Students In The News

Grad Student Wins Hertz Fellowship
Rice University bioengineering graduate student Elizabeth “Libby” Stephens has been named one of the prestigious 2006 Hertz Fellows by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation.

Each year, the Hertz Foundation awards 15 graduate student fellowships, which are considered to be some the nation’s most elite and competitive endowments. Only 3 percent of applicants from 43 research universities receive appointments. The fellowships are available only to students studying engineering or applied sciences, with a strong emphasis on the physical sciences.

Stephens, who completed her undergraduate studies at Yale and the University of California at San Diego, is studying the biomechanics, microstructure, and cell biology of congenitally deformed heart valves in the Medical Scientist Training Program, a joint program offered by Baylor College of Medicine and Rice that allows students to undertake PhD studies from Rice while simultaneously earning a medical degree from Baylor.

A student in the laboratory of Jane Grande-Allen, assistant professor in bioengineering, Stephens hopes to complete her PhD program in 2010 and her medical degree in 2011.

The Hertz Fellowship covers tuition and fees, and it can be renewed for up to five years. It also includes a $28,000 stipend for the year. Stephens is the third Rice student in three years to receive the Hertz Fellowship.

Kailas String Quartet Wins Silver Medal
Rice University’s quartet-in-residence, the Kailas String Quartet, recently won the silver medal for the senior string division at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association Competition.

The Fischoff competition provides an opportunity for the education and development of young people through its nationally acclaimed chamber music competition, educational residencies, and community concerts.

Quartet members Jory Fankuchen, violin; Stephanie Fong, violin; John Posadas, viola; and Emmanuelle Bergeron, cello, first performed together at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lennox, Massachusetts. The group officially became the Kailas String Quartet in December 2004.

At Rice, the quartet works under the guidance of the Shepherd School of Music faculty members James Dunham, professor of viola and chamber music; Norman Fischer, professor of cello; and Kenneth Goldsmith, professor of violin. The group already has performed for members of the Emerson, Juilliard, Muir, and Orion string quartets, and over the summer, the Kailas String Quartet was one of a select few groups to participate in the Advanced String Quartet Program at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Leadership Rice Honors Students with New Leadership Certificates
Five current and former students—Jeremy Beasley, Meredith Gray, Megan Gray, Isabella Pacheco, and Megan Wilmot—have completed the Leadership Certificate Program, the first group of Rice students to do so.

The Leadership Certificate Program is an opportunity for students to hone their leadership capacities in a variety of settings. In addition to completing academic requirements, students also must use their leadership skills on campus, in the community, and even in a foreign country.

“I chose to participate in the certificate program because it required things that I already knew I wanted to do in college, like community service and study abroad,” said Pacheco ’06. “This made me do the things that I might not have made time for otherwise.”

The final component of the certificate program is a capstone project where students must take their understanding of leadership and tackle a real-world problem on campus or in the community.

Wilmot, who graduated in May, said the process taught her how to effectively work with others. “I thought a leadership program would teach me how to boss people around,” she said. “But it was quite the opposite.”

Rice Architect Student Wins Travel Fellowship
Cathlyn Newell, who received her master’s of architecture from Rice in May, is one of three students to earn a 2006 travel fellowship from the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) Foundation.

The fellowships and study grants offer recent graduates the rare opportunity to complete self-determined travel itineraries that complement their college studies and professional interests. Only a handful of such awards exist, and, to date, the foundation has given more than $1 million to architecture, design, and engineering students.

Newell earned the grand SOM Prize—a $50,000 research and travel grant created this year to celebrate the foundation’s 25th anniversary. The special prize enables Newell to do in-depth research, collaborate with other designers, and pursue independent study outside the realm of established patterns. She will visit six Nordic countries to study the effects extreme weather conditions have on the design of structures and building sites. Her research has timely implications as architects and engineers grapple with the aftermath of recent natural disasters and continue to expand on the promise of environmentally conscious design. Newell, who earned her undergraduate degree in architecture from Georgia Tech, currently is an entry-level designer with Office dA in Boston.

“I am intrigued by the atmosphere of a site, the weather patterns, time of day, and seasons, and, more importantly, how the amplification of these forces impacts our experience of a place,” explains Newell. “This fellowship is an incredible opportunity to build on my research and begin to understand how architects can create structures that fully study, integrate, and celebrate the natural forces that are already present.”

Students from the Shepherd School Shine on Kennedy Center’s Stage
For the third consecutive year, the Shepherd School of Music was invited to participate in the Kennedy Center’s Conservatory Project, a program designed to introduce audiences to the top young musical artists in classical music, jazz, musical theater, and opera from the nation’s leading undergraduate and graduate conservatories, colleges, and universities.

Seven of the Shepherd School’s best and brightest students showcased their talents May 5 at one of the best-known venues in the country, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.: Aidan Soder, mezzo soprano, and Kris Becker, piano, performing works by Brahms and Karim Al-Zand, the Lynette S. Autrey Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory at the Shepherd School; Rebecca Corruccini, violin, and Jennifer Yeo, piano, performing works by Ravel and Kreissler; Maiko Sasaki, clarinet, and, Kana Mimaki, piano, performing works by Leonard Bernstein; and Wenli Zhou, piano, performing works by Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Scriabin.

The seven-day series of concerts also included students from Berklee College of Music, the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, the Juilliard School, Northwestern University School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

—Reported by Jennifer Evans, Lindsey Fielder, and Arie Wilson