Graduation Weekend!

May has been crazy!

I can't imagine May with teenage kids- it's got to be ten times more insane with all their end of year school activities.

Regardless, May has FLOWN by for us and graduation for Jon was this past weekend!

My parents flew out Thursday afternoon...

they helped with what they do best.

Dad, sleeping.

 And Mom sewing.

The next day, Friday, was graduation!

We started the day with a little gift from myself and all the parents.

Jon was a little beside himself.

 A grill!

 He's wanted one for so long!

We put the grill aside and headed to Torchy's Tacos for lunch.

The best tacos on the planet.

No for real.

 It's our favorite.

Mmmmm....

Then over to Rice for graduation!

 

 

 Jon, his fellow grad student and advisor.

 Yay!

 And done!

Dr. Brame!

 Jon and his PhD Advisor- Pedro Alvarez

 Stone Clan

 Brame Clan

 Sure do love this kid!

Our parents have already seen a lot of Houston... 

So after graduation we headed west to New Braunfels and San Antonio for some fun!

River tubing

The Alamo

And the Riverwalk...

 Where we ate delicious Mexican food,

 And had the best seats in the house for the Armed Forces boat parade!

The Brames left Sunday, and we got in one last thing with the Stones on Monday.

The JP Morgan Chase Tower and Observation Deck.

Killer views!

Now on to more serious things...

like packing and getting ready to move!

Ack!

A Little Bragging for a 300th Post

With Rice's centennial celebration happening this month- 

there is a lot of excitement around campus and a lot of exciting opportunities to take advantage of!

The School of Engineering hosted a competition in which grad students submitted an abstract on their research... and 44 were picked to present a 90 second "elevator pitch".

Thinking that this wasn't a big deal... I arrived at Rice Thursday evening and was bombarded by hundreds of people outside said classroom where this was supposed to take place!

They even had appetizers and drinks for everyone- 

heck yeah :)

Jon presented his pitch and had everyone laughing and intrigued...

"Water, water everywhere, but nary a safe drop to drink!

In a world of intense use and increasing pollution of our limited freshwater resources, this ancient rhyme may become a modern reality.

Let me briefly tell you about several water-related facts relating to the number nine:

Ninety percent of the flow of the Trinity River, which is Houston’s main source of drinking water, is actually wastewater from the city of Dallas. This wastewater includes many pharmaceutical compounds — such as Tylenol, Oxycontin and birth control — that pass right through current wastewater treatment systems. Chances are, if you drink a glass of water in Houston, you’re drinking somebody else’s birth control. *This is where everyone laughed... hard*

Ninety-nine percent of many of these pharmaceutical compounds can be removed from water using the technology I’m researching called photocatalysis. A photocatalyst is a material that takes the incoming energy from light — such as the lights in this room or the light from the sun — and converts it into chemical energy that can be used to oxidize and remove these compounds from the water.

I’ve developed a portable photoreactor system that can be taken to any wastewater treatment plant and used as a proof-of-concept to test this technology.

Furthermore, what we’ve learned in this research can also help in the developing world, where 900 million people still lack access to safe drinking water.

To put that number in perspective: Every 90 seconds — the length of these talks tonight — five children die in the developing world from water-related diseases that could be prevented using this technology.

Thank you."

 

We had to leave early... to get to clogging...

and were shocked (well Jon was... I wasn't!)

when we got a text from his advisor saying he'd won!

And now we're $500 richer.

Thanks Jon for being so smart.

It quite literally does "pay" to have a nerdy husband.

Link to Rice University News website which highlights the event...

http://news.rice.edu/2012/10/05/screeching-success/

Jon the Genius

My afternoon phone call to Jon...

 Me- "Hey Jon! How are you? How was your day?"

Jon- "I had a rough afternoon...."

Me- "Really? What happened?"

Jon- "I ran into a tree..."

Me- "A tree? You mean... while on your bike?"

Jon- "No... actually.... I walked into a tree."

Me- "Bahahaha... *ahem* for real?"

Jon- "Yeah I wasn't paying attention, and all of a sudden there was huge tree trunk right in my head. And next thing I knew- I was flat on my back."

Me- "Hahaha you're a physicist for crying out loud- how does that happen?"

Jon- "I dunno...." *whimper whimper*

The damage

And there you have it-

we've always been told that Rice has more trees than students.

Now we know why.

Sunday Evening with the Fam

A nice stroll around Rice University to show the parents where Jon spends his days...

Have I mentioned that the weather has been beautiful?

Oh it has...

(I missed the memo on this one to look)

 Rice only has 5,000 students...

 and they take pride in the fact that they have more trees on their campus than students.

 

I'd take pride in that, too.