The Continuing Studies class began this week with Stephen Klineberg. It is meeting Monday nights in Physics 212. 4. Arthur Few and Bill Leeman provided draft handouts for their presentations on February 23rd. Some very useful discussions evolved. Although I have tried to capture some pieces of this below, I am certain that the important parts will be further enhanced before the presentations on the 23rd.
Rice can develop an Ecological worldview, focus on future impacts and make a difference.
We noted that very little information is available on Houston air quality and therefore few have been able to study its impact on health issues. We have a lot of expertize and resources to build a Houston Community team to construct models. These could feed into regional planning and policy, architecture, etc. It is important to remember how broad the faculty involvement in Environmental Programs is and that this committee is just representative. However, issues of sustainability and lack of support for faculty involvement outside their departments are real.