While that prediction hasn't exactly come true, a shortage of professors in the years to come still is a concern. Pomerantz and the other directors, Jim Kinsey, the D.R. Bullard-Welch Foundation Professor of Science in the Department of Chemistry, and Don Johnson, the J.S. Abercrombie Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Statistics, admit that over the years the program has evolved so that it now puts a strong focus on the research. And it's done in the context of a group of people who are broadly representative of scholarly interests across campus so that the biochemistry student will hear a talk by the literature student and the philosophy student will hear a talk by the electrical engineer. It's mind-boggling the exposure they get. The yearlong program is open to Rice juniors and seniors.
Students apply in the spring, and the program starts the following fall.
It is deliberately kept at a small group of about 16 to 20 students so that they receive the maximum benefit of interacting with each other. They also seek students who offer breadth across the university and who have strong grades. Students relish the opportunity to become deeply entrenched in a research project, learning both the positive and negative aspects of it. Above all, I've learned that it's a very interactive process. It's not only about reading lots of articles and sticking your nose in a book for hours.