Cool Pool Tool

First-of-its-kind app for pool sharing splashes into Houston

You can rent this Rice Village-area pool for $50 an hour. Swimply.com

A new app is making a splash in Houston by enabling users to rent pools, Airbnb-style.

Swimply, which launched in Houston last month, promotes itself as the first online marketplace for pool sharing. On the app, someone searching for a cool pool to borrow can sift through offerings based on location, price, and amenities (like grills and hot tubs). A potential customer also can peruse reviews left by renters. Once a renter finds an appropriate pool, he or she then reserves it through the Swimply platform.

A review of Houston-area pools available for rent found prices ranging from $40 to $125 an hour.

For instance, a pool near Rice Village that's listed at $50 an hour is touted as feeling like "a resort in the Italian Riviera." It comes with an outdoor kitchen, hot tub, limestone floors, and even a basketball court.

For $100 an hour, you and your crew can rent a pool in Cypress, complete with a hot tub, barbecue, trampoline, bounce house, pool toys, and a margarita/slushie machine.

Swimply says prices are based on size of the pool area, as well as amenities, rental time, and rental demand. The company also notes that each pool undergoes a safety inspection prior to being listed on the app. Pool owners can use the app to purchase services like pool cleaning and maintenance before and after a renter takes a dip.

"Whether you're stuck at home with the kids, tired from a long day of work (or homework), or just bored, we want you to be able to teleport somewhere awesome with a few clicks of a button,"Swimply says on its website. "We want mini-escapes to be as ordinary as visiting a café or [taking] a good nap. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, it should only take a moment from the time you want to be somewhere happier until the time you actually are."

The app launched with a pilot program in the summer of 2018 and is being rolled out nationwide this summer. Currently, there are also pools for rent in the Austin, Dallas, and San Antonio areas.

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This story originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

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With this new grant, UH has a new center for researching bioactive materials crystallization. Photo via UH.edu

A new hub at the University of Houston is being established with a crystal-clear mission — and fresh funding.

Thanks to funding from Houston-based organization The Welch Foundation, the University of Houston will be home to the Welch Center for Advanced Bioactive Materials Crystallization. The nonprofit doled out its inaugural $5 million Catalyst for Discovery Program Grant to the new initiative led by Jeffrey Rimer, Abraham E. Dukler Professor of Chemical Engineering, who is known internationally for his work with crystals that help treat malaria and kidney stones.

“Knowledge gaps in the nascent and rapidly developing field of nonclassical crystallization present a wide range of obstacles to design crystalline materials for applications that benefit humankind, spanning from medicine to energy and the environment,” says Rimer in a news release. “Success calls for a paradigm shift in the understanding of crystal nucleation mechanisms and structure selection that will be addressed in this center.”

The Welch Foundation, which was founded in 1954, has granted over $1.1 billion to scientists in Texas. This new grant program targets researchers focused on fundamental chemical solutions. Earlier this year, the organization announced nearly $28 million in grants to Texas institutions.

"Support from the Welch Foundation has led to important advances in the field of chemistry, not only within Texas, but also throughout the United States and the world as a whole,” says Randall Lee, Cullen Distinguished University Chair and professor of chemistry, in the release. “These advances extend beyond scientific discoveries and into the realm of education, where support from the Welch Foundation has played a significant role in building the technological workforce needed to solve ongoing and emerging problems in energy and health care.”

Rimer and Lee are joined by the following researchers on the newly announced center's team:

  • Peter Vekilov, Moores Professor, chemical and biomolecular engineering
  • Alamgir Karim, Dow Chair and Welch Foundation Professor, chemical and biomolecular engineering;
  • Jeremy Palmer, Ernest J. and Barbara M. Henley Associate Professor, chemical and biomolecular engineering
  • Gül Zerze, chemical and biomolecular engineering
  • Francisco Robles Hernandez, professor of engineering technology.

The University of Houston also received another grant from the Welch Foundation. Megan Robertson, UH professor of chemical engineering, received $4 million$4 million for her work with developing chemical processes to transform plastic waste into useful materials.

“For the University of Houston to be recognized with two highly-competitive Welch Foundation Catalyst Grants underscores the exceptional talent and dedication of our researchers and their commitment to making meaningful contributions to society through discovery,” Diane Chase, UH senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, says in the release.

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