The Ion:
Energy industry beginning to get behind tech incubators (Chronicle)

Howard Burt (1929-2020):
On December 19, Howard Burt passed away.  Born in St Louis, he attended Rice (class of 1951) and earned a MD from UT Galveston in 1954.  After military service, he practiced dermatology in Austin for twenty years and then moved his medical practice to Georgetown for another 18 years before retiring in 1998.  Also, he was active in the community.  He is survived by, among others, his wife Penny (they were married in 1952).  Click here for the Austin American-Statesman obituary.

Glasscock School:
Registration for spring 2021 Community Learning & Engagement courses is now open.  Classes will be entirely online.  From now through January 8 (extended from December 31), receive a 20% discount by checking “Apply Discount” and then selecting “CLE December 2020” when checking out.  Browse offerings here.

Thomas Parks (1939-2020):
On December 24, Thomas Parks passed away.  A native New Yorker, he was a professor in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice from 1967-86.  Also, he authored over 100 books and research papers in digital signal processing.  He is survived by, among others, his wife Martha.  Click here for the obituary.

Debbie Christ Morales (1952-2020):
On October 4, Debbie Christ Morales passed away.  Born in Louisiana, she graduated from Rice in 1979 with a degree in accounting.  With her husband Daniel, they raised two sons Daniel II and Derrick.  Also, she was active in the community and was an avid music lover and an outstanding cook.  Click here for the obituary.

Jeffrey Tabor:
Light flips genetic switch in bacteria inside transparent worms (Rice News)

Brian Armstrong '05/'06:
Coinbase Underpaid Black and Women Employees (New York Times):

Caleb McDaniel:
Join the Bryan Museum in Galveston for the third episode of Hidden History featuring Caleb McDaniel on Thursday, January 21 at 7 pm.  His lecture is entitled “Doom and Dawn: A Trust Story of Slavery in Civil War Texas”.  Read more and/or register here.

Rice History Corner:
Click here for Melissa Kean's latest blog entry entitled "View From Cohen House, 1940 Plus Some Thoughts On Those Big Trees".

Smalley-Curl Institute:
'Soft' nanoparticles give plasmons new potential (Rice News)

Ray Perryman, PhD '78:
Comment: Rumors of oil's death have been greatly exaggerated (Houston Chronicle)

Yvonne Romero da Silva:
Rice VP for Enrollment Yvonne Romero da Silva, a 2004 MBA, tells her story entitled “What Matters to Me Now and Why” to the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

2020 Review:
Here are the best books we read in quarantine (Houston Chronicle)

Bryan Washington:
“Memorial” by Bryan Washington is one of Texas Monthly’s “Ten Texas Books We Loved in 2020”.  Read more.

Dan Rather:
Earlier this month, the UT School of Journalism and Media established the Dan Rather Medals for News and Guts “to recognize collegiate and professional journalists who overcome obstacles like stonewalling and harassment to speak truth to power”.  Dan is the brother of two-year Rice football letterman Don ‘61 (1958-59) and the grandfather of Martin ‘18.  Read more.

Kirsten Ostherr:
Ostherr awarded DeBakey Fellowship for computational health research (Rice News)

Dr George Collins (1950-2020):
On December 10, Dr  George Collins passed away “following a courageous fight with progressive supranuclear palsy".  A native Texan, he earned a BA (’72), a MS (’73) and a PhD (’77) in Electrical Engineering from Rice.  As an undergraduate, he met his wife of fifty years, Donna Misner Collins ’70, in the Marching Owl Band.  He was among the first faculty members at UH Clear Lake where he enjoyed a forty year career.  Also, he was active in the community and in his church.  Click here for the Chronicle obituary.

Robert Brockman:
Mogul claims dementia in $2B fraud case (Bloomberg)

Mike Geis (12938-2020):
On December 18, Mike Geis passed away.  Born in Oklahoma, he earned a BA from Rice in 1961 and a PhD from MIT.  He enjoyed a career as a Professor teaching Linguistics at both The University of Illinois and The Ohio State University.  He is survived, by among others, his wife Jonnie.  Click here for the Columbus Dispatch obituary. 

Apoorv Bhargava '12:
Weave Grid has been named to the 2021 Global Cleanteach 100 List.  The list recognizes the 100 private cleantech companies most likely to create an impact in the next 5-10 years.  The co-founder and CEO of Weave Grid is Apoorv Bhargava ’12.

Dick Massey (1931-2020):
On December 4, Dick Massey passed away.  A native Texan, he graduated from Rice in 1953 with a BA and BS in Electrical Engineering.  He worked for Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey for 35 years during which time he earned a MSEE from Columbia.  For the next 18 years, he was a lecturer in the ECE Department at Rice.  He is survived by, among others, his wife of 65 years, Barbara.  Click here for the Chronicle obituary.