Beyond the Hedges

The Association of Rice Alumni

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Education
Updated Monthly

Rice University is home to an abundance of brilliant minds, game-changing research and unique stories. Now alumni and friends don’t have to be on campus — or even in Houston — to experience Rice’s vibrant intellectual life. Each month, we’re bringing Rice’s spirit of lifelong learning beyond the hedges, to you!

Jul 1

The Jagged Edge of Innovation: The Current Entrepreneur Climate in Tech with Dr. Shay Har-Noy

Why has there never been a better time to start a company? How do you know if your company is one that needs investment or one that should be home-grown? What does every entrepreneur need to bring in 2026 just to sit at the table in 2026 that used to be a rarity and an indicator of going above and beyond? Shay Har-Noy is the managing director of Techstars Boulder, and has spent his career at the forefront of space technology, geospatial data, and AI-driven enterprises, helping to scale complex deep tech solutions from early-stage concepts to global market leaders. Shay dives into what he’s learned about deep tech, AI, and company building. He traces his path from a Rice professor’s push to pursue a PhD to leading National Geographic–backed expeditions using satellites, drones, LiDAR, and radar to search for Genghis Khan’s tomb, which resulted in a documentary series and inspired his startup Tomnod; after partnering with DigitalGlobe/GeoEye, Tomnod was acquired by DigitalGlobe, where Shay oversaw AI efforts, web distribution, and a move from on-prem storage to the cloud. Shay defines deep tech as businesses with defensible technical IP moats - something beyond software, and argues AI makes prototyping cheaper but shifts investor signals, advises founders to focus on real business risks and whether venture funding fits, and highlights moats like data, integrations, and compliance. Shay and David also note the growing interest in AI governance and cost control. Let us know you’re listening by filling out this form. We will be sending listeners Beyond the Hedges Swag every month. Episode Guide: 01:00 Deep Tech Origins 01:26 PhD Mindset and Curiosity 03:33 From Mongolia to Startup Life 05:23 Tomnod Acquisition and AI Scale 07:34 Rebuilding Techstars Boulder 09:17 What Deep Tech Means 11:48 GenAI Changes Startup Building 15:24 Fundraising Reality and Moats 20:10 Skills for the Next Generation 23:47 Jagged Edge and De-Risking 26:29 Hot Spaces AI Governance 29:04 Genghis Khan’s Tomb Update and Rapid Fire Questions 30:37 Rice Box Question Story Beyond The Hedges is a production of Rice University and is produced by University FM. Episode Quotes: Why now is the best time to start a company 16:25: There has never been a better time to build a company than today. You can do so much more with so much less and really de-risk your business. Not just de-risk the product, but de-risk your entire business. For investors and for companies seeking investment, one of my most common conversations I have is, why? Why? Don't raise money because TechCrunch tells you to, right? Because you watched "Social Network" and you want to be like, like somebody on TV, right? Be so, so passionate about, about your value proposition, about your customer. And if you keep them in focus, raising a venture may not be the right thing to do. So I say it's, it's never been a better time or rate to start a company, but not necessarily a venture-backed company. What led Shay to pursue tech innovation? 02:42: So you ask, what led me to pursue these deep tech innovations? It's just understanding and having confidence that I can. There's this cliché, it says, "When you finish your undergrad, you think you know everything. You finish your master's, you realize you know nothing, and when you finish your PhD, you realize nobody knows anything." And I try to take that to heart. Building more isn’t always better 27:29: Just because you can build a feature doesn't mean you should. And so being really deliberate around what you're building, how you're using it, because it's not free. And it's useful if it can be really powerful and increase your velocity. You still need to be rigorous around it. Show Links: RiceOwls.com Rice Athletics The Gateway Project Rice Alumni Association of Rice Alumni | Facebook Rice Alumni (@ricealumni) | X (Twitter) Association of Rice Alumni (@ricealumni) | Instagram Host Profiles: David Mansouri | LinkedIn David Mansouri ’07 | Alumni | Rice University David Mansouri (@davemansouri) | X David Mansouri | TNScore Guest Profiles: Shay Har-Noy | Techstars Profile Shay Har-Noy | LinkedIn Profile Forbidden Tomb of Genghis Khan | National Geographic
Apr 8

Student Leadership: The Rice SA and GSA with Emily Oppold and Trevor Tobey

On today’s episode, host David Mansouri speaks with Emily Oppold, 2025-26 president of the Graduate Student Association, and Trevor Tobey, 2025-26 president of the Student Association, about their time at Rice and experiences at the school and in their student government positions. Emily and Trevor discuss their paths to Rice, leadership motivations, and what the SA and GSA really do. Emily, a third-year PhD statistics student, was drawn to Rice by its Houston and Texas Medical Center collaborations. She emphasizes GSA advocacy and community-building for a graduate population that is 41% international, with focuses including dining, professional development, alumni connections, and support for graduate caregivers. Trevor, a senior studying economics and sports management, describes the SA as a bridge to the administration to advocate and illuminate student issues and can help improve the undergraduate quality of life. Their conversation covers managing growth, changes in social culture, fostering dialogue across differences via institutional neutrality and free-speech efforts, and adapting to AI’s impact on teaching, integrity, and trust in higher education. Let us know you’re listening by filling out this form. We will be sending listeners Beyond the Hedges Swag every month. Episode Guide: 00:00 Welcome and Introduction 00:44 Emily’s Path to Rice 02:18 Trevor’s Path to Rice 03:33 Why Student Leadership 06:59 What the Student Association Does 08:35 What the Graduate Student Association Does 10:13 Top Student Issues Today 14:22 What Alumni Should Know 17:36 Protecting Traditions 18:57 Leading Diverse Voices 23:44 AI in the Classroom 27:03 Hopes for Rice Future 30:36 Rapid Fire Questions Beyond The Hedges is a production of Rice University and is produced by University FM. Episode Quotes: Ensuring student life improves as Rice grows 11:57: [Trevor Tobey] So with the growth, we should also be expanding services. Students should be benefiting from the growth, not lowering the experience. And so that is why we have pursued things like late night dining and printing credits. And we had the largest initiative fund in student association history this year for clubs to apply to. And so, initiatives like this to make sure that students aren't getting left behind in the growth, I think is the biggest priority and the biggest concern among the student body right now. What’s the central role of GSA in Rice? 20:54: [Emily Oppold]: I think not only getting my PhD, but getting it at Rice has committed me to becoming a lifelong learner. And that's something that I'm proud of and I'm excited about, and a lot of that is just surrounded by people that I'm meeting outside the classroom and just listening. Like I am learning as a leader so much just to listen. My ears are more powerful than my voice a lot of times, and that's something that I wish I could have told myself a year ago. Learning to lead by listening 08:07: [Trevor Tobey] To me, our central mission is improving student quality of life at Rice. How do we expand services? How do we make sure that students are taken care of? How do we make it the best experience for students on our campus?...I would say that our central role is student quality of life, and bridging the gap between students and administration. Show Links: Student Association (SA) | Rice University Graduate Student Association (GSA) | Rice University Rice Alumni Association of Rice Alumni | Facebook Rice Alumni (@ricealumni) | X (Twitter) Association of Rice Alumni (@ricealumni) | Instagram Host Profiles: David Mansouri | LinkedIn David Mansouri ’07 | Alumni | Rice University David Mansouri (@davemansouri) | X David Mansouri | TNScore Guest Profiles: Emily Oppold | LinkedIn Emily Oppold | People of Rice Profile Trevor Tobey | LinkedIn Trevor Tobey | Rice SA President Profile
Feb 18

Building the Future: Tommy McClelland's Vision for Rice Athletics

How do you balance elite academics with athletic success? How was Rice able to expand the field of women’s sports at Rice? What’s the broader vision of how to transform Rice University into a hub of athletic and community engagement, while staying true to its academic integrity? Tommy McClelland is the Vice President and Director of Athletics at Rice University, a position he has held since August of 2023. Tommy discusses his personal journey from a walk-on football player to becoming the youngest Division I Athletic Director at 26. He shares insights into his leadership style, shaped by early career challenges and advice from his father. Tommy also shares his experience at various institutions, including Vanderbilt. Tommy explains to host David the vision for Rice Athletics. This includes the ambitious $120 million Gateway project, aimed at modernizing Rice's athletic facilities and integrating them with the local community. Let us know you’re listening by filling out this form. We will be sending listeners Beyond the Hedges Swag every month. Episode Guide: 01:01 Tommy McClelland's Early Life and Career03:10 Lessons Learned as a Young Athletic Director06:54 The Appeal of Rice University10:59 Balancing Winning with Academics15:23 The Gateway Project: Transforming Rice Athletics22:54 Future Vision for Rice Stadium24:39 Concert Opportunities and Local Community Impact25:46 Changing Landscape of College Athletics27:08 Adapting to One-Year Curricula31:16 Women's Sports Expansion at Rice33:55 Vision for Championship Success37:07 Engaging Alumni and Supporters39:19 Rapid Fire QuestionsBeyond The Hedges is a production of Rice University and is produced by University FM. Episode Quotes:Balancing elite academics and athletics success 11:49: When you say you’re a coach and you reach out to recruit a kid and you say, “Hey, I’m Coach so-and-so, and I’m with Rice University.” Immediately there’s a filter that happens and it you’re not for them, or it is, if you’re at any other school in our conference, that filter doesn’t really exist... [12:28] When the 17th ranked university in the country says, “I am interested in recruiting you to play high-level sports at the Group of Five,” which, by the way, we sit on an island in that, and I think we need to lean into this further... [13:09] We sit very isolated, but in this unique position where if you want high academics and you want to compete at the Group of Five, there’s only one choice. That’s a beautiful filter. Rice community stadium is more than just a football stadium 17:30: It’s not Rice Football Stadium, it is the Rice Community Stadium and football is going to be the primary tenant. But we need to expand the things that we do in it on a yearly basis... We should not look up in a given year and say, the only thing that happened there was our conference slate, a graduation. On making a year count 29:17: I only have them for one year, how am I going to influence them the most in their entire life? Through the professors they meet. Because they will be introduced to that through the network of people that they get to meet in the alumni, in the external network. And then through how I am going to build a relationship and challenge you athletically. Show Links:RiceOwls.comRice AthleticsThe Gateway ProjectRice AlumniAssociation of Rice Alumni | FacebookRice Alumni (@ricealumni) | X (Twitter)Association of Rice Alumni (@ricealumni) | Instagram Host Profiles:David Mansouri | LinkedInDavid Mansouri ’07 | Alumni | Rice UniversityDavid Mansouri (@davemansouri) | XDavid Mansouri | TNScoreGuest Profiles:Tommy McClelland | Faculty ProfileTommy McClelland | LinkedInTommy McClelland | Instagram
12/10/2025

Innovating the Future: Taking on Forever Chemicals with Coflux Purification feat. Alec Ajnsztajn and Jeremy Daum

We recorded a special episode of Beyond the Hedges live at Alumni Weekend where host David Mansouri got a chance to have a conversation with Rice alums and PhDs in material science and nanoengineering Alec Ajnsztajn and Jeremy Daum about their exciting new undertaking, complete with questions from the audience. Alec and Jeremy are co-founders of Coflux Purification, a company that grew out of the Rice Office of Innovation, and now does pioneering work with forever chemicals, or PFAS. They explain the major health and environmental risks posed by PFAS as well as their innovative solution that combines capture and destruction of these chemicals using covalent organic frameworks and light. Jeremy and Alec also recount their academic and professional journeys, including the collaboration and support they've received from Rice University's campus resources along the way. They close the discussion with talking about the future and the potential long-term impact of their technology, followed by a question and answer session with audience members, offering advice for other budding entrepreneurs at Rice. Let us know you’re listening by filling out this form. We will be sending listeners Beyond the Hedges Swag every month. Episode Guide: 00:00 Welcome and Introduction 01:26 Understanding Forever Chemicals02:24 The Health Impact of PFAS05:23 Alec's Journey: From Infrastructure to Innovation07:26 Jeremy's Path: From Rail Guns to Nanotechnology09:37 The Birth of Coflux Purification13:37 The Innovation Fellowship and Early Funding20:59 Simplifying the PFAS Treatment Process21:34 Future Promise of PFAS Technology23:55 Support from Rice University31:09 Questions from the Audience31:26 Regulatory Framework and Challenges34:29 Implementation and Cost Considerations38:09 Rapid Fire Questions41:39 Conclusion and Final ThoughtsBeyond The Hedges is a production of Rice University and is produced by University FM. Episode Quotes:Making a real impact with nanotechnology 08:27: [Jeremy Daum] A lot of this nanotechnology is fantastic at doing the best at anything it's ever done at it before. But can you make enough of it to be useful is always the question. And so my research has always been focused on, well, let's make enough of it so that someone can do something with it. So I actually then. Took that, and that's when the first project that Alec and I worked on here at Rice Together was how we can mass produce the material. That's actually now the fundamental part of our technology. So I've always been wanting to build stuff. I love making reactors. My job in the lab is I've made about five different reactors in the last two weeks. It's been fantastic. But kind of just this whole thing of how can we take this technology that I know can do so much? How can we make it big enough and fast enough that it can make it real impact in people's lives? And it just so happened that the hammer fit the nail that this stuff is really good at dealing with BFOS. The Forever in “forever” chemicals 01:39: [Jeremy Daum] So PFAS, or Forever Chemicals, they are a type of microplastic, though. They are more like your Teflon stuff that you use every day, stuff that your grandparents have been using since like the forties. They're incredibly robust. They're hydrophobic. They are chemically resistant. They're great in places that you need something to just not wear away, but when you use those kind of products and you throw them out, that plastic, that Teflon doesn't go away. It goes into landfills, and then it gets into the environment. And that's what makes it so insidious, because the reason why they're called forever chemicals is because they have a half-life of about 40,000 years. So anything we made back in the forties is still going around today. Understanding the history of the problem 23:09: [Alec Ajnsztajn] I consider myself to be a polymer scientist in the forties and fifties, we spent a lot of fun time doing a lot of fun chemistry, and didn't really think through how a lot of that chemistry wound up Show Links:Lilie Lab | RiceOffice of Innovation | RiceRice AlumniAssociation of Rice Alumni | FacebookRice Alumni (@ricealumni) | X (Twitter)Association of Rice Alumni (@ricealumni) | Instagram Host Profiles:David Mansouri | LinkedInDavid Mansouri ’07 | Alumni | Rice UniversityDavid Mansouri (@davemansouri) | XDavid Mansouri | TNScoreGuest Profiles:Coflux PurificationAlec Ajnsztajn | Rice ProfileAlec Ajnsztajn | LinkedIn ProfileAlec Ajnsztajn | Google Scholar PageJeremy Daum | LinkedIn ProfileJeremy Daum | Google Scholar Page
11/12/2025

Digital Futures: AI's Role at Rice University feat. Shawn Miller

How do schools prepare for the changing landscape of both education and business with the pace of advancements in technology and specifically in artificial intelligence (AI)? What lessons were learned from the rapid shift to digital that happened during the pandemic and how can that knowledge improve the way higher education works today? Shawn Miller is the Associate Provost for Digital Learning and Strategy at Rice University. Shawn serves as the key steward of Rice’s digital strategy where he leverages best practices already in place across the University and also introduces new approaches and collaborations to be scaled. Shawn and host David Mansouri discuss the transformative impact of digital learning and AI on higher education. Shawn shares his career journey, from his time at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and Duke University, through to his current role at Rice. Their conversation explores Rice's vision for digital education, the integration of AI tools in learning, and the future of teaching and learning at Rice. Shawn also highlights the challenges and ethical concerns related to AI, including the aspects of AI in education that he is more interested in than using it to just continue the way things were taught before. Shawn also lays out his view of some essential skills students need to thrive in an AI-powered world. Let us know you’re listening by filling out this form. We will be sending listeners Beyond the Hedges Swag every month. Episode Guide: 01:01 Shawn Miller’s introduction and background06:16 The Vision for Digital Learning at Rice14:23 Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Learning19:30 Integrating AI into Education at Rice23:47 Promising AI Applications in Teaching26:19 AI's Role in Learning and Analytics28:55 Challenges and Ethical Concerns of AI33:14 Skills for an AI-Powered World35:52 Future of Teaching and Learning at Rice38:51 Rapid Fire QuestionsBeyond The Hedges is a production of Rice University and is produced by University FM. Episode Quotes:Rethinking education in the age of AI 27:39: What’s really most frustrating to me about the first wave of AI education tools that we got thrown at us, right, as institutions—and I’m talking even about startups—they’re mostly founded on the idea that whatever we are doing now in classes and in teaching is somehow the right way to do it, right? So, it’s like, how can you speed up creating better multiple-choice tests, right? Or how could you grade all these papers that you’ve got to grade, right? Well, maybe the outcome for that class isn’t that you should write a paper in the first place, right? But now is our chance to ask that. And I know this is frustrating for faculty…[28:61] But it’s a good opportunity for us to, but then it’s been frustrating to have all these edtech ventures come out where it’s like, “But AI could make all the things better!” And it’s like, yeah, but you’re talking about making traditional education faster, cheaper, more productive. You’re not talking about helping people learn better. What’s a better question for AI in education 11:16: Maybe the answer for AI is not what can you have the AI do that you used to do, as much as what can I do even more of or even better. And I think that’s a good mindset for us to be in, in education. The pandemic digital experience 15:34: I think you have two things that people tend to say about the pandemic digital learning experience. One is that it was horrible, and they’d never want to do it again. Then, for those who knew about online learning or had done it before the pandemic, they’ll say, “Well, that’s because no one did it right,” quote unquote. And I think we can honor both of those viewpoints. But I’d also say that we learned a few things, right? One thing is most faculty learned how to use the LMS and Zoom. And if you think back pre-COVID, how many people could launch a webinar or call a virtual meeting, right? And how many staff did it take to set up a global web conference? It was incredibly expensive. It took a lot of time. You had to schedule it, and now people just trigger these things, right? I think the second thing we learned is that hybrid work can definitely work. And I’ve gone on record a few times saying that the future of work maybe parallels the future of hybrid and online learning. Show Links:Rice Digital Learning and StrategyRice AlumniAssociation of Rice Alumni | FacebookRice Alumni (@ricealumni) | X (Twitter)Association of Rice Alumni (@ricealumni) | Instagram Host Profiles:David Mansouri | LinkedInDavid Mansouri ’07 | Alumni | Rice UniversityDavid Mansouri (@davemansouri) | XDavid Mansouri | TNScoreGuest Profiles:Shawn Miller | Faculty ProfileShawn Miller | LinkedIn ProfileShawn Miller | Social Profile on X
10/29/2025

Season 4 Trailer

Welcome back to a brand new season of Beyond the Hedges!
03/12/2025

Leveraging Rice Research for Climate Tech Innovation feat. Haotian Wang and Bryan Guido Hassin

Refining raw material into metals is both the core of many industries, and also a very tricky process to balance in an age where carbon neutrality is increasingly the goal. What are new ways that can affect this process to better both the environmental impacts and also align with the profit and growth goals of the companies doing the work themselves? Haotian Wang is an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice. Bryan Guido Hassin is an entrepreneur and the CEO of Dexmat, a Rice spinout. David, Haotian, and Bryan discuss how Rice research is propelling commercial and business innovation, particularly in mitigating carbon emissions. Exploring their educational backgrounds and career trajectories, David asks Brian and Haotian about their groundbreaking work in sustainable energy solutions and carbon-negative materials. They elaborate on their entrepreneurial journeys, the challenges they face in commercializing research, and the unique advantages Rice University and Houston offer for energy and sustainability research. The conversation concludes with a discussion on aligning profit and impact in climate tech ventures. Let us know you’re listening by filling out this form. We will be sending listeners Beyond the Hedges Swag every month. Episode Guide: 00:00 Introduction and Guest Overview02:24 Bryan Guido Hassin's Background04:46 Dr. Haotian Wang's Background07:08 Innovations in Carbon Negative Materials10:05 Decarbonizing Chemical Manufacturing13:17 Commercializing Research and Building Startups15:16 Applying Research in Real Life20:54 Strategic Advantages of Rice and Houston26:38 Rapid Fire Questions and ConclusionBeyond The Hedges is a production of Rice University and is produced by University FM. Episode Quotes:On Rice's strategic advantage in energy and sustainability 21:22: [Haotian Wang] Rice has a very strategic advantage in incubating energy and sustainability ideas and making them into a very sizable footprint. That's not only because of the energy capital of the world, Houston. We have direct dialogues with a lot of these gas and oil industries that are also pushing forward for their sustainable goals. [22:09] So, I think that's a very unique part of Rice University, sitting in the center of Houston, that can benefit from the collaboration dialogue with the industry. Rice and Houston’s edge in energy and innovation 22:23: [Bryan Guido Hassin] Something that Houston has that other innovation ecosystems don't is getting all of the world's largest energy companies within a stone's throw away. So, Rice has this incredible privilege and opportunity of being the premier research institution sitting right there at the epicenter, and these are the types of technologies that are going to solve energy, industry, aerospace, and medicine. Aligning profit and impact in clean technology 24:00: [Bryan Guido Hassin] In a capitalistic world, the only pathway to scale is when your impact metric aligns with the profit metric, not when it's in opposition to it or takes away from it. And we really should be focusing on business models that align profit, revenue growth, with the kind of impact that we're looking for. And we're seeing more and more of them all the time, which is pretty helpful. Show Links:Rice Engineering and Computing | Department of Chemical and Biomolecular EngineeringRice AlumniAssociation of Rice Alumni | FacebookRice Alumni (@ricealumni) | X (Twitter)Association of Rice Alumni (@ricealumni) | Instagram Host Profiles:David Mansouri | LinkedInDavid Mansouri ’07 | Alumni | Rice UniversityDavid Mansouri (@davemansouri) | XDavid Mansouri | TNScoreGuest Profiles:Haotian Wang | Rice ProfileHaotian Wang | Google Scholar PageHaotian Wang | LinkedIn ProfileHaotian Wang | X ProfileBryan Guido Hassin | Rice ProfileBryan Guido Hassin | LinkedIn ProfileBryan Guido Hassin | X ProfileDexmat.com
02/12/2025

Navigating Climate Challenges and Solutions feat. Sylvia Dee

With climate, the present is connected to both the past and the future. Historical data from paleoclimatology holds insights that can inform our understanding of future risks, and using AI in climate modeling may be the key to linking the two. Sylvia Dee is an assistant professor and climate scientist at Rice University specializing in climate change and the past, present, and future of Earth’s hydrological cycle. Sylvia’s research focuses on how Earth’s modes of natural variability, like El Niño and La Niña events, compound with climate change to alter the characteristics of weather and climate extremes, such as flooding hazard on the Mississippi River. Her lab evaluates climate model data to understand future risks to human and natural systems. David dives into Sylvia's background, her research on paleoclimatology, and the application of historical climate data to predict future climate scenarios. They also discuss the sources of carbon emissions, and extreme weather events like hurricanes and floods, and is a good discussion of the science behind the issues presented in an extremely accessible way. Let us know you’re listening by filling out this form. We will be sending listeners Beyond the Hedges Swag every month. Episode Guide: 01:31 Understanding Paleoclimatology03:58 Historical Climate Changes and Human Impact08:33 Climate Modeling and Predictions12:43 The Role of AI in Climate Science15:16 Impact of Carbon Emissions19:02 Extreme Weather Events and Research Focus22:09 Addressing Climate Change: Policy and Practice24:39 Rapid Fire Questions and ConclusionBeyond The Hedges is a production of Rice University and is produced by University FM. Episode Quotes:How Did Sylvia become interested in paleoclimate? 02:39: The reason I got really interested in studying paleoclimate is that right now, of course, we're changing the Earth's system so fast through human activities. And one of the ways we can deduce just how fast is by looking back into the past. And we can establish a baseline for what Earth does on its own, naturally, and compare that to the rate at which Earth's climate is changing now. So one of the major reasons we study paleoclimate is to contextualize current rates of climate and environmental change. And then there's a second reason to study paleoclimate, and that's that our climate models are, basically, built upon our observations from the 20th and the 21st centuries. And oftentimes, we're faced with the problem of the fact that data is pretty short compared to Earth's climate history. We only have about 100 or 150 years of data to validate our climate model physics against. And so looking into the past helps us create a new test for our climate model physics. On using the past to predict our climate future 20:29: I have to say that undergraduates here at Rice have driven a lot of these research directions because I've let them lead and what they're excited about working on. So they'll learn about heat waves. They'll be here doing research in the summer, living through more and more hundred-degree days. And they want to work on it. They want to do research on that topic. And for us, since we're working with climate model data, it's nice to have a Ferrari at your fingertips. We can look at so many different types of problems, and the students can really sink their teeth into problems that they're interested in. [21:20] But I think the major difference between what I do and what other climate scientists do is that I do bring in this lens of the past. So trying to use the past to inform our future. 100 corporations drive 70% of emissions—not individuals 22:32: Approximately 100 corporations account for over 70 percent of emissions globally, and so there's been this effort, I think, within our society to shift the burden of blame onto the individual—oh, turn your heat down, recycle, etc., etc. But really, it's 100 corporations that account for 70 percent of emissions. So, for this to get better, we have to not only adapt to the changes, but we have to reduce carbon emissions. And that has to come from either the private sector doing that on its own or from government regulation. You see this working really well in places like the EU. They are certainly restricting the amount of carbon that different companies can emit, and they're putting caps on each country's emissions, for example, and that has caused technological innovation. Show Links:Rice Natural Sciences | Earth, Environmental and Planetary SciencesRice AlumniAssociation of Rice Alumni | FacebookRice Alumni (@ricealumni) | X (Twitter)Association of Rice Alumni (@ricealumni) | Instagram Host Profiles:David Mansouri | LinkedInDavid Mansouri ’07 | Alumni | Rice UniversityDavid Mansouri (@davemansouri) | XDavid Mansouri | TNScoreGuest Profiles:Faculty Profile at RiceGoogle Scholar PageSylviaDeeClimate.orgLinkedIn ProfileSocial Profile on X

5

out of 5

3 Ratings

Rice University is home to an abundance of brilliant minds, game-changing research and unique stories. Now alumni and friends don’t have to be on campus — or even in Houston — to experience Rice’s vibrant intellectual life. Each month, we’re bringing Rice’s spirit of lifelong learning beyond the hedges, to you!

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