The 2013 Houston Area Survey shows that tolerance is prevalent in our region. The results, according to institute co-director Stephen Klineberg, may reflect the region’s growing ethnic diversity, younger residents’ acceptance of change and the emergence of live-and-let-live “tolerant traditionalists.” Part of a larger survey of attitudes in the 10-county Houston metropolitan region, the 32nd [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Rice University’
Another reason why graduate school sucks
I just shook my head when I read this. English Department teaching fellows at the University of Houston ended their sit-in Monday after UH Chancellor Renu Khator committed $1 million a year to improve their wages – potentially enough money to bring the roughly 70 teaching fellows up to the living wage for which they’d [...]
Green batteries
This is very cool. In one more step of a global effort to develop greener battery technology, researchers at Rice University say they have found a way to replace a costly metallic component in lithium-ion batteries with material from a common plant. While many of today’s lithium-ion batteries incorporate cobalt, which has to be mined [...]
More on metal recycling
The Chron has a followup story on metal recycling and hexavalent chromium. Houston air experts plan to deepen their investigation into the air outside metal recycling companies after their measurements showed – apparently for the first time – that the businesses could be a source of potent fumes known to cause cancer. “We are searching [...]
Why not a university?
Tory Gattis has an interesting suggestion for that 136 acre tract of land east of downtown. This parcel of land could be the last opportunity for Houston to add a major college campus to the city. We should consider something similar to what NYC just did with Roosevelt Island, where after a long evaluation process [...]
Calculate your storm risk
That hurricane risk calculator is now ready for your input. Using the Storm Risk Calculator produced by the city of Houston and Rice University, users can enter an address and learn the risks for rainfall, power outage, storm surge and rain damage. For example, Houston Mayor Annise Parker’s house in Midtown has a low risk [...]
Houston area transit preferences in 2012
The 2012 Houston Area Survey is in the can, and though the data has not been published to their website yet, there have been a few preview tidbits tossed out to whet everyone’s appetite. One of them has to do with attitudes about transit and neighborhoods. But perhaps the most dramatic change, [Rice professor Stephen] [...]
Unconventional
Looking for something interesting to do today? Consider going to Rice’s UnConvention. For 100 years, Rice faculty, researchers and students have believed that anything is possible — that drive, devotion and innovative thinking can turn ideas into achievements. We call it unconventional wisdom. Help us celebrate an unconventional century at the UnConvention, a campuswide open [...]
Our diverse region
Cool. The Houston region is now the most ethnically diverse large metropolitan area in the country, surpassing New York City. Two suburbs – Missouri City and Pearland – have become even more diverse than the city of Houston. Other suburbs aren’t far behind. These findings are from a report released Monday by Rice University researchers, [...]
Stephen Klineberg, superstar
I want to see this. David Thompson and his colleagues at ttweak are best-known for their work on the quirky “Houston – It’s Worth It” campaign, paying homage to the yawning potholes, soul-sapping humidity and all the other things that help to define the sprawling city. But they may have found the quintessential symbol of [...]
C-USA and and MWC make merger plans official
We knew it was coming. With their respective leagues being picked apart by the month to fulfill others’ expansion plans, 16 presidents and chancellors from Conference USA and Mountain West Conference met Sunday in Dallas, knowing they needed to do something. The result is a new league with a wide scope that goes coast-to-coast and [...]
Cover that cough
Fascinating. A decade-long study found passengers on certain Metro bus routes were more likely to have tuberculosis, raising the question of whether they contracted the disease on the bus. “We see a higher prevalence of clustering with bus riders,” said Edward Graviss, an epidemiologist who collected the data. “It’s not direct evidence that transmission occurred [...]
The Ike Floodgate
We have a recommendation for how to prepare for a future Hurricane Ike. A giant floodgate at the entrance to the Houston Ship Channel, coupled with a 130-mile wetlands recreation area, should be built to protect Houston from hurricane storm surges, a research team from five Texas universities recommended Monday. The two-year study led by [...]
Rice Stadium renovations coming
This is something Rice fans have been hearing about for a long time. Calling it “a critical investment in the future of Rice football,” university officials on Thursday unveiled a plan to build a two-story football facility at the south end of Rice Stadium. The proposed 80,000-square-foot complex will house training and locker rooms, a [...]
Friday random ten: The final frontier
This is a little late, as this was happening while I was doing the Songs of the Century, but here’s my tribute to the last flight of the space shuttle: 1. Space Oddity – David Bowie 2. Space Truckin’ – Deep Purple 3. Outer Space – Ace Frehley 4. Hillbillies From Outer Space – The [...]
Time for the annual “Are we ready for a big storm?” story
The answer, of course, is no, not really. After Tropical Storm Allison’s devastating floods, the Houston area widened its bayous and hardened its infrastructure. After Hurricane Rita’s deadly gridlock, the state revamped storm communications and evacuation plans. Yet since Hurricane Ike’s enormous surge wiped out coastal communities and its $30 billion in damages dwarfed those [...]
KUHA debuts Monday
KTRU is now off the air, but 91.7 on your dial won’t be dead air for much longer. KUHA, the spawn of the KUHF takeover of 91.7, begins broadcasting Monday. KUHA Classical programs will include The Front Row, Exploring Music, Metropolitan Opera, Performance Today and From the Top plus recordings from Houston cultural institutions such [...]
KTRU’s last day will be Thursday
29-95: Last week the FCC approved a license transfer from Rice University to the University of Houston which was the end of the road for Rice’s student-run KTRU/91.7 radio station. [Wednesday] came news of the shut off date. KTRU will no longer be broadcast from 91.7 starting at 6 a.m. on April 28. KTRU plans [...]
FCC approves KTRU sale
It’s official now. The Federal Communications Commission on Friday approved the controversial sale of Rice University’s radio station, KTRU, to the University of Houston. The decision comes after a group called the Friends of KTRU filed a petition and three radio listeners submitted objections hoping to scuttle the deal. They argued the sale violated FCC [...]
More on the KTRU/KPFT deal
After I read about the KTRU/KPFT deal, in which KTRU will broadcast over one of KPFT’s HD radio channels, I wondered what the folks at Save KTRU thought of it. At the time I posted, there wasn’t anything on the website about the deal, but there is now: Friends of KTRU, a group of students, [...]
KTRU joins forces with KPFT
KTRU will broadcast over the air again, just from a different spot on the dial. [Rice University] said Saturday that KTRU will broadcast over a digital channel assigned to radio station KPFT, beginning Feb. 14. “We’re excited,” said Joey Yang, KTRU station manager and a junior at Rice. “We think HD radio is going to [...]
UH gets a boost in its rankings
Good news for UH: The University of Houston’s quest to become the state’s next top tier university — a designation that would put it alongside Rice University, the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University — received a major boost Tuesday. The latest rankings from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching [...]
KTRU deal signed
Just in time for Rice’s homecoming weekend. [Wednesday] afternoon, Friends of KTRU announced they had been informed that Rice and UH have signed an agreement to transfer the station’s ownership, and have retained the law firm of Paul Hastings in an attempt to thwart the sale. B.J. Almond, Rice Senior Director of News and Media [...]
Saturday video break: They live inside of my head
The MOB performed an arrangement of Cheap Trick’s “Dream Police” during last week’s show. Not too surprisingly, none of the current students in the sax section had ever heard of the song before, though they did like it. So I went off to YouTube to find a decent video of it. This is what I [...]
The KTRU rally
The Houston Press, which has largely owned this story, reports from today’s rally to save KTRU. Early this afternoon, protesters met at Valhalla, Rice’s on-campus pub, to make signs and t-shirts for the protest before marching as a group to the statue of William Marsh Rice in near triple-digit heat. The timing of the protest [...]
KTRU rally
For those who are into that sort of thing. Join us in a peaceful, non-violent protest to Save KTRU this Sunday, 2:00 pm at Rice University, in the Academic quad in front of the statue of William Marsh Rice. The rally will feature speeches from station manager Kelsey Yule, community DJ Greg Starks, specialty show [...]
Reactions to the KTRU sale
Unsurprisingly, the Rice community is not happy. “We are totally opposed to the sale,” said Joey Yang, a junior at Rice and program director of the station, which relies upon student and community volunteers for its eclectic music programming. “This is our radio station, and we’d like to keep it.” [...] KTRU launched a campaign [...]
UH buys KTRU
I’ve never been a regular listener of KTRU, but as a Rice partisan and someone who thinks radio in general is too bland, this is a bit of a shock. The University of Houston is planning to buy the radio station operated by students at Rice University for almost 40 years in a $9.5 million [...]
Friday random ten: 25 and up
For the third and final entry in my numeric theme list, here are ten more songs with numbers in the title, starting with the number 25: 1. When I’m 25 or 64 – Jonathan Coulton 2. Section 29 – The Polyphonic Spree 3. Smells Like Thirty-Something – Asylum Street Spankers 4. 36 Lovers – Ready [...]
Ike Dike gets a study
The “Ike Dike”, a network of dikes and gates off the coast of Galveston that was first proposed last year by William Merrell as protection against storm surges from future hurricanes, is being discussed more seriously by the Gulf Coast Community Protection and Recovery District. Although the Ike Dike may not be the final solution [...]
Blog Stars
The Houston Press surveyed the local blog scene and picked out ten “Blog Stars” to highlight and profile. I’m pleased to say that they did me the honor of including me and my blog on that list. I always find it a little embarrassing to talk about myself like this, so since you’re already reading [...]
CD18 public forum at Rice
From the inbox: Forum Houston Enriches Rice Education (HERE) Speaker: Robert Stein – Moderator Lena Gohlman Fox Professor of Political Science Rice University District 18 Congressional Political Forum Monday, February 22, 2010 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Rice Memorial Chapel RMC/Ley Student Center Rice University 6100 Main St Houston, Texas, USA An open forum for 18th Congressional [...]
No Rice-BCM merger
The longstanding merger talks between Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have been terminated. Rice President David Leebron and Baylor College of Medicine President Dr. William Butler gave no reason for the talks ending in their statement. “Since we signed a memorandum of understanding in March of 2009, we have been in extensive discussions [...]