In the Media

The impact of accelerators remains open to debate, according to research co-authored by Yael Hochberg, Rice University’s Ralph S. O’Connor Professor in Entrepreneurship. Some researchers have found accelerators help startups grow, attract venture capital and add a spark to the innovation ecosystem. Other researchers, however, found the effects on a young company’s performance are muted or even negative.

Houstonians care disrupted because fewer hospital systems can bargain with more insurers. Vivian Ho is the Baker Institute Chair in Health Economics at Rice University and professor at Baylor College of Medicine

“Trade wars aren’t worth it and this one wasn’t worth it, either,” Peter Rodriguez, dean of Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business told the editorial board. “It may have been faster, but we could have gotten here in much easier ways.”

Like dieting, though, self-deprivation from stuff is hard to sustain. Now Rice Business professor Utpal Dholakia and former Rice Business doctoral students Jihye Jung, now at the University of San Antonio, and Nivriti Chowdhry, now with Amazon, have devised an alternative. In four separate studies, the team found that it’s possible to redirect the urge to buy by reflecting on what we already have.  

The march toward gender equity in full-time MBA programs is experiencing what’s called halting progress. Analysis of a handful of schools outside the U.S. reveals gradual progress — but makes clear that U.S. schools are leading the way in the drive to achieve and maintain equal gender representation in MBA programs.

Rebellion Photonics, an oil and gas technology company co-founded in 2009 by Rice Business alumna Allison Lami Sawyer, was acquired by Honeywell. The company will become part of Honeywell's Safety and Productivity Solutions business and also will be used in Honeywell's Performance Materials and Technologies business to help manufacturers improve safety and compliance.

In this Monday roundup of Houston innovators, we traverse into the restaurant, health care, and higher education industries with a startup founder focused on using technology to improve the dining experience, a self-starter in health care, and a leader on the Rice University campus with a new office.

In Rice University Business School professor Vikas Mittal’s studies on customer loyalty, he found that sometimes the customer’s relationship with the company and people creating the product was more important than the individual product, that “Customers who liked a company and its employees were more forgiving about perceived glitches in satisfaction.”

Earning an MBA can be expensive, especially from a top school. While financial aid, grants, fellowships and scholarships are available, the price tag may feel daunting. But recent surveys prove that an MBA will further your salary potential. Rice Business ranks as the 8th most affordable MBA in the top 25 with the best ROI and starting salaries.

Houston is the best city for studying entrepreneurship in 2020, according to a report released Tuesday by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. The University of Houston is the best undergraduate school for entrepreneurship studies in North America, and Rice University is the best graduate school. 

The University of Houston captured the #1 spot on the undergraduate entrepreneurship studies ranking list, up from the #2 last year. Rice University finished #1 on the graduate list, up from #3 last year. In all, 59 institutions made one or both of the lists. 

Two Houston universities — Rice University and the University of Houston — have been ranked as having the best graduate entrepreneurship program and the best undergraduate entrepreneurship program in the country, respectively.