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How is the Rice Bioengineering Capstone Design course integral in the development of students in the bioengineering department and across all engineering disciplines? How do Rice students benefit from being at an institution that prioritizes premier teaching and research?
Dr. Sabia Zehra Abidi is an assistant teaching professor in bioengineering at Rice with expertise in stem cell research, microfluidics, and disease treatment. Dr. Abidi shares her journey through the field, from research to teaching, driven by her fascination with cellular communication and tissue engineering.
Sabia and host David Mansouri discuss how Rice is engaging students in bioengineering. Sabia also shares her involvement with students in various innovative programs, including through the Medical Humanities Research Institute.
David asks Sabia about her insights on the intersection of bioengineering and artificial intelligence, highlighting the potential and also the challenges of AI in healthcare. Additionally, she shares insights into her mentorship roles, advising on medical device projects, and the unique aspects of undergraduate education at Rice University.Let us know you’re listening by filling out this form. We will be randomly selecting listeners to receive Beyond the Hedges Swag every month.
Episode Guide:
03:36 Current Focus and Excitement in Bioengineering05:26 Intersection of Bioengineering and AI07:50 Teaching and Student Innovation12:09 Capstone Design and Student Achievements20:49 Transition from Research to Teaching23:37 Rapid Fire Questions and ConclusionBeyond The Hedges is a production of the Office of Alumni Relations at Rice University and is produced by University FM.
Show Links:Rice Department of BioengineeringRice 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 RiceLinkedInTwitter/XResearchGate ProfileEpisode Quotes:Bringing medical humanities into bioengineering to solve human-centered problems
08:30: I think the power of medical humanities is approaching problems from a perspective that we're not necessarily trained in. As bioengineers, we look at things in terms of, I don't know, here's the biology side, here's the engineering approach, here are the equations. And with medical humanities, you're really thinking about the experience; you're thinking about these people, where they're coming from, really getting into that human-centered design aspect. And so, that's the power of combining with medical humanities, for example, with this grant that we have together, where students, these bioengineers, actually go into hospitals, and they're looking for areas for innovation. And they're trained to look at these spaces in a certain way, but with technology tools from medical humanities. They can really dig into problems and understand, "Okay, what are the human-related issues here? And are we solving the right problem?"
What makes the bioengineering program at Rice special?
16:25: Rice's undergraduate bioengineering program is very special in that there are many opportunities for students to interact with the material in different ways, both in-depth and breadth.
Teaching as a path to profound impact and lifelong learning
23:09: In terms of teaching, I feel like you have the ability to impact people in a way that is profound. Like sometimes it's just a small conversation here and there. And then you can also create these programs, right? So these amazing programs that are training students do great.
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As AI grows and becomes more accessible, it's changing our lives in many ways—including the workforce. Our guest today is an expert in organization and workforce development who will tell us how AI is shaping the hiring process.
Fred Oswald is a Professor at Rice and the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences. His Organization & Workforce Laboratory (OWL) at Rice focuses on selection and job performance models in organizational, educational, and military contexts, as predicted by individual differences (such as personality and ability) as well as group differences (workgroup characteristics, gender, race/ethnicity, and culture).
In our first episode of Season 3, Fred joins host David Mansouri. They delve into Fred’s journey to Rice, his research on testing and job performance models, and the work being done in his lab at Rice.
The conversation highlights the ethical and practical applications of AI in organizational and educational settings, exploring how AI tools can shape hiring practices and support teaching and learning.
Let us know you listened to the episode and leave questions for future guests by completing this short form.Episode Guide:
00:46 Fred Oswald's Journey to Rice University02:27 Research at the Organization and Workforce Laboratory (OWL)03:29 Student Research Projects in OWL07:16 AI Applications in Organizational Decision-Making13:56 Ethics and Challenges of AI in Employment23:29 AI in Education: Opportunities and Concerns28:02 Skills-Based Hiring and the Future of Work34:46 Rapid Fire Questions and ConclusionBeyond The Hedges is a production of Rice University and is produced by University FM.
Show Links: National AI Advisory Committee - AI.govBoard on Human-Systems Integration | National AcademiesCo-Intelligence by Ethan MollickRice AlumniAssociation of Rice Alumni | FacebookRice Alumni (@ricealumni) | X (Twitter)Association of Rice Alumni (@ricealumni) | Instagram SallyportalHost Profiles:David Mansouri | LinkedInDavid Mansouri ’07 | Alumni | Rice UniversityDavid Mansouri (@davemansouri) | XDavid Mansouri | TNScoreGuest Profiles:Organization & Workforce Laboratory (OWL)Twitter/XLinkedInAbout FredDepartment of Psychological Sciences at RiceIndustrial/Organizational Psychology at RiceEpisode Quotes:Is AI turning users into critics?
21:17: I've noticed in my own experimentation—no surprise, because I think there's a common experience, you know, with generative AI. With the language models, you often become a critic in ways that you, of course, criticize or advise your own work, but when a GPT is producing language, say, summarize this paper for me or something like that, you shift into the role of a critic and say, is this good enough? However, you define that good enough for you, good enough for your audience, your stakeholders, you know, both in terms of the thematic, the substance—what is there? Does it seem right? But also, critically, what is missing? What didn't show up? And really working with that, I think, changes kind of your approach to how you do some of that work.
Using AI to empower the talents we have
27:47: You do have to build the fundamentals to understand what AI is doing, so in that sense, we can't use AI as a crutch. We have to use it as a way to empower the talents we already have and are building ourselves.
Examining bias and AI's influence in decision-making
08:59: How does bias work when we talk about AI as biased? Well, what does that mean in terms of the data and the decisions that are made from those data? This work gets embedded in these organizations. So, I'm not only concerned with the development of tests, but I'm concerned about the context in which they're being used.
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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The fall semester is in full swing, and we are thrilled to announce the return of Beyond The Hedges! It’s been a while, so let’s get reacquainted. Our new host is David Mansouri, Rice alum and president of the Association of Rice Alumni board. This season, we’ll be spotlighting incredible members of the Rice community who are making a lasting impact on our university, Houston, and the world.
Join us starting October 9th, and every 2nd Wednesday of the month. While you wait, catch up on previous episodes available now, and follow us wherever you get your podcasts—you won’t want to miss these conversations!
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“Hate is not something you can be indifferent about and just find middle ground. You have to denounce it whenever you find it,” says Luis Duno-Gottberg. In this episode, the Professor of Caribbean and Film Studies discusses his experience teaching one of the Humanities Department’s “Big Question Courses.” The question he and his students contend with is “what is hate?” Duno-Gottberg’s cross-discipline approach to the course and this conversation leaves a lot the think about both within ourselves and in our global community. His research on how subverting images of hate can be incredibly impactful hits home within the hedges, as he discusses the decision to move the statue of William Marsh Rice instead of removing it from the quad entirely.
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How do unconscious, embedded stereotypes shape our behavior towards each other? And how do these behaviors subtlety affect a person’s self-confidence? Eden King, Lynette S. Autrey Professor of Psychology, does research that seeks to guide the equitable and effective management of diverse organizations. Listen in as she discusses her eye-opening findings on women in the workplace, parenting during lockdown and how to be an ally to your colleagues.
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“Am I disabled because of my impairment or am I disabled because of attitudes in society?” This thought-provoking question is posed by this episode’s guest, the Director of the Disability Resource Center here at Rice University, Alan Russell. Whether visible or invisible, disabilities affect so many different people, but they are still stigmatized by society. Russell discusses barrier free accessibility, making sure to practice compassion instead of pity, and the importance of intersectional work that includes disability within the movement for diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice.
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Every Friday at noon during the fall and spring semesters, you can find Byrd and McDaniel leading a live webinar on Zoom for the Rice community, examining and discussing old documents and photographs from Rice’s past. Through a series of weekly webinars called Doc Talks, the history professors illuminate important research from historians and students with regards to racism and racial injustice. The webinars are then turned into podcast episodes and feature an added analysis by Beyond the Hedges host Kate Coley ’11. It’s just one way the university’s Task Force is working to encourage honest discussion around Rice’s history. Get to know these revolutionary Rice leaders in a more intimate setting on the Beyond the Hedges podcast as Byrd and McDaniel give listeners a behind-the-scenes look into their journeys at Rice, the process for creating and making Doc Talks, interesting findings thus far and more. Stay tuned until the end to hear from undergraduate student researcher, Indya Porter, talk about what she’s been working on for the Task Force.
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In the final episode of our three part series with Stephen Klineberg, we grapple with how to make Houston successful in the 21st century given the deep class divides, inaccessibility to quality education, and exploitation of immigrant workers. Steve says “the story of America is the story of immigrants, and we need to get back to that… I tell people all the time that if Houston’s African American and Latino young people are unprepared to succeed, it is impossible to envision a prosperous future for Houston. That is who we are and will be as the 21st century unfolds.” Houston has work to do, but Steve, along with his 40 years of survey data, is hopeful that the city is up to the task. Also stick around to the end for a new segment where Kate features a new Rice student each month to talk to them about a Rice-related passion project. This month's featured student is undergraduate McMurtry senior Alex Curylo.
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In the first episode of this three-part series, Stephen Klineberg discusses the research found in his book “Prophetic City: Houston on the Cusp of a Changing America,” covering the early days of Houston up until the oil bust in 1982. Klineberg is a professor emeritus of sociology at Rice and the founding director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research. His surveys of Houston over the last 40 years have captured the city’s transformation, and why Houston, as he puts it, “is where, for better or worse, the future of our nation is going to be worked out.”
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With the huge political divide in the United States, fears around how to vote safely during a pandemic and the recent passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the upcoming presidential election is unlike anything we’ve seen before. What will it take for Americans to feel safe while voting in the wake of COVID-19? What are the concerns around mail-in voting, and are they valid? In this episode, Robert Stein, the fellow in urban politics at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Lena Grohlman Fox Professor of Political Science, discusses his research on voting in a pandemic, mail-in voting and what it truly means to exercise your right to vote.
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When people say they don’t see color when it comes to race, is this actually a dangerous social lie that means people don’t have to be held accountable? Colorblindness is “premised upon problematic thinking that has framed race relations in the United States… [and is] based upon the assumption difference is a problem to solve, but in wiping out difference we allow whiteness to remain normative,” says Anthony B. Pinn, the Agnes Cullen Arnold Professor of Humanities, professor of religion and director of the Center for African and African American Studies. In this episode, Professor Pinn discusses the fallacy of colorblindness as an anti-racist solution, the sustainable changes hip hop has created for the Black community, and what the global Rice community can do to fight racial injustice.
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The killing of George Floyd has caused global protests around racial injustice and white supremacy. How does the stress of racial trauma play out in the lives of people in Black and Brown communities? What can we do as a global Rice community to fight racial injustice? Join guest host Vanity Hill, assistant director of alumni regional outreach, as she explores these topics with Tony Brown, sociology professor, race and racism scholar and director of the Racism and Racial Experiences Workgroup.
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COVID-19 is constantly on our minds and on our screens. How has the history of contagion media shaped the way we respond to and think about pandemics like this? How do we handle the shifting paradigm of health communications in a digital age? In this episode, Kirsten Ostherr, director of Rice’s Medical Humanities Program and Medical Futures Lab, discusses representation, social media, marginalized communities and the dangers of misinformation around the global crisis.
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How can ants teach us to be more efficient? Most of us think of ants as a picnic pest on the hunt for food, but ants are actually members of societies that function as complexly as ours with divisions of labor and specialties. They grow their own food on a mass scale, develop pesticides and prepare in case of food scarcity, all without ever experiencing a traffic jam. In this episode, Rice Associate Teaching Professor and Evolutionary Biologist Scott Solomon will discuss his research into what makes ant colonies such a successful model for efficiency.
