Getting off the train at Siam Station for the first time, I was greeted by a horde of commuters and tourists alike streaming all around me, filling the platforms as if someone could fall onto the tracks at any moment. At street level, the chaos was amplified. Tuktuks and dilapidated public buses barreled through the city streets, heading into the vast unknown plains surrounding the city while street food peddlers crowded the narrow sidewalks, electric wires dangling dangerously close overhead....

The study of cities are very much intertwined with the urban community at large, and Rice will provide me with an opportunity to look beyond the hedges and develop creative solutions to local challenges. The Centre for Civic Leadership integrates the academic environment with experiential learning opportunities such as the Houston Action Research Teams and Urban Immersion, allowing me to apply concepts learned in class towards solutions to pressing issues plaguing life in Houston. Furthermore, Rice embodies collaborative thinking, an...

On the first day of 10th grade, my new Thai classmates asked, “Do you know how to speak Thai?” Recalling the phrase that I had memorized upon arrival two months earlier, I recited “koh toht, phut thai mai dai”. - Sorry, I don’t speak Thai. Expecting an astonished response, what I got instead were momentary looks of confusion immediately followed by fits of laughter. It was my turn to be confused. Turns out, what I actually said was “koh...

Cities are formed at the crossroads of varying complex systems - be it sewage, transportation, and even natural ecosystems - and nature dictates for entropy in such a system to increase over time. However, the source of many challenges facing urban societies today stem from disorder. I aspire to find solutions to these challenges, to create resilient cities, and promote sustainable change in urban environments. With elaborate courses such as CEVE 492(Modeling/Analysis of NetSys) and CEVE 313(Uncertainty In Urban...