statement about the universand about Houston.

For Rachle, though, the most important thing is the proco the journey. Its a constantly invigorating, inspiring, stimulatinchallenging experience, Rachle said. I it has a great love, caand dedication, the rest will have reedom and re.

Our orchestra members are highly gifte

intelligent and dedicated, and they bring

special and unique energy to what they d

My job is to help them give great perfor

mances balanced with the learning procesand both require an environment that

nonthreatening and inspiring as well a

challenging.Larry Rachle



of


27/52

Mezzo-soprano Jennier Johnson Cano remembers herrst critique while learning her rst opera at Rice. It wasMozarts La nta giardiniera, she said, and I wouldget tongue-tied in the Italian. Proessor Bado taught mehow to break it down and drill it so I knew it cold. Eversince then, whenever Im learning any kind o piecethat Im having trouble with, I know how to deal withit, step by step, until its as close to perect as I can get.

B Y K E L L Y K L A A S M E Y E R


28/52

Were really stepping up our game and were nowcompeting on the highest level around the country with the

major opera vocal training schools.


The technique has served her well. Ater receiving her mas-ters in vocal perormance rom Rice in 2008, Cano went directlyinto the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at theMetropolitan Opera. More recently, she took rst prize in the 2009

Young Concert Artists International Auditions, won a 2011 SaraTucker Study Grant and made her Carnegie Hall recital debut.

Cano is one o a growing number o outstanding graduatesrom the Shepherd School o Musics Opera Studies Program, whichhas seen considerable enrichment during the last six years thanks

to a concerted eort by Dean Robert Yekovich to bring the operaprogram on par with the universitys acclaimed orchestral trainingprogram. Proessor o Opera Richard Bado, who has conducted at

venues such as Teatro alla Scala, Opra National de Paris, HoustonGrand Opera (HGO) and the New York City Opera, was namedthe programs rst director. Among his extensive proessional ex-periences, Bado has been HGOs chorus master since 1988 andregularly accompanies renowned soprano Rene Fleming.

Were really stepping up our game, Bado said, and werenow competing on the highest level around the country with themajor opera vocal training schools. The eort has included bring-ing in guest stage directors or productions, adding graduate class-es in diction, providing instructors or everything rom movementto stage combat, and staging productions in Stude Concert Halland the departments black box theater. There even are aspirations

about building a new opera house on campus.With the increased ocus on the training program, Rice stu-dents are winning major competitions, being selected or acclaimedprograms and participating in prestigious summer programs such

as San Francisco Operas Merola Opera Program and Wol TrapOpera program. Ater graduation, they have gone on to young art-

ist progr

rice magazine issue 10

Documents