The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, November 14, 2008 Page: 4 of 20
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4 NEWS
the Rice Thresher
Friday, November 14,2008
Visiting professors program seeks funding to continue
by Margeux Clemmons
Thresher Staff
The International Visiting Fel-
lows Program fosters collaborative
work among Rice professors and
researchers from diverse communi-
ties on environmental and sustain-
ability issues, but the program may
not be able to sustain itself if its
co-directors are unable to secure
future funds.
The residence program is in its
second year and runs out of Rice's
Energy and Environmental Systems
Institute. The program invites pro-
fessors in engineering, the natural
sciences and the social sciences
to conduct a research project with
at least one faculty member for a
period of two to nine months, co-
Director Carrie Masiello said.
The President's Faculty Initiative
Fund originally funded the visiting
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professor program for the 2007-'08
and 2008-'09 academic years,
awarding $80,000 for the two-year
period. The $40,000 annual budget
goes toward living stipends, travel
vouchers for the fellows and re-
search costs. If the program is able
to raise adequate resources in the
coming months from outside do-
nors, the committee will begin ac-
cepting applications this winter for
2009-'i0 fellows.
If the program is unable to obtain
funding, it will not continue in the
2009-'i0 academic year, Masiello
said. Still, she hopes the program's
goals will continue whether or not
the program remains a formal entity
at Rice.
We are promoting the fellows
within the Houston community, and
the main goal with that is extending
the bridges," Masiello said. "We
are talking with individual donors
and continuing collaboration with
the development office, which has
helped us with brainstorming ideas
for what kinds of events to hold and
developing long term planning."
Masiello said the program will
not seek foundation support un-
til it is able to demonstrate a three
or four year history of success.
Achievement will be measured by
the program's engagement with un-
dergraduates on an international
level, collaborative publications,
funding and the quality of scientists
the program attracts.
The program facilitates relation-
ships between Rice and internation-
al faculty: During the application
process each international fellow
applicant must write a proposal
in cooperation with a Rice faculty
member, after which a review board
of scientists who are experts in the
field of the applicant's research
proposal selects the fellows for the
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows Program
• & May*
ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT
GRADUATE STUDY LEADING TO THE PH.D.?
IF SO, READ ON.
The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows Program (MMUFP) at Rice University has three goals. First, it seeks to
increase the number of minority students, and others with a demonstrated commitment to eradicating racial
disparities, who will pursue PhDs in core fields in the arts and sciences. In doing so, (he program aims to reduce
over time the serious under-representation on the faculties of individuals from certain minority groups, as well as
to address the attendant educational consequences of these disparities. Second, it seeks to nurture these students to
be the researchers, teachers, and mentors of the highly diverse college student bodies of the future. Third, it seeks
to encourage study abroad experiences as part of their research agenda. The fields that the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation has targeted for support are: Anthropology, Art History, Classics, Computer Science,
Demography, Earth Sciences, Ecology, English, Ethnomusicology. Foreign Languages, History, Literature.
Mathematics, Musicologv, Philosophy, Physics, Political Theory, Religion and Sociology.
Applicants should normally be completing their sophomore year as a student at Rice University. Juniors are
invited to apply as Associate Fellows. Selection will be based on a number of attributes including but not limited
to academic standing and potential, life experiences and interests, commitment to building bridges in multicultural
settings, and interest in pursuing graduate education. Students who participate in the program receive a yearly
stipend of $2,000. work closely with a faculty mentor for two years, and are also eligible for participation in
summer fellowship programs at the end of their sophomore or junior years. Finalists will be interviewed.
Announcements will be made in March.
For more information and to download the application go to:
http://rice.edu/mellonmays
Application deadline is January 23. 2009
CONTACT:
Dr. Roland It, Smith, Jr. or Gloria Bean
Office of the Associate Provost
Rice University
713/348-5688
K
International Visiting Fellows Program co-Director Carrie Masiello (left)
works with visiting professor Tibisay Perez, the program's first fellow.
academic year.
Upc0mingfell0wsf0rthe2008-'09
academic year include Erick Ban-
dala, from Universidad de las
Americas, Puebla; Hong Lin, Tsin-
ghua University; and Yin-jin Yuan,
Tianjin University, who, as the
dean of chemical engineering at
his institution, listed fostering op-
portunities for both Rice and Tian-
jin students as one of his foremost
goals in applying for the fellowship,
Masiello said.
it
It's much harder for
an American sci-
entist to build the
kinds of local con-
nections necessary
for long field cam-
paigns in the devel-
oping world.
Carrie Masiello
international Visiting
Fellows Program
Each fellow will be working with
Rice faculty from various disciplines,
including mechanical engineering,
earth science, chemical engineering
and civic engineering. The fellows
are also required to apply for resi-
dential college associate positions.
Masiello co-authored the initial
grant in 2006 with Assistant Profes-
STUDENT ASSOCIATION MINUTES
The following were noted at the most recent meeting of
the Student Association on November 10.
■ The Women in Architecture club was approved.
■ Director of Elections Tim Faust introduced a resolution celebrat-
ing the life of James Castenada and his contribution to Rice Uni-
versity. The resolution was unanimously approved.
■ University President David Leebron addressed the Student Associ-
ation and then answered questions posed by those in attendance.
The SA will meet next Monday at 10 p.m. in the Farnsworth Pavilion.
The Phils! The Phils, featuring joyous Baker College
senior Payton Odom, sing Accidentally in
Love in the Rice Chapel Friday.
sor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Joff Silberg and the program's first
participant, Venezuelan Institute
for Scientific Research in Caracas
Professor Tibisay Perez. In addi-
tion to making connections with
the Houston community, they saw
the program as an opportunity both
to meet a major need for increased
communication among scientists
from developing and developed
countries working on sustainabil-
ity, environmental and energy is-
sues and to meet goals expressed
in the university's Vision for the
Second Century, Masiello said.
Therefore, preference is given to
candidates from developing areas
such as China, India and nations in
Latin America.
"Dr. Tibisay Perez maintains
good relations with farmers and
private owners of pristine tropical
forest sites in her home country of
Venezuela, making it easy for her
to generate data on the effects of
tropical agriculture on forest eco-
systems," Masiello said. "It's much
harder for an American scientist
to build the kinds of local connec-
tions necessary for long field cam-
paigns in the developing world.
Conversely, scientists from devel-
oping countries sometimes lack the
advanced analytical infrastructure
necessary to answer some of their
research problems."
"At least one of the teams that
wasn't funded |by the program) is
going ahead with their project with
outside funds," said Masiello. "This
is just one example of how the out-
come of the project goes beyond
funded fellows."
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Chun, Lily & Farmer, Dylan. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, November 14, 2008, newspaper, November 14, 2008; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443202/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.