H.R. No. 595
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, A number of proud Texans are visiting Austin on
March 3, 2011, to celebrate Rice University Day at the State
Capitol; and
WHEREAS, Founded in 1912 as William Marsh Rice Institute for
the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art, Rice was the first
private, nonsectarian university in Texas and the first institution
of higher education in Houston; its first president, Edgar Odell
Lovett, outlined an ambitious vision for a great research
university, and the school's faculty, students, and alumni have
succeeded in fulfilling his dream of excellence; and
WHEREAS, Rice University has played a leading role in
research in such fields as nanotechnology, cellular technology,
bioinformatics, energy, the environment, and health, and it has
helped shape the course of human space exploration; two
distinguished alumni, Rice Board of Trustees chairman George
R. Brown and former United States representative Albert Thomas,
worked with then vice president Lyndon Johnson to make Houston the
home of the Manned Spacecraft Center, now the Johnson Space Center;
in 1963, Rice became the first university in the nation to create a
dedicated space science department, and it has received research
grants from NASA to launch a total of six Earth-orbiting
satellites, which were named after the school mascot, Sammy the
Owl; and
WHEREAS, President John F. Kennedy made his famous address
announcing the race to the moon at Rice University, and the very
first lunar landing incorporated a scientific experiment built by
Rice professor John Freeman; the Rice University flag raised on the
surface of the moon remains there to this day; moreover, 14
astronauts have had "the Rice Stuff," among them the first female
commander of the International Space Station; and
WHEREAS, In 1985, the groundbreaking discovery of
buckminsterfullerene, or "buckyballs," on the Rice campus,
originated the field of fullerene chemistry and helped launch the
field of nanotechnology; Rice professors Richard Smalley and Robert
Curl earned the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work, which is
now leading to momentous breakthroughs in medicine,
transportation, energy, the environment, defense, and many other
endeavors; Rice University also counts among its noteworthy
innovators Sidney Burrus, interim dean of the George R. Brown
School of Engineering, who created signal-processing algorithms
that have led to technological advances essential to cell phones,
speech recognition, sonar and radar, sensor arrays, digital audio
and video, seismic data gathering, biomedical systems, and many
more digital tools and devices; and
WHEREAS, The longest-serving lieutenant governor in Texas
history, William P. Hobby, Jr., was a Rice graduate; his fellow
alumni include such notables as Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry
McMurtry, Saint Arnold Brewing Company founders Brock Wagner and
Kevin Bartol, and three key Texas Monthly magazine staff members,
founding editor Bill Broyles, Jr., longtime editor Gregory Curtis,
and political analyst Paul Burka; and
WHEREAS, Making its mark in the sports world as well, Rice
University once owned Yankee Stadium, donated by a successful
alumnus in 1962; John Heisman, the namesake of football's coveted
trophy, coached the Rice Owls in the 1920s; more recently, the 2003
Owls baseball team made Rice the smallest university to win the NCAA
Division I College World Series; and
WHEREAS, Rice University is admired today as one of the
nation's leading institutions of higher education; since U.S. News &
World Report began ranking universities in 1983, Rice has been
rated among the top 20 every year; in addition, it is one of only
three research universities in the Lone Star State to be a member of
the elite Association of American Universities; and
WHEREAS, For the past century, Rice University has
contributed to the advancement of human knowledge, and the
achievements of its faculty and alumni continue to resonate in
Texas, the nation, and the world; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas
Legislature hereby recognize March 3, 2011, as Rice University Day
at the State Capitol and extend a warm welcome to all those from
this august institution who are visiting here today; and, be it
further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for Rice University as an expression of high regard by the
Texas House of Representatives.
S. Davis of Harris
Hochberg
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 595 was adopted by the House on March
3, 2011, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House