Fall 2017 GradStarter Projects


GradGames

Promoting wellbeing and integration among graduate students through social events centered on tabletop games.

GradGames seeks to promote graduate student well-being by organizing regular social events centered mainly on tabletop games. Events are free and open to the entire Rice community, with the intent of providing a social environment where students can relieve stress and meet other members of the community with shared interests. Socials feature a selection of board games, mainly provided by the organizers and attendees, which people are free to pick up and play for the duration of the event. Particular socials also feature additional gaming options, such as video games or poker, while others promote outdoor or cultural activities such as outings to parks or museums.

Read the full proposal here.

Fun with Chemistry

A Houston area outreach program to inspire elementary through high school students to explore science with hands-on, exciting, and educational demonstrations.

Fun with Chemistry will travel to local elementary through high schools in the greater Houston area to perform demonstration shows and teach students of all ages to develop an interest and love of science. We have several planned shows based on the age of the audience and the level of involvement with science. One of the main goals of the project is to conduct one show every month and build relationships with teachers throughout the community. For the students, our goal is to change the way kids, especially girls, perceive careers in STEM fields. We hope to become strong role models and show students what a career in science can represent. Through the program, our volunteers will work on presentation skills, leadership, and involvement in the Houston community. While much of graduate school is taken up with research, this program allows students to take fun break while continuing to expand important skills necessary for a career in science.

Read the full proposal here.

Rice Reading Groups

Monthly interdisciplinary reading group by PhD students from the Humanities and Social Sciences seeking to foster interdepartmental and intellectual community. 

Rice Reading Groups offers two monthly interdisciplinary reading groups hosted by PhD students from the Humanities and Social Sciences seeking to foster interdepartmental and intellectual community. Our goals are two-fold: (1) to increase the cross-fertilization of ideas and contact between various departments, and (2) to foster exposure to and facility with seminal and ground-breaking works in theories and methods––especially in critical theory (i.e., philosophical studies regarding the socio-cultural, -historical, and ideological forces surrounding the study of race, gender, and class). The first reading group is Methodological Approaches to the Study of Religion and the second is a more general survey of Critical Theory.

Read the full proposal here.