8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

1/56

Engineering students lend their

experience to those who need it most.

Elizabeth Moon's Path to the Stars

R2: Serious Word Play

Thanks to the McMurtrys

May Says Goodbye

Engineers Without Borders

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

2/56

RICE SALLYPORT THE MAGAZINE OF RICE UNIVERSITY SUMMER 2006

D e p a r t m e n t s

2 residents Message 3 Letters 6 Through the Sallyport 16 Students 37 rts 40 On the Bookshelf

42 Whos Who 50 ScoreboardINSIDE

11 he new nanoriceparticle may findapplications in cancertreatment, medicaldiagnostics, molecularimaging, and chemical39An intoxication of colorilluminates the Rice

G

16 Rices Medical Scientistraining Program linksnstitutions to provideoctors of the future withn interdisciplinary focus.

37Celebrating the struggle toreach a higher plane withThe Birth of Something

13 Outsourcing tomaquiladora factoriesmay seem economicallybeneficial on thesurface, but could havehidden costs not initiallyapparent.

15 helly Harveys discoverymay not help you untietangled shoelace, but

t will help topologistso characterize the

underlying mathematicalstructure of complexsurfaces like knots.

10 The worlds first single-molecule vehicle gets its own engine.

8 Rice to manage aninternational team-production of aninnovative set ofetectors for a premier

particle accelerator.

9A Rice study looks intohe facts and fictionsf IT outsourcing tother countries.

12 Birth weight of maleinfants is related to theirlater ability to learn and

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

3/56

F e a t u r e s

20 Engineers Without Borders

The practical experience gained by engineering students who

participate in the Engineers Without Borders program is nothing

compared to their feeling of accomplishment at providing clean

water and electrical power for third-world villages.

B y Tr a c e y R h o a d e s

26 Making Contact: Elizabeth Moons Path to the Stars

What does it mean to be normal? Best-selling science-fiction

writer Elizabeth Moon has sought the answer throughout her

unusual life and in her award-winning fiction.

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

34 R2

R2, the new Rice undergraduate literary magazine, gives nascent

authors a venue for expression.

B y R u t h S a m u e l s o n

34

20

26

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

4/56

Rice Sallyport

Summer 2006, Vol. 62, No. 4

Published by the Divisionf Public Affairs

Suzanne Gschwind, director of Weband Print Communications

Editorhristopher Dow

Editorial DirectorTracey Rhoades

Creative DirectorJeff Cox

Art DirectorChuck Thurmon

Editorial StaffDana Benson, associate editorSarah Williams, assistant editor

hristie Wise, production coordinator

Design StaffTommy LaVergne,photographerJeff Fitlow, assistant photographer

The Rice University Boardof Trustees

James W. Crownover, chair; J.D. BuckyAllshouse; D. Kent Anderson; TeveiaRose Barnes; Alfredo Brener; Vicki

Whamond Bretthauer; Robert T. Brockman;Albert Y. Chao; Robert L. Clarke; EdwardA. Dominguez; Bruce W. Dunlevie; LynnLaverty Elsenhans; Douglas Lee Foshee;Susanne Morris Glasscock; Carl E. Isgren;K. Terry Koonce; Michael R. Lynch;Robert R. Maxfield; Steven L. Miller; M.Kenneth Oshman; Marc Shapiro; L. E.Simmons; Robert B. Tudor III

Administrative OfficersDavid W. Leebron,president; Kathy

oll ins, vice president for Finance;Eric Johnson, vice pre s ident for

Resource Development; Kevin Kirby,vice president for Administration; EugeneLevy,provost; Chris Muoz, vice president

for Enrollment; Scott W. Wise, vicepresident for Investments and treasurer;Richard A. Zansitis,general counsel; TBN,vice president for Public Affairs.

All submissions to Sallyportare subjectto editing for length, clarity, accuracy,ppropriateness, and fairness to third

parties.

Sallyportis published by the Division ofPublic Affairs of Rice University and is sentto university alumni, faculty, staff, graduatetudents, parents of undergraduates, and

friends of the university.

Editorial Offices

ffice of PublicationsMS 95P.O. Box 1892

Houston, Texas 77251-1892

Fax: 713-348-6751Email: sallyport@rice.edu

Postmaster

Send address changes to:

Rice UniversityDevelopment ServicesMS 80

P.O. Box 1892Houston, TX 77251-1892

SEPTEMBER 2006 RICE UNIVERSITY

It is no surprise,

given the creativity

of our students, that

we find our alumni

engaged in a wide

range of creative

endeavors, from

writing novels toproducing movies.

David W. Leebron

Our students are amazing. hat is a phrase I have heard often from facultysince the beginning of my involvement with Rice. Indeed, both the objective and subjective

amazingness of Rice students was one of my main attractions to Rice. But what exactly

makes our students amazing?Of course, we are privileged to attract some of the most outstanding students from across

the nation and, increasingly, from across the world. (This falls entering undergraduate class

has twice as many foreign students as previous classes.) They are outstanding as measured on

the usual numerical criteria such as SAT or ACT scores and on their high school grade point

average or class rank. But that is not what makes them amazingrather it is that they explore,

they create, they contribute, and they excel.

Let me start with exploration, because without it, our students cannot realize their potential.

They must reach outside the familiar and explore themselves and the world. Our job at the

university, in large part, consists of maximizing students opportunities for exploration, in

the classroom and outside of it. In this issue, we take note, in particular, of the

international explorations of some of our students, funded both by Rice fellowships

and scholarships such as the Wagoner and national competitive awards such as

Fulbrights and Watsons. Our students will use this support to study in places

from Argentina to Vietnam.

he second amazing thing about our students is their creativity and imagination.

Two of our schools are devoted, in large measure, to such creativity, namely the

School of Architecture and the Shepherd School of Music. But our students are

creating all across the campus, from the college-based theatre to the establishment

ofR2, a student-run magazine for student writing. It is no surprise, given the

creativity of our students, that we find our alumni engaged in a wide range of

creative endeavors, from writing novels to producing movies.

Our cover story in this issue focuses on the third exceptional element of Rice

students, contribution. I was so moved and inspired when I attended a student

presentation of the work of Engineers Without Borders, and I felt privileged

when the group asked me to address a national meeting of EWB held at Rice.

This is a student-created and student-led effort at Rice. It is wonderful to see our

students recognize that the opportunity to obtain knowledge and develop skillsat Rice also creates an obligation to contribute. Our students have changed the

lives of people in Central America, in particular, and, in so doing, have learned

valuable skills and life lessons.

On another scale, many of our students, especially our graduate students, contribute to

the pathbreaking research that takes place at Rice and helps advance human knowledge and

understanding. The research teams that produced nanocars in Jim Tours laboratory and

nanorice in Naomi Halass laboratory (with physics professor Peter Nordlander), mentioned

in this issue, included graduate students.

All this might be enough to make our students amazing, but beyond that, they excel. They

excel in their drive to explore, they excel in their creativity, they excel in their contributions,

and they excel in their learning. Creating the opportunity for such excellence, regardless of the

financial backgrounds of our students, is costly. In this issue, we cover the recent announcement

of a $100 million campaign for scholarships. The college system at Rice also has been a keyfeature in creating a climate for the pursuit of excellence and exploration, and we are very

pleased to announce an expansion of the college system in anticipation of the growth of the

university in the years to come. It is graduates and friends like Burt and Deedee McMurtry

whose engagement and support make the amazingness of our students possible.

2 Rice Sallyport

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

5/56

Letters

Our Own Facts and Fiction

Thanks for an interesting, education-al article, Rice Fact and Fiction, inthe winter 2006 edition of Sallyport.I learned a lot and resolved some40-year-old questions.

However, in the interest of total ac-curacy, as a member of the first classto pay tuition at Rice, let me assureyou that the first tuition charged atRice was $1,200, not $1,500 (answerto question 16, page 35). I counted ev-ery penny of it.

Walter (Scot) Ruska 69

Albuquerque, New Mexico

OK, Im confused. . . . On the webpageA Brief Rice History (www.explore.rice.edu/explore/A_Brief_Rice_History.asp),it states that, in 1962, Rice donates theland for NASAs Johnson Space Center.But in the winter 2006 issue ofSallyport,on page 34, it says that Rice never actu-

ally owned that land and was only theintermediary in the exchange. Which isthe correct statement?

Mary Cochran

System Administrator,Department of Earth Science

Rice University

The statement in Sallyportis the cor-rect one. Editor

In the winter 2006 Sallyport articletitled Rice Fact and Fiction, ques-tion No. 13 discusses the past use ofa system of wells throughout the cam-pus to provide public drinking water(i.e., domestic water) to the campus.The answer to question No. 13 statesthat this is fictional, and that The useof the pumps was discontinued due toconcerns regarding the stability of theunderground water table.

While I am not certain where theRice domestic water supply camefrom prior to 1969, I am certain thatin 1969 Rice had drilled, outside theCentral Plant, a 1,626-foot deep wa-ter well into the Gulf CoastEvangelineAquifer, and for at least some of theyears since 1969 (my records of wa-

ter supply do not go back that far),

Rice has provided some or all of the

campus domestic water supply from

groundwater through this well. Wecurrently supply 42 million gallons a

year (about one-fifth) of the campuss

domestic water from this well, and in

the past (1991) were legally allowed

to withdraw as much as 180 million

gallons a year from this well.Concerns over land subsidence and,

as noted, the stability of the underground

water table, have indeed led us (and

others) to curtail, though not complete-

ly, our underground withdrawals.

Douglas Wells

Director, Central PlantR ce Un vers ty

I just read the test questions and an-

swers in the winter 2006 Sallyportar-ticle, Rice Fact and Fiction, and felt

that I needed to fill out the histor-

ical record on question No. 10 con-

cerning the owl cages next to LovettCollege.

When I was a student at Rice from1971 to 1975, there were up to three

great horned owls at a time in the owl

cage next to Lovett College. The owl

keepers lived in Lovett and occasion-

ally kept the owls in their room on aperch, especially during water balloon

battles with Will Rice College. One of

the keepers told me that the air-condi-

tioning was not good for the owls and

that it was preferable to keep themoutside.

During the same time, the Rice

cheerleaders had a somewhat mustyowl costume that was used by a stu-

dent during the games in addition tothe live owls. The costumed Sammy

occasionally would act inebriated and

lift up the skirts of the opposing teams

cheerleaders.

From 1987 to 1999, I was an attor-ney at the Texas Parks and Wildlife

Department (TPWD), one of the natu-

ral resource agencies that had jurisdic-

tion of native Texas wildlife. For most

of that time, I was in charge of scien-

tific permitsthose permits allowing

private citizens to capture, collect, andhold protected wildlife outside of the

normal hunting and fishing laws. Itwas a minor, if somewhat sore, spotmong some animal rights activists

who maintained contact with us thatome colleges in Texas were hold-

ing protected wildlife and displaying

them as mascots. Notable were BaylorUniversitys endangered black bears,Texas A&I Universitys occasional jav-linas, University of Houstons cougar,

nd Rice Universitys great hornedwls.

One of the first briefings I had when

I took that job was on these mascots.I found that one of my staff (a Baylorraduate) had issued a zoological per-

mit to Baylor for its bears. A&I did notlways keep a javelina (probably be-ause of the handling difficulties in-

volved), and University of Houston

ctually used a cougar that was per-mitted as part of the Houston Zoos

ollection. Rices owls were held aspart of a scientific collecting permitissued to Dr. Frank Fisher in the biol-gy department.

While I no longer have access to my

ffice diaries from that period, I recallthat, in about 1990 or 1991, I was in-formed that the owl cage next to Lovett

College had been invaded by either aferal cat or wild animal and the owlswere killed. There was general mur-

muring from my contacts that animalrights groups were planning on pro-testing the use of live owls at Rice asmascots, and I could expect some form

f inquiry soon. In checking our recordst TPWD, I found that Dr. Fishers per-

mit was due for renewal and that the

pplication was then pending.Another attorney, who also was a

wildlife biologist from Texas A&M,nd I set up an appointment to meet

with a representative of Rice from aepartment that had some nominaluthority over the mascot program. I

no longer recall who that was or whather department affiliation was. We mett Lovett College with her and one or

two student owl handlers to explain

both the legal issues and the practi-

al problems we saw in Rice continu-

ing in its present course with its livemascots. The Rice representative ex-

plained that poor maintenance on the

wl cage had allowed some animalto pry open a corner of the enclosure,

invade it, and kill both the owls. She

lso explained that there were no more

wls at the university at that time andthat none were likely until funds could

be found to make the cage safer.We had earlier spoken with Dr. Fisher,

who could not attend our meeting, and

found that, although he wanted his per-mit renewed, he was reluctant to as-

ume continued responsibility for the

mascot. The owls were, after all, out-ide of his research program, and far

way from his laboratory and office.

Nonetheless, he was also reluctant tobe the sole reason why Rice could not

have a live mascot.

We suggested to the Rice repre-

entatives that they explore a coop-rative arrangement with a licensed

wildlife rehabilitator or the Houstonoo rather than the continued use of

Dr. Fishers scientific permit, and we

provided them with contact informa-tion. We were later informed by Rice

nd the Houston Zoo that the zoo would

ssume responsibility for future owlsnd that they wished to have them

dded to their zoological permit. Dr.

Fisher received his permit without the

wls. That was the last I heard of thewls until the Sallyportstory.

Paul M. Shinkawa 75Aust n, Texas

Thanks to all of you who sent in correc-

tions and additions. Rice history buffs,take note! Editor

The Arts at Rice Revisited

John ONeils personal notes on the

stablishment of a fine arts program

t Rice [fall 2005] make clear the hugeistance that has been traveled in the

last 40 years. Although his notes con-

vey many frustrations of the pioneering

The winter 2006 issue of Sallyportisabsolutely awful. Has Rice become

the Berkeley of the South?Michael S. Adams 64

Summer 06 3

[ E T T E R S ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

6/56

phase of fine arts at Rice, his vision ofthe potential in Houston is compelling,even to this day.

ONeil clearly foresaw the steep riseof the arts in Houston. Brilliant lead-ership has given Houston some of thefinest art collections in the country andworld-class opera and theatre, not to

mention one of the best creative writ-ing programs in the nation. As ONeilwrites, There was a heady feeling inHouston that almost anything of worthin the arts could be accomplished.And, he says, Rice could only dreamof achieving a parallel art order.

ONeils article ties nicely with the

report on page 11 announcing the newcollaborative initiative with the Houstonmuseum community made possible bySuzanne Deal Booth. For the School ofHumanities, this is the first step in amajor initiative to bring us up to that

parallel level of achievement in visu-al arts and art history. Building on the

unique resources in art, creative writ-ing, and theatre in Houston, and sup-ported by David Leebrons vision of anew partnership between Rice andHouston, Rice has exceptional oppor-tunities to realize the potential ONeilgrasped 40 years ago.

I want to assure readers of allyport

that plans are under way to create aparallel art order at Rice.

Gary Wihl

Dean of the School of HumanitiesR ce Un vers ty

Opprobrium and Approbation

The winter 2006 issue of Sallyportisabsolutely awful. Has Rice becomethe Berkeley of the South?

The back cover is somewhat amus-inggood to see three white lads prac-ticing their gangsta rap hand gestures.

You can almost hear Its Hard Out Herefor a Pimp playing in the background.The description of 60 people weav-ing hay was absolutely wonderfulcommunity based thing . . . hmmm. . . I think I hear laughter.

Its amazing that a foundation willcough up $283,000 to research some-

thing thats been kicking around since1913 or so. And what is the significanceof the findings on atheism? Publishthe 36 questions so we can get a feelfor how these distinct frameworksdeveloped.

The Katrina article, though focusedon the handling of the crisis (except

for the corrupt state and local politi-cal machine, of course), grinding pov-erty (like thats news to anyone who

has known The Big Easy for the last 50years or so), and unsupported conten-

tions about a shift of resources outof the hands of the poor and middle

class and into the hands of the rich(who said government was respon-

sible for income redistribution?) . . .misses totally issues of the desirabil-

ity of building (and trying to insure)a city in a below-sea-level bathtub.

Taxpayers are getting tired of paying

for folks who insist on building in ar-eas known to be seriously affected by

disasters like hurricanes, floods, etc.The interview with Attorney General

Alberto Gonzalez is no such thing. Itomits quoting the questions asked,

only occasionally quotes Gonzalez,and is basically a cut and paste po-

litical collage.Assimilation hardly seems to be a

problem; so-called multiculturalism and

open borders are problems. Californiasincreased healthcare costs due to hav-

ing to accommodate speakers of some140 different languages, dialects, etc. is

a problem. By the way, migration andimmigration are not the same thing.

Empowering teachers through in-creased knowledge and a stronger pro-

fessional voice is the solution to theproblems of the public schools? You

must be kidding. The mediocre mo-nopoly of public education, the ab-

sence of choice, waste of resources,

and the inability to send a poor teacherpacking are much closer to being the

real problems in need of solution. TheNational Education Agency is not part

of the solution.You might want to develop an edi-

torial policy for Sallyportas a way ofrethinking what its all about.

Michael S. Adams 64

Oceanside, California

The winter issue of Sallyportis fabu-lous. I sense a raising of the bar. The

articles are very interesting and show auniversity on the move. Best of all was

David Leebrons two-page summary of

his Call to Conversation. The missionstatement says so much in two well-crafted sentences, and the 10 steps are

no surpriseDavid has mentioned them

to me over the past year. The beauty isthat, by engaging in the conversation,

he has created a feeling of ownershipon the part of the many constituencies

that must coalesce and commit in or-der to achieve Rices goals.

John Mendelsohn, MD

President of the University of TexasM.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Houston, Texas

Re-Viewing Alberto Gonzales

It was interesting to read about thelife story of Alberto Gonzales in the

latest issue of Sallyport. Everyone can

gree that he has come a long way;

however, Gonzaless role in undermin-

ing the fundamental human rights onwhich this nation is built overshad-

ws his positive accomplishments. HisDistinguished Alumni Award should

be revoked.

The article does not discuss the lat-

st controversy in which Gonzales hasbecome embroiled: the warrantless

wiretapping issue. He has claimed that

Congresss authorization of the use offorce in Afghanistan also authorized

the president to wiretap Americans

without warrants. Gonzales argues

this, even though prominent membersf Congress have said that, at the time

they passed the bill, they consideredit to have nothing whatsoever to do

with wiretapping.Gonzales once wrote, according to

the Sallyport rticle, that Legislative

intent is the polestar of statutory con-truction. Our role as judges requires

that we put aside our own personal

views of what we might like to see

nacted and, instead, do our best toiscern what the legislature actually

intended. Why didnt Gonzales abide

by his own philosophy when consid-ring the wiretapping? If he had, he

ould never have claimed that Congressunknowingly authorized a secret spy

program.This is just one more example of

where Gonzales musters whatever ar-

uments are at hand to defend the ruth-

less agenda of his friends who broughthim to power. As the evidence piles in,

Gonzaless life is less and less open

to interpretation, as the title of therticle suggests; it is increasingly fit

for a verdict.

Greg Keaton 87

San Francisco, California

I have been stewing over the articlepublished in the most recent Sallyport

oncerning the magazines interviewwith Rice alumnus Alberto Gonzales.

Im torn in my opinion of this man and

the universitys celebration of one of

ur own making it to such a high andpowerful level in the federal gov-

rnment. Certainly Attorney General

Gonzaless background is worthy ofmention because it is representative

f so many of the students who have

passed through Rices gates. His ca-

pabilities and drive to achieve success

re noteworthy, as well.

Unfortunately, I cant imagine that

Mr. Gonzales got the most out of his

Rice education based on the obfus-

ation and stubborn intransigence he

has displayed as White House coun-

el and attorney general in the Bushdministration. The convoluted and

illogical arguments made in the in-

famous torture memo, nullifying

the Geneva Convention standards, as

well as his evasive, essentially non-

responsive appearances before con-

ressional committees are offensive

to the idea of an open, intellectually

honest, morally grounded government.

Mr. Gonzaless actions and words indi-

ate a small mind, a mind that, instead

f critically thinking through consider-

tions of law, is prone to merely serving

up contorted justifications for already-ecided policy. How did he make it

through the academic rigors of Rice?

And should Mr. Gonzales be a point

f pride for our university? allyport

was stepping into a no-win situation

by interviewing the attorney general,

nd I understand that. But I do hope

that the Rice alumni who read the ar-

ticle take a moment to carefully con-

ider who and what we as community

hould be focusing on and honoring.

Shay Harrison 94

East Greenbush, New York

When one becomes an officer in the

xecutive branch of the U.S. govern-

ment, he or she swears to support and

efend the Constitution of the United

States. It is thus alarming to read the

following quote from Attorney General

Alberto Gonzales in allyport: Is the

president pleased with my perfor-

mance? Thats all I really should wor-

ry about, or can worry about. He may

not have much to worry about, but we

who live in and care about this country

ertainly do with scoundrels like this

in office. An alum is who is high andmighty is not necessarily an alum to

be proud of.

Frederick Lazare 88

Houston, Texas

4 Rice Sallyport

[ E T T E R S ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

7/56

C o m m e n t a r y

Sallyports recent article about Alberto

Gonzales provides an opportunity

or everyone connected with Rice

o explore the values we live by. I

welcomed the publication of the

Gonzales article, but along with it

ame an honorific electronic banner

n the Rice website that I found

hocking. The banner, visually quite

mesmerizing, displayed a photograph

f Gonzales being sworn in as attorney

eneral of the United States by his

political patron, President George W.

Bush. Although no text accompanied

he image, the visual message was

unmistakable: We at Rice like George

Bush and are proud of Alberto Gonzales.

Given the limitless diversity of a global

udience potentially reached by Rices

website, however, there is reason to

wonder if it was truly in the interest

f the university to bestow honors

n Gonzales and his patron in this

ashion. Is there, in fact, anything

remotely like a consensus of respect

nd admiration for Gonzales on this

ampus or among its graduates? Is

he a fitting emblem of the values we

herish? These are controversial,

many-sided questions. All I can report

re my own views.

At Gonzaless confirmation hearing

in January 2005, senators of both

parties pressed him about torture,

or the Abu Ghraib photos were

resh in everyones mind, and the

infamous torture memo of 2002,

olicited from Department of Justice

lawyers by Gonzales acting in his

role as counsel to the president,

had, by that time, been leaked to

he press. His testimony seemed

vasive. Although he stated in his

pening remarks that America stands

gainst and will not tolerate torture

under any circumstances, under

keptical questioning, he claimed

hat the torture memo was just the

pinion of the justice departments

Office of Legal Counsel. Then he

bruptly reversed himself, saying that

it was the binding interpretation,

before speaking of it, only minutes

later, as an arguable interpretation

f the law.

What appears to be flagrant

oubletalk and deception actually

The following personal commentary is in response to the profile on U.S. attorney general Alberto Gonzales titled Open to Interpretation that ran in the winter 2006 issue of Sallyport.

may reflect Gonzaless wholehearted

mbrace of the perverse vocabulary

put into circulation by the torture

memo. Cavalierly declaring the Geneva

Conventions to be obsolete, the memos

uthors claimed to find in other laws

n authoritative consensus that would

efine torture as a crime but also

make it a vanishingly rare event. Only

extreme acts and the most egregious

onduct would qualify. Physical pain

mounting to torture must be equivalent

in intensity to the pain accompanying

erious physical injury, such as organ

failure, impairment of bodily function,

r even death the memo reads. Having

thus shrunken the word torture to a

hadow of its customary meaning, the

memo narrowed it even more by invoking

the necessity of specific intent. If a

efendant accused of torture acted

knowing that severe pain or suffering

was reasonably likely to result from his

ctions, but no more, he would have

cted only with general intent [not

pecific intent], and therefore not be

uilty of torture. The memo went still

further: Even if an interrogation method

rguably were to violate section 2340A

the statute would be unconstitutional

if it impermissibly encroached on the

presidents constitutional power to

onduct a military campaign.

The main purpose of the torture memo

was to specify the level of brutality

that would maximize intelligence yield,

while stopping just short of criminal

liability. Never imagining that their

work would become public knowledge,

the authors categorized aggressive

but acceptable interrogation methods

with a revealing trio of words that they

used again and again with no sense of

irony: cruel, inhuman, and degrading.

These three words define what the

Bush administration came to regard

s acceptable. Imagine that you come

under suspicion of withholding valuable

intelligence and the jailor invites you

to choose between two options: You

an submit to torture, or you will be

humiliated, treated like an animal, and

xperience cruelty so severe that it puts

you on the road to organ failure. Could

nything be more Orwellian? The bar of

ecency and moral responsibility could

hardly have been set lower.

No wonder Gonzales equivocated.

No wonder so little stock now is placed

in the administrations claim that it

has, out of the sheer goodness of its

heart, upheld the humane standards

f the Geneva Conventions even while

ontending that the conventions lack

legal force and are counterproductive

iven the new paradigm of warfare

ushered in by 9/11. People who play

ast and loose with words like torture

re not to be trusted.

Until the Supreme Court began

ismantling the administrations

ill conceived prison system in the

Hamdi, Rasul, and Hamdan cases,

nyone suspected of any sort of

linkage to terrorism was subject to

ecret incarceration at Guantanamo

r elsewhere without a shred of due

process. Worse, prisoners were liable to

be subjected to interrogation practices

hat, in the vocabulary of any candid,

plainspoken person, unquestionably

ualify as torture. The justifications

ommonly given for stripping stateless

oldiers of even the most elementary

human rights are threefold: they do not

wear uniforms, they do not distinguish

between military and civilian targets,

nd they are neither soldiers embedded

in a chain of command that takes

responsibility for their conduct nor

itizens of an established state that signs

reaties ensuring civilized treatment of

prisoners. In short, they do not make

war like Westerners. They have no

ircraft carriers, ballistic missiles, or

anks; they are third-world irregulars

who, in combat, improvise, making do

with the resources at their disposal.

Is this grounds for torturing them? For

reating them as war criminals?

It wasnt in Vietnam, 40 some years

go. There, too, the United States was

t war with irregular guerilla soldiers

who wore no uniform and pledged

llegiance to no state. Yet to the best

f my knowledge, no one in Washington

ver considered putting America in the

business of routinely torturing suspects.

s for sparing civilians, the United States

oes not occupy high moral ground. In

ietnam, we selectively assassinated

ivic leaders whose politics offended

us. In World War II, the firebombing of

okyo alone took 100,000 lives, nearly

all civilians. Add another 240,000 lives

lost at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Can

slaughter of civilians on this scale be

wished away by observing, as bickering

children do, that they started it?

In 196465, as a lieutenant in the

U.S. Navy and advisor to the assistant

perations officer of the Vietnamese

Navy, I never would have believed that

my country would one day ridicule the

Geneva Conventions, demonize ordinary

foot soldiers as unlawful combatants,

and incarcerate them without due

process. Am I proud today that a Rice

graduate played an important role in

forging the legal and bureaucratic

tools that transformed Guantanamo

Naval Station into a prison camp and

interrogation center that the Supreme

Court now finds unlawful and even our

closest allies call loathsome? No.

he Al Qaeda attack of 9/11 was a

despicable deed, and in its wake, my

countrymen never again will rest easy

in the free security that wide oceans

have bestowed on us. From now on,

Americans will have to realize that

war is not just something that happens

verseas but also may be experienced

n our own soil. Most of the worlds

peoples had to acknowledge this lesson

centuries ago. Of all the blunderscommitted by the Bush administration,

the greatest in my eyes is that it turned

its back on the rich Western heritage

f humane laws, rights, practices, and

conventions meant to minimize, or at

least set limits, to the unspeakable

horrors that all parties, no matter

how well intentioned, are liable to

commit in the heat of combat. As I

write, a couple of weeks after the

Hamdan decision, the nation waits

as Congress debates whether to make

that blunder permanent and clothe it

in legitimacy or reinstate the GenevaConventions. The fate of the nation

hangs in the balance.

Thomas Haskell

Samuel G. McCann Professor ofHistory, Department of History

R ce Un vers ty

Fall 05 5SprFall 05

[ E T T E R S ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

8/56

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

9/56

In todays dynamic and competitive college-

recruitment environment, the universities that

are the most successful in bringing accom-

plished, ambitious students to their campuses

are the universities with endowed scholarships

that are both large in size and number, Rice

president David Leebron says. Substantial

need-based and merit-based undergraduate

scholarships will help us shape each incoming

class with young people destined for leader-

ship positions in their careers.The new initiative targets five levels of

scholarship recognition: endowed scholarships

($50,000), centennial endowed scholarships

($100,000), distinguished university endowed

scholarships ($300,000), presidential endowed

scholarships ($500,000), and William Marsh

Rice endowed scholarships ($1 million).

Raising $100 million in scholarships will

bolster Rices ability to continue its need-

blind admissions process and to use merit

aid to compete effectively with other schools

for students who may be considering Rice,

says Julie Browning, dean for undergraduate

enrollment. The funding will be critical inlight of the universitys plans to increase its

undergraduate enrollment by 30 percent (to

approximately 3,800 students) over the next

decade as part of Rices Vision for the Second

Century. Browning notes Rice faces particu-

larly stiff competition for students in the top

5 percent of their high school classes from

academic peer institutions offering generous

merit scholarships as a recruiting tool.

Half of high school graduates in the United

States now come from families earning less

than $50,000. Rice must be prepared to dedi-

cate substantial financial aid for scholarshipsfor highly talented low- and middle-income

students so we continue to have a rich learn-

ing environment where students are admitted

for their capacity to learn and not for their

capacity to pay, Browning says.

Having a greater number of endowed

scholarships also will aid Rice in increasing

the percentage of its international undergradu-

ates to 5 percent from 3 percent. Diversity

in geographic origins and backgrounds can

help Rice students gain different perspec-

tives from around the world and help future

international leaders who study at Rice

appreciate American values.

Rice students who currently are receiv-

ing scholarships have commented on how

important the funding is to them.

I live in a middle-class family, and one of

our main concerns with college, aside from

quality, is cost, says Angelique Poteat, a

junior music composition major from Clinton,

Washington. One of my main worries was

the hefty $775-per-semester fee for studyingwith the clarinet professor, and the schol-

arship I received truly helped lighten that

load. It also will allow me to practice more

instead of taking on a second job, helping

me to be a better-prepared clarinetist, which

will give me a boost when I apply for posi-

tions in orchestras.

Sophomore Esther Tricoche, a psychology

and policy studies major from Weimar, Texas,

says, Without scholarships and financial

aid, there would have been absolutely no

chance that I would be able to afford to go

to school at Rice. I have three older sisters

in college, and I have seen them struggleto go to school full time while also work-

ing full time to pay for their tuition, and I

realized how difficult it would be if I had to

do that at Rice.

May graduate Luke Austin Stadel, an

economics major from Osage City, Kansas,

says his top choices for college were Harvard

University and Rice. Harvard couldnt give

me any scholarship money, he recalls. Rice

was more affordable to begin with, and it

was able to give me a scholarship, so that

made my decision very easy. I hope that

people like the Rice alumnus who donatedmy scholarship continue to find creating

scholarships to be worthwhile, because

this kind of financial help provides awe-

some experiences for students. It certainly

did for me.

For more information about endowing

scholarships at Rice, contact Leslie Brewster,

assistant director of constituent relations

in the development office, at 713-348-4633

or lbrewst@rice.edu, or visit www.giving.

rice.edu.B. J. Almond

Scholarships Open Doors for RecentComputer Science Graduate

Rice University Office of DevelopmentMS 81

P.O. Box 1892 Houston, TX 77251-1892

713-348-4600 www.giving.rice.edu

Eric Shaoyu Cheng 06

Rice Launches New UndergraduateScholarship InitiativeBecause scholarship offers can strongly influence whether highly gifted students

from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds and geographic regions choose

to study here or at some other prestigious university, Rice University has launched

an initiative to raise $100 million in endowed scholarships for undergraduates by2012Rices 100th anniversary.

Eric Shaoyu Cheng 06 has a bright future ahead ofhim. The Phi Beta Kappa member graduated in May with

degree in computer science and worked as an internt Microsoft this summer. Eric also completed summer

internships with National Instruments and Google.Now pursuing a PhD at Yale University, Eric believeshat these experiences, along with his undergraduate

research that resulted in published papers and conference

presentations, will help him be successful in whateverareer path he chooses.

Eric, who was a transfer student from Taipei, wasble to attend Rice thanks to two scholarships: theohn W. McKee Scholarship and the Samuel Sikes Jr.

Scholarship. These merit scholarships were crucial inhelping Eric pay for his Rice education because studentsrom other countries do not qualify for federal or statenancial assistance.

Eric says he wanted to come to Rice because it ismall, has an approachable faculty, and is one of thenest universities for programming language theory. It

lso feels like a family. I will never forget what theRice family has done for me, and when Im in a posi-ion to do so, I will establish a scholarship so I can helpistinguished students in the same way my donorsupported me.

Summer 06

[ T H R O U G H T H E S A L L Y P O R T ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

10/56

U.S., China Cooperateon High-Energy PhysicsExperiment

With $5 million in new U.S.

funding and a $2 million com-mitment from the Chinese

Academy of Sciences, Rice Uni-versity physicists are organizingthe joint U.S.Chinese pro-duction of an innovative set ofdetectors for one of the Depart-ment of Energys premier par-ticle accelerators, the RelativisticHeavy Ion Collider (RHIC) atBrookhaven National Laborato-ry (BNL) on Long Island, New

York. The project represents themost significant collaboration todate between the United Statesand China in high-energy par-ticle physics detector research.

Particle physics provides aclear example of the need forincreased cooperation in sci-ence today because no singleinstitutionindeed, no singlenationcan afford the appara-tus or command the expertiserequired to advance the bound-aries of physical knowledge inthis arena, says Rice Universitypresident David Leebron. Thisprogram is an example of the

most robust scientific coop-eration, the type that emergeswhen scientists meet and col-laborate on important areas ofmutual interest and concern.

Over the next three years,the international team, which ismanaged by Rices T.W. BonnerNuclear Laboratory, will build,install, and test a cylindricalbank of more than 23,000 par-ticle detectors in the Solenoi-dal Tracker at RHIC (STAR).Physicists at the Bonner Labfirst proposed a system like this15 years ago, says lab direc-

tor Billy Bonner, a co-principalinvestigator on the grant, butthe cost of the detectors alone

was estimated at $12 million,so we went back to the drawingoard and came up with a lessxpensive design. Without our

Chinese partners, this new sys-tem wouldnt have been feasible.Their detectors are superior inuality to any of the prototypes

we created, and their supportnd enthusiasm for the projectre unparalleled.

The STAR Time-of-Flight(TOF) detectors will allow physi-ists to help distinguish typesf subatomic particles from onenother after they are created in

head-on smash-ups between pro-tons and neutrons, giving physi-ists a brief glimpse of some of

the basic constituents of matter.Producing the detectors is

huge undertaking, and theU.S. partners will wind up mak-ing more than 2,300 electronicoards for the system, saysTAR TOF project manager

Geary Eppley, a research scientistt the Bonner Lab. Assemblynd testing will take place at the

University of Texas at Austin(UT), and well install as manyetectors as we can each summer

when RHIC is shut down. Wexpect to finish in 2009.

Participating institutionsinclude Rice, BNL, UT, theUniversity of California at Los

Angeles, the Institute of ParticlePhysics at Wuhan, the Institutef Modern Physics at LanZhou,

the Shanghai Institute of Ap-plied Physics, Tsinghua Univer-sity in Beijing, the Universityf Science and Technology of

China at Hefei, and the Insti-tute of High Energy Physics inBeijing.

Jade Boyd

This program is an

example of the most

robust scientific coop-

eration, the type that

emerges when sci-

entists meet and col-

laborate on important

areas of mutual inter-

est and concern.

David Leebron

Without our Chinese

partners, this new sys-

tem wouldnt have been

feasible. Their detectors

are superior in quality

to any of the prototypes

we created, and theirsupport and enthusi-

asm for the project are

unparalleled.

Billy Bonner

STAR TOF project manager Geary Eppley, a physicist in Rices Bonner Lab,tours high-energy physics research facilities in China.

8 Rice Sallyport

[ T H R O U G H T H E S A L L Y P O R T ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

11/56

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

12/56

Rice geochemist Andreas Lt-

tge will spearhead the team

of microbiologists, engineers,

and geochemists as they join

forces to create bacteria fuel

cells that could power palm-

size spy drones and other

electronic devices. Fueled

y a $4.4 million grant from

the Department of Defenses

Multidisciplinary University

Research Initiative, the Rice

USC research team hopes toprove its concept valid within

five years by producing a self-

propelled prototype.

The key is understanding

how the bacteria Shewanella

oneidensisattach to

and interact with

anode surfaces in-

side the fuel cell.

Anodes are the

parts of fuel cells

and batteries that

ather excess elec-trons for harvest-

ing. To optimize

its design, the team

must understand

how bacteria trans-

fer electrons to an-

ode surfaces under

a variety of condi-

tions.

There are three

primary compo-

nents in the sys-

tem: the bacteria,

the surface, andthe solution that

the bacteria are di-

esting, says Lt-

tge. Any change

in one variable will

affect the other

two, and what we want to do

is find out how to tweak each

one to optimize the perfor-

mance of the whole system.

Lttges participation in

the program grew out of a de-

ade-long collaboration with

principal investigator Ken-

neth Nealson, a USC profes-

sor who helped pioneer the

field of modern geobiology

nd the investigation of the

enetic pathways that some

microbes rely on to maintain

their respiratory metabolism

in oxygen-poor environments.

Shewanella oneidensisuses

metals instead of oxygen to

fully metabolize its food.Since this organism is ca-

pable of passing electrons di-

rectly to solid metal oxides,

Nealson explains, it is not

particularly surprising that it

can do the same to

the anode of the

fuel cell. It seems

a reasonable step

to apply the same

approaches to un-

derstanding cur-

rent production.What is new here

is the incorpora-

tion of colleagues

in chemistry, geol-

ogy, engineering,

and evolutionary

biology to opti-

mize the entire

system, not just

the bacteria.

he research-

ers still have a lot

to learn about the

chemical cues thatthe Shewanella

useboth individ-

ually and in colo-

niesbut they are

incredibly efficient

at converting or-

anic inputs to electricity. We

re confident, Lttge says,

that theyll be great candi-

ates for our fuel cells.

Jade Boyd

Introducing the Worlds First Motorized Nanocar

In follow-up work to last years groundbreaking invention of the

worlds first single-molecule car, chemists at Rice University have

produced the first motorized version of their tiny nanocar.

We want to construct things from the bottom up, one molecule at

time, in much the same way that biological cells use enzymes to

ssemble proteins and other supermolecules, says James Tour, the

Chao Professor of Chemistry, professor of mechanical engineering and

materials science, and professor of computer science. Everything

hats produced through biologyfrom the tallest redwood to the

largest whaleis built one molecule at a time. Nanocars and other

ynthetic transporters may prove to be a suitable alternative for

bottom-up systems where biological methods arent practical.

The nanocar consists of a rigid chassis and four alkyne axles that

pin freely and swivel independently of one another. It measures just

-by-4 nanometers and is about the same width as a strand of DNA,but much shorter. Approximately 20,000 of them could be parked

ide by side across the diameter of a human hair. They are the first

nanoscale vehicles with an internal motor.

The motorized model of the nanocar is powered by light. Its rotating

motor, a molecular framework that was developed by Ben Feringa

t the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, was modified by

ours group so it would attach in line with the nanocars chassis.

hen light strikes the motor, it rotates in one direction, pushing the

ar along like a paddlewheel. The four buckyball wheels that were

used in the original version of the nanocar drained energy from the

motor and were replaced with spherical molecules of carbon, hydro-

en, and boron called p-carborane.Initial tests carried out in a bath of toluene solvent found that the

motor rotates as designed. Follow-up tests are under way to determine

hether the motorized car can be driven across a flat surface.

The research appeared in the April 13 issue of rganic Letters.

Other members of the research team include postdoctoral associ-

te Jean-Franois Morin and doctoral student Yasuhiro Shirai. The

research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Welch

Foundation, Honda, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research

Council of Canada, and Le Fonds Qubcois de la Recherche sur la

Nature et les Technologies.Jade Boyd

Bacteria Power

Rice geochemist Andreas

Lttge will spearhead the

team of microbiologists,

engineers, and geochemists

as they join forces to cre-

ate bacteria fuel cells that

could power palm-size spy

drones and other electronic

devices.

The U.S. Air Force has long been interested in microscale air vehicles

some as small as insectsto serve as spy drones, but it has been stymied

by the lack of a suitable, compact power source. But a diverse team of

researchers from Rice and the University of Southern California (USC)

thinks it has discovered a power source small enough: bacteria.

10 Rice Sallyport

Grap

hic

byYasuhiro

Shirai,Rice

University

[ T H R O U G H T H E S A L L Y P O R T ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

13/56

On the nanoscale, the shapeof a particle plays a critical rolein how it interacts with light,says Naomi Halas, the Stanley C.Moore Professor in Electrical and

Computer Engineering, profes-sor of chemistry, and director ofLANP. We were looking for anew shape that would combinethe best properties of the twomost optically use-ful shapesspheresand rods. Its justa coincidence thatthat shape turnedout to look exactlylike a grain of rice.

The new par-ticles, which arebeing examined

for possible appli-cations in molecu-lar imaging, cancertreatment, medicaldiagnostics, andchemical sens-ing, are similar in structure tonanoshells, spherical nanoparti-cles invented by Halas in 1998.Both are made of a noncon-ducting core that is covered bya metallic shellin the case ofnanorice, a nonconducting ironoxide called hematite covered

with gold. The core size andshell thickness vary slightly, butthe nanorice particles describedin the Nano Letterspaper wereabout 360 nanometers long and

about 80 nanometers in diam-eter1/20th the size of a redblood cell.

Research over the past decadehas shown that some nanoscale

structureslikenanoshells and na-noriceact as su-perlenses that canmplify light wavesnd focus them on

spots far smallerthan a wavelengthf light. When

light of a specific

frequency strikesplasmonsripplesin the ocean oflectrons that flowonstantly across

the surface ofmetalsthat oscillate at a com-patible frequency, the light isconverted into electrical energythat propagates, as plasmons,though an adjacent nanostruc-ture. This allows scientists andengineers to examine minutedetails of the adjacent surfaces

Rice Universitys School of

Architectures graduate pro-gram placed seventhahead

of such prestigious schools as

Massachusetts Institute of

Technology, Yale, and Princ-

etonin the 2006 national

ranking of architecture schools

by DesignIntelligencefor the

Design Futures Council. Last

year, Rices graduate program

was No. 9 nationally.

Rices undergraduate pro-

gram in architecture maintained

its No. 3 spot from last year in

a tie with California Polytechnic

State Universityright behind

No. 1-ranked Cornell University

and No. 2-ranked University of

Texas at Austin.

The rankings were deter-

mined by a survey of more than

400 U.S. architecture firms and

organizations of various sizes.

In reference to graduates hiredover the past five years, the

survey participants were asked

which schools best prepared

students for real-world practice.

Only schools accredited by the

National Architectural Accredit-

ing Board were eligible.

For more information on the

rankings, visit www.di.net.

with greater accuracy.

Halas and her colleagues planto capitalize on this by movingrains of nanorice next to pro-

teins and unmapped features onthe surfaces of cells, hoping toet a far clearer picture of them

than is possible with currenttechnology. The researchersalready have shown, for ex-ample, that nanoshells are about10,000 times more effective atsurface-enhanced Raman scat-tering than traditional methods.Raman scattering is a type ofspectrographic technique used

y medical researchers, drugdesigners, chemists, and oth-ers to determine the precisechemical makeup of materials.Nanorice possesses a far greaterability to change the shape of ametal at the nanoscale than evennanoshells and another com-monly studied optical nanopar-ticle, the nanorod, indicatingthat nanorice is the most sensi-tive surface plasmon resonancenanosensor yet devised.

The research appeared in theApril 12 issue ofNano Letters.The co-authors include PeterNordlander, professor of physicsand astronomy and in electricaland computer engineering, andraduate students Hui Wang,

Daniel Brandl, and Fei Le. Itwas funded by the NationalScience Foundation, the U.S.

Army Research Office, the U.S.Air Force Office of ScientificResearch, NASA, and the Rob-ert A. Welch Foundation.

Jade Boyd

We were looking

for a new shape

that would combine

the best properties

of the two most

optically useful

shapesspheres

and rods. Its just

a coincidence that

that shape turnedout to look exactly

like a grain of rice.

Naomi Halas

Architecture ProgramRanks Nationally

Summer 06 11

Researchers Create New Nanoparticle

Who better to invent nanorice than researchersat Rice University? But marketing and whimsywerent what motivated the team of engineers,physicists, and chemists from Rices Labora-tory for Nanophotonics (LANP) to make rice-shaped particles of gold and iron oxide.

[ T H R O U G H T H E S A L L Y P O R T ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

14/56

Studies have long shown that low birth weights can have an impact

on cognitive and motor development later in a childs life. A new Rice

University study also has found that normal birth weightat least,among male infantsis related to how readily they focus on a visual

stimulus, an ability that later may play a role in some attention deficit

hyperactivity disorders.

In his study, published in Infant Behavior and Development, James Danne-miller, the Lynette S. Autrey Professor of Psychology, choseto focus on visual orienting as one of the earliest dimensionsof infants typical development. Visual orienting is the earli-est and most-developed of our abilities to focus and playsa role in our cognitive development, explains Dannemiller.The fact that it is associated with something physiological,namely birth weight, suggests the further importance of pre-natal development.

To examine the relation between birth weight and visualorienting, Dannemiller studied a sample of 944 infants between2 and 5 months old. Information about the babies birth weightand gestational age was collected from the parents.

Infant boys who are heavier at birth, but within the nor-mal weight range, are more likely to focus toward a visual stimulus, Dan-nemiller says. On the other hand, while girls visually orient on average aswell as boys, their birth weights appear to have no connection to this typeof attention.

Visual orienting, according to Dannemiller, may be involved in some typesof attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). While ADHD is oftenthought of as an inability to sustain attention, he says, it also may be theresult of overactive orienting with anything in the environment grabbing the

persons attention.The discrepancy between genders in Dannemillers findings is similar to

data reported from a study in England that saw a correlation between normalbirth weight and intelligence measures in adult life. In that study, researchersalso reported a stronger correlation for males than females.

Dannemiller also discovered that abnormally large male and female babieswithin his samplethose with birth weights of more than 10 poundsshowed less inclination to orient their eyes toward a visual stimulus. One

of the causes of this condition, called macrosomia, is un-controlled diabetes in mothers during pregnancy. None of themothers of the 30 macrosomic infants in Dannemillers samplehad this disorder, however. I am gathering more details onthe pregnancies of these mothers, Dannemiller says, todetermine the reasons behind their babies high weights andwhy, in their cases, the ability to orient decreased for bothmale and female infants.

Dannemiller cautions that the variation in birth weight as-sociated with visual orienting is too small to be meaningfulat the level of the individual child. As he explains it, if the ori-enting measure were analogous to an IQ test with a standarddeviation of 15 points, then the effect size would equal three

IQ points per kilogram of additional birth weight.The studys results, however, do offer clues as to how various prenatal

factors within a population are related to behavioral development in infantsand children.

Disorders of attention can impair the childs ability to learn, Dannemillersays. So it is important to understand how these processes develop dur-ing the early period when infants are just beginning to explore their worldsvisually.

B. J. Almond

Variations in Birth Weight Related to Boys Early Cognitive Development

James Dannemiller

12 Rice Sallyport

[ T H R O U G H T H E S A L L Y P O R T ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

15/56

Last year, about 80 percent ofthe firms that outsourced theirlabor by way of maquiladorafacilities in Mexico were fromthe United States. Mexicoslower labor costs and proxim-ity to the United States shouldexplain why such manufacturingarrangements are on the rise.

A new Rice study shows,however, that this strategy may

not be as cost effective as be-lieved. Except for companies

with poor financial performanc-es, those that locate in Mexicodont necessarily improve theirreturn on investments sig-nificantly more than those whokeep jobs in the United States.

Although there are clear ben-efits for having maquiladora op-erations in Mexico, there are alsopotential costs firms may or maynot be taking into account beforethey move their operations, says

Francisco Roman, assistant pro-fessor of management at RicesJesse H. JonesGraduate School ofManagement.

In addition totransaction costs,companies haveto deal with ma-

jor infrastructureproblems that exist

in Mexico, particu-larly in border areas

where many ma-quiladoras are lo-cated. Cheap laborcosts also can be offset by thecosts incurred from Mexicos

very high turnover rate, a poorlyeducated labor pool, and Mexi-can laws requiring employersto provide an extensive rangeof employee benefits. Theadditionalsometimes hid-dencosts to operate in Mexico

cheaper labor, says Roman.Since 1999, Roman has con-

ducted fieldwork and analyzedthe effects of maquiladora pro-duction on the performance of48 firms with significant laboroutsourcing operations. He

compared the ma-quiladora group

with a controlgroup consisting offirms in the sameindustries but op-erating mainly inthe United States.Both the control

firms and maquila-dora also had simi-lar performanceaverages over thethree years prior

to the opening of the Mexican-ased facilities.The average return on invest-

ments for the maquiladora firmsdid show improvement or nodecline between the three yearsprior to their move to Mexicoand the three years after theyopened the facility there. How-

,their performance with theirindustries overall performance,he did not find a statisticaldifference between the twogroups.

One reason there was anyimprovement at all among thetransplanted companies Romanstudied may have been that they

were having financial prob-lems before moving to Mexico.Their profits were decreasing,and their costs were rising, hesays. The fact they were notcost effective is the main rea-son why they decided to go to

Mexico.Roman also believes that ma-quiladora firms may face fewercommitted costs in Mexico asopposed to the United States,

where firms still have to pay theirworkers whether demand fortheir product is up or down. Thehigh turnover and absenteeismin Mexico may allow firms theremore flexibility with regard tolabor costs, particularly if salesare seasonal or cyclical.

Debra Thomas

Does Outsourcing to MexicoImprove Investment Returns?

For close to four decades, U.S. firms have sought to take advantage

of cheaper labor in Mexico by shipping materials and equipment

on a duty- and tariff-free basis for assembly or manufacturing inmaquiladora facilities.

Francisco Roman

Summer 06 13

[ T H R O U G H T H E S A L L Y P O R T ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

16/56

In the words of Irving Berlin, The sun never shines so bright, nor

do things seem to go so right, when were in love. Or smell so

intensely, according to a Rice University psychologist.

Lyricists have written about it, and psychologists continue to study

it: the notion that our moods influence how we perceive the world

around us. When it comes to our sense of smell, theres definitely a

correlation between a persons perception and state of mind, but its

not a straightforward one, according to Denise Chen, an assistant

professor of psychology at Rice. A happy mood state does not make

ordinary smells more pleasant or bad smells more toler-

able, Chen says. However, the intensity of smells are

perceived differently depending on whether a person

is feeling emotional or not. Smells seem stronger, for

example, when a man is feeling emotional, be it hap-

piness, sadness, or hostility.

In a paper published in the journal Chemical Sense,

Chen reports on the first study of the effect of emotion

on olfaction in men and women. Funded by the National

Institutes of Health, the research was co-authored by

Pamela Dalton of the Monell Chemical Senses Centerin Philadelphia.

Study participants watched a series of videos that

were selected with the intention of eliciting emotions

of happiness, sadness, hostility, or a neutral mood. Following each

video, they completed a short questionnaire on how the segment

made them feel. They were told that at some point during the experi-

ment a smell would be introduced into their room. The smells were

a pleasant citrus scent, an unpleasant fecal odor, or a neutral odor

consisting of a very low concentration of rubbing alcohol. Every time

participants smelled an odor, they were instructed to press a bell, rate

the odors strength, and describe what it smelled like. We measured

how quickly the subjects responded to each smell and how pleasant

and intense they found it to be, Chen explains.

Based on prior studies, Chen and Dalton had expected womens

sense of smell to be more influenced by emotion. While there are

no differences between men and women regarding their overall

sensitivity to smell, women generally are more able than men to

discriminate, identify, and name smells. A number of prior studies

showed that women are more emotional and better at detecting

emotional signals, Chen says. We were surprised to discover that,

under certain conditions, men are influenced more strongly by their

emotional state than women.

In addition to studying the effect of emotion, Chen and Dalton

also were interested in how personalities influenced a

persons sense of smell. Their subjects were prescreened

for specific personality characteristics, including neuroti-

cism or moodiness versus stability and anxiety versus

calmness.

Prior studies found that anxious and moody people are

more likely to attend to negative information. However,

when it comes to smells, Chen and Dalton report that

these individuals had heightened sensitivities to both

positive and negative odors over neutral smells. Anxious

women perceived pleasant or unpleasant smells strongerthan the neutral smell, while calm women perceived them

equally strongly. Moody men responded to positive or

negative odors faster than the neutral smell, while stable

men responded to them equally fast.

Chen believes that studies on how emotion and personality influ-

ence sensory perceptions not only have inherent scientific importance

but also may have clinical implications for the understanding of the

causes of the sick building and multiple chemical syndromes.

The behavioral study of human olfaction is still at a beginning

stage, Chen says. Results like these form an integral part of a mul-

tipronged approach to the understanding of human olfaction that is

being carried out here and elsewhere.B. J. Almond

Scents AreMore IntenseWhen EmotionsAre in Motion

Denise Chen

14 Rice Sallyport

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

17/56

If someone comes up with anew mathematical theory thats300 pages long with a lot ofcomplex calculations, then youmight suppose that the reasonit hadnt been done previously

was that it was too difficult,

says Tim Cochran, professor ofmathematics and fellow knottheorist. However, real truthshould be simpler and morebeautiful than that, and this ideaof Shellys has the ring of truthto it. The moment I heard it, Iknew she had hit on somethingquite special.

Harveys discovery appliesto a longstanding problem

within knot theory, but it canbest be understood within thelarger context of topology.

Topology is a branch of maththat is sometimes called rub-ber-sheet geometry becausetopologists study objects thatretain their spatial propertieseven when they are twisted intoodd shapes. A classic exampleis the topological equivalent ofa donut and a coffee cup. Thedonut could be stretched intothe shape of the cup, where thehole in the center of the donutbecomes the handle on the sideof the cup. Thus the property of

having one hole is preserved.One of the underlying in-

sights of topology is that somegeometric problems depend noton the precise shape of objectsbut only on the way they areconnected. In the classic ex-

ample, 18th-century mathema-tician Leonhard Euler provedthat it was impossible to finda route through the Russian

city of Knigsberg that crossedeach of the citys seven bridges

just once. Topologically, theproblem derives from the waythe bridges connect the majorislands of the city, so the re-sult would be the same even ifthe primary shape of the town

werein the rubber sheet anal-ogytwisted into a complexthree-dimensional shape.

In knot theory, topologistsare concerned with the spatialarrangements of unbroken linesthat are folded in knots, liketangled kite string or fishing

line. While the study of knots

may sound esoteric, it does ap-ply to real-world problems.DNA, for example, are long,unbroken strings of nucleotidesthat fold naturally into complex,knotted clumps. The knottingand linking of strands of DNA isa by-product of natural cellularprocesses, and their unknottingis necessary for the cell to sur-

vive. It is known that enzymesdubbed topoisomerases havethe job of unknotting thoseclumps, and topologists haveeen collaborating with cancer

researchers in recent years to at-tempt to find novel cancer treat-ments that capitalize on that.

Topologists are keen to find

ways to prove that two shapesthat may look very different

are truly equivalent. One ofthe overarching goals in knottheory is to find a method thatcan determine equivalency inevery case. Great attention haseen paid to finding math-

ematical measures of a knotscomplexity that can then beused to describe similarities anddifferences between knottedshapes. Sometimes these mea-sures are actual numbers, likethe so-called unknotting num-er of a knot, and sometimes

they are more sophisticated

algebraic objects like matricesor polynomials. One such mea-sure developed 100 years agoby Frenchman Henri Poincar,

which is reminiscent of EulersKnigsberg bridges problem,uses algebra to measure all pos-sible paths that can be navigatedin the space surrounding theknot, without ever touching thestring itself. This collection ofdata is called the fundamentalgroup of the knot.

I realized that theres analgebraic structure within the

fundamental group of a knot,Harvey explains. Some of thesepaths are more robust thanothers. What Tim and I subse-quently determined is that thisstructure remains unchangedas you try to unravel the knots.It even survives in four dimen-sions, which turns out to be aparticularly handy tool for knottheorists because four-dimen-sional problemslike the jig-gling of a DNA strand within acellhappen to be some of the

most difficult topological prob-lems to understand.Harveys observation is so

fundamental that it pertainsto the study of many other to-pological objects, and theseapplications form part of herongoing research at Rice. Theresearch was described in theNovember issue of the journalGeometry and Topologyand wasfunded by the National ScienceFoundation.

Jade Boyd

Knotty problems beg for explanations that are both elegant and broadly

descriptivethe kinds of ideas that arent easy to come by. But Ricemathematician Shelly Harvey beat the odds when she discovered an

underlying structure that had gone unnoticed for more than 100 years

within the mathematical descriptions that topologists most often use to

characterize complex knots.

One of the underlying insights of topology is that some

geometric problems depend not on the precise shape of

objects but only on the way they are connected.

Spring 06 15

A Knotty butUseful Pattern

[ T H R O U G H T H E S A L L Y P O R T ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

18/56

Emmanuel Chang sees a future asa physician and scientist special-izing in ophthalmology, probablyin an academic medical centersetting. For him and a select groupof similarly motivated students,a medicaldoctoral joint degreeprogram offered in conjunctionwith Rices Department of Bio-engineering and Baylor Collegeof Medicine offers the best ofboth worlds.

Chang, who studied biomedical andelectrical engineering as an undergradu-ate, was attracted to the Medical ScientistTraining Program for the opportunity tolearn in two world-class institutions andthe chance to combine laboratory researchwith hands-on healing.

It is very important to me to be ableto help others, he says. I think I canreally make a difference by applying myresearch interests in nanotechnology andimaging to ophthalmology, and Im espe-cially interested in pediatrics.

Its a rigorous program, and studentsare usually in their mid-30s before theyenter the professional world. But thoseholding dual degrees are rareonly about10 percent of the faculty at Baylorandthey are in demand for clinical medicine,research, and teaching.

These students are highly soughtafter, as you can imagine, notes KathyCrawford, director of administrative op-erations for the Baylor program. Really,they have their pick of anywhere theywant to go.

The program, which began almost 30years ago, admits only a small percentageof applicants. Demand is growing, and injust four years, the number of studentspursuing their doctorate in bioengineeringhas grown to 18 from just seven.

These are absolutely phenomenalstudents, says Rebecca Richards-Kortum,the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioen-gineering and Electrical and Computer

Engineering at Rice. They are academi-cally talented, of course, but theyre alsocompassionate and inventive. Not only dothey want to participate in patient care,they want to make that care better.

During the first 24 months of the pro-gram, students attend medical school atBaylor, completing basic science coursesand some clinical rotations. Then theycomplete doctoral work at Rice. Finally,they return to Baylor for about a year tofinish clinical work and receive their medicaldegree. Some stop there, but most go onto another three to five years of residency,

perhaps followed by a fellowship. Programsof this type are few, Crawford says. Withinthat elite group, the RiceBaylor partner-ship is one of the premier options, in partdue to the close collaborative relationshipbetween the two institutions.

Chang, a student working in the lab ofRebekah Drezek, the Stanley C. MooreAssistant Professor in Bioengineering andin Electrical and Computer Engineering,says the way the program is organizedadds to its advantages. You actually getclinical experience before working onyour PhD, unlike most schools where yousit in a classroom for two years with nopatient contact and then go to get yourdoctorate, he explains. With no patientcontact for five years, its hard to keep upyour motivation.

Geography also plays a part in theprograms quality and its attraction tobioengineering students, Chang adds.There are very few bioengineering MD/PhD programs because most medical schoolsdont have local access to a high-qualityengineering program like the one at Rice,he says. Because the two institutionsare so close and collaborate so well, theprogram is quite interdisciplinary. Also,Rices bioengineering department has ahuge clinical focus.

The number of bioengineering programsacross the country is growing, Richards-Ko-rtum says, creating a larger pool of students

with engineering backgrounds. She predictsthe interest in medicaldoctoral joint degreeprograms will grow as healthcare continuesto become increasingly technology-focused.And, she says, Rice increasingly will stressbench-to-bedside research.

A big focus of the engineering de-partment over the next five years will betranslational research, Richards-Kortumsays. Students in this program are at theforefront of understanding the limits ofclinical medicine, but at the same time, theyare able to design technology to eliminatethe problems.

The dual degree will position Chang

perfectly for his goal: helping people aroundthe world. Academics tend to pursue thingsthat are interesting to them, he notes.However, their research may not alwaysresult in clinical significance for patientmanagement. Having an MD helps youunderstand the clinical standards of careand directs your focus toward clinical issuesat the bedside. On the flip side, an MD witha PhD better realizes what research toolsare available.

Dawn Dorsey

Rice Collaborates with Baylor to Offer Medical Scientist Training Program

Emmanuel Chang, a student in the medicaldoctoral joint degree program, works in a lab at Rice University.

16 Rice Sallyport

[ S T U D E N T S ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

19/56

Students in the News

Graduate Students Win Support For Research on Deafness

Bioengineering graduate student Louise Organ, a fourth-year student in the laboratory of Robert Raphael,was awarded a National Research Service Award from the National Institute on Deafness and OtherCommunication Disorders, which is part of the National Institutes of Health. The award, a PredoctoralRuth L. Kirschstein Fellowship, includes two-and-a-half years of funding.

Organ is the second of Raphaels students to receive a Kirschstein Fellowship in the past two years.

The other, Jenni Greeson, won the award last year for a proposal to apply advanced optical imagingtechniques to study the mechanical and biophysical properties of the protein prestin.

Both students conduct research that, according to Raphael, is leading to a greater understanding ofnatures most unique molecular motor. Organs research also involves prestin, a protein found in outerhair cells of the inner ear that converts electrical signals into physical motion, allowing the outer haircells to act as biological audio amplifiers. Organ hopes to understand how changes in the structuralproperties of outer hair cell membranes affect the performance of prestin.

The research could help answer questions about why certain drugs, like aspirin, can cause temporarydeafness, and may help scientists identify new classes of drugs that could allow some deaf peopleto hear for the very first time. Moreover, understanding how prestin operates lays the foundation forpotential applications in bionanotechnology.

Computer Programming Team Wins Regional Competition

For the first time since 1985, a group of Rice students participated in the Tech Olympics, where they

competed again 80 other teams from six continents in solving computer programming problems.The Rice Blue Team, comprised of Wiess College students Paul Etienne Vouga, Gregory Malecha, and

Ryan Prichard, earned a berth in the Tech Olympics by winning the 2005 South Central USA RegionalProgramming Contest, sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), at LouisianaState University last November.

Rices Department of Computer Science sent a second team, the Gray teamincluding Will RiceCollege senior Shao Yu Cheng and Sid Richardson College freshmen Jae Woo Jeon and Derek Ses-sionsto the regional contest. That team placed 20th in a contest of 58 teams.

The Tech Olympics, officially called the ACM Programming Contest World Finals, was held in SanAntonio in April and was won by Russias Saratov State University. ACM programming contests areintense five-hour sessions that require teams of three undergraduates to use their computer program-ming skills to solve eight complex problems under a demanding deadline. The students are judged notonly on finding the correct solutions, but also on their programming speed.

Grad Student Earns Top Nano Honors

The Nanotechnology Foundation of Texas has awarded Rice University doctoral student Vinit Murthyits 2006 George Kozmetsky Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Nanotechnology. The awardincludes a $5,000 prize.

Murthy, a fifth-year chemical engineering doctoral student in the research group of Michael Wong,assistant professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering and assistant professor in chemistry,studies nanoparticle assembly. Along with Wong, Murthy co-discovered a simple method to encapsulateany water-soluble compound easily and without damage.

The method is the most environmentally sensitive approach yet devised for making tiny hollow spherescalled microcapsules. Microcapsule research is one of the most active fields in applied nanotechnology,with dozens of companies either developing or using the tiny containersusually smaller than livingcellsto deliver everything from drugs and imaging agents to perfumes and flavor enhancers.

Murthy has been very successful in creatively applying the physical and colloid chemistry of nano-particles to the synthesis of functional materials, Wong notes. His PhD research provides a greatexample of nanotechnology research performed at the basic science level that can readily transition

into commercial products, Wong says. This award is a wonderful and well-deserved honor.The Kozmetsky Awards are the first awards of their kind to be offered in the United States to stu-

dents working in fields related to nanotechnology. They are given annually to the top two graduatestudents in Texas. The award funds must be used for stipends, travel, lab supplies, books, and othercosts directly associated with the students research.

Armed Forces Scholarship Allows Student to Pursue Graduate Degree

Jingyi Li, a masters student in the Department of Computer Science, received a $3,000 scholarshipfrom the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association to complete her graduate stud-ies. Li was one of five students worldwide in 2006 to win the award, called the Ralph W. ShraderDiversity Scholarship.

Reported by Jade Boyd and Katherine Manuel

Summer 06 17

[ S T U D E N T S ]

8/14/2019 Rice Magazine Summer 2006

20/56

Wagoner ScholarshipsUnderscore Importance of

International Education

Sixteen undergraduatesand four graduate students

have been named 2006 re-cipients of the Wagoner

Foreign Study Scholarship,

the most prestigious study-

abroad award offered by

Rice University. This marks

a major commitment by theuniversity to further the in-

ternationalization agenda ar-

ticulated in the Vision for the

Second Century.

Through the foresight

and generosity of alumnusJames Wagoner, said Rice

president David Leebron,

we are able to help students

have the meaningful interna-

tional experiences that are an

essential part of a Rice under-graduate education.

The value of each schol-

arship depends on financial

need and the cost of the

proposed program of study

and ranges from $5,000to $15,000. The selection

criteria are scholastic at-

tainment, financial need,

dedication, character, and

career prospects. The Faculty

Committee on Scholarshipsand Awards, chaired by so-

ciology professor Elizabeth

Long, serves as the Wagoner

selection panel.

The Wagoner Foreign

Study Scholarships were en-dowed by the late James

T. Wagoner 29 in honor

and memory of his parents,

Robert S. and Coralee Talley

Wagoner, and of his wife,

Frances Poe Wagoner. In re-

tirement, Wagoner, a busi-nessman, traveled the world

nd built grandfather clocks

y hand, two of which are

isplayed in Cohen House

nd OConnor House. He

ied in 1996.

Undergraduate student

recipients, their majors, and

the nations where they will

study are:Jared Blakely,

linguistics, China; Gregory

Brown, anthropology, South

Africa; Francisco Castillo,

music, the Netherlands;David Kemp, psychology,

Cambodia;Jaymin Kim, an-

thropology, Asian studies,

nd history, China; Meagan

Mauter, civil and environ-

mental engineering and histo-

ry, England;Yusef Neggers,

conomics and mathematical

conomic analysis, England;

Thuy Van Pham, cell biol-

gy, Vietnam;Alexander

Roinesdal, history, Brazil;

Alexander Triantaphyllis,

Hispanic studies and politi-

al science, Argentina; and

Marissa Winship, music,

Spain. Jo Ling Kent, Jason

Lee, and Ian MacCormack

lso earned Wagoner scholar-

ships, but turned them down

to pursue study through

Fulbright scholarships

instead.

Alison Takemura, a bio-

hemistry major, will study in

the United Kingdom through

her Wagoner scholarship. She

also earned a Udall Scholar,

the first Rice student in eight

years to do so. The $5,000

scholarship, which honorsthe late Arizona congress-

man Morris K. Udall, recog-

nizes the most outstanding

American sophomores and

juniors who are committed

to careers related to the en-

vironment. The competition

for the Udall Scholarship has

ecome more intense in re-

cent years, and only about 15

percent of the 80 recipients

are sophomores, which fur-

ther underscores Takemuras

achievement.Wagoner recipient Tito

Escobar, a triple major in

political science, Hispanic

studies, and policy studies,

will study in Brazil. Escobar

also has been named Rices

2006 Center for the Study of

the Presidency Fellow. The

prestigious fellowship pro-

vides a yearlong experience

of mentored research on a

topic related to the American

presidency. He will focus on

the history of U.S. presiden-

tial decision making on Latin

America.

Graduate student recipi-

ents of Wagoner scholar-

ships, their areas of study,

and the nations where they

will study are: Rev. Israel

Ahimbisibwe, religious stud-

ies, Israel; Stephanie Hunt,

music, the Netherlands;

Valerie Olson , anthropology,

the Netherlands; andAyla

Samli, anthropology, Turkey.

Students to Study AbroadMore Earn Fulbrights

Four students and one

staff member have received

Fulbright scholarships totravel abroad, where they

will study such diverse top-

ics as the Tibetan language,

energy policy and womensrights in China, and youth

volunteerism.

The student recipients,their majors, and the nations

where they will study are:

Jason Lee, biochemistry andpolicy studies, China;Jo LingKent, Asian studies, history,

and policy studies, China; Ian

MacCormack, mathematicsand religious studies, Nepal;

and Brian Viliunas, music,Norway.

Kelly Wright, politicalscience and Asian stud-

ies, declined the Fulbright

to accept the 2006 Royand Hazel Zeff Memorial