From startups making pick-up easy to tips on navigating cyberbullying, these Houstonians are weighing in on tips for parents with tech-enabled kids. Photo by Getty Images

We're at the start of a new school year, the time when parents, teachers, and children are still transitioning from the lull of the summer to the stride of a new routine.

This year, like the last, may still involve the unpredictability and constant administrative changes that come with a global pandemic.

In fact, as parents know, more issues seem to have arisen after classes started than before. With that in mind, we've created a handy guide to help kickstart the academic new year.

Issues covered here include how to plan healthy lunches, cutting screen time, smart ideas for transportation, and an epidemic currently plaguing young generations: cyberbullying.

A new digital menace

Unlike traditional bullying, the threat of cyberbullying is constant if kids have access to electronic devices — it doesn't stop at the end of the school day. And these bullies can remain anonymous, giving them the confidence to attack seemingly without repercussions. For victims, this creates a terrorizing environment from which they're not safe even at home.

Victims of cyberbullying are twice as likely to self-harm and exhibit suicidal behavior, and suicide was the second-leading cause of death for those between the age of 10 up to 24, according to the CDC.

Thankfully, parents can identify cyberbullying early on or even prevent it from reaching their families.

With cyberbullying, "there are no physical signs like a black eye or a tattered piece of clothing, which makes it harder to notice," Houston attorney and CrimeStoppers spokesperson Jammy Kiggundu tells CultureMap.

He advises parents and teachers to look out for "changes in behavior, if the child seems more withdrawn, under- or oversleeping, loss of appetite, bed-wetting at an age that shouldn't be happening. Signs of anxiety."

Parents should also guide their children's use of mobile apps and social media. Giving kids access to the internet without direction is "no different than giving a child a vehicle and the keys and say 'good luck,'" Kiggundu says.

This requires you to educate yourself on social media and apps, too. Find community workshops in your area or watch free training videos online to arm yourself with the knowledge necessary to protect your child. Even if you're social-media literate, there's always something new to learn. (Eerily, there are now a teen and children dating apps — see more here.)

Lastly, be vigilant. "If your child leaves with 40 apps and comes home with 42, you now need to know what those other two apps are," Kiggundu adds.

Social ground rules

Parents should establish some ground rules with social media. Some tips include: ensuring kids have private social media accounts, monitoring their messenger conversations, and limiting their number of online friends and followers.

Those efforts might also yield another beneficial outcome: cutting down on your child's screen time.

The CDC reports that children ages eight to 10 spend an average of six hours per day in front of a screen. That number rises to nine hours for those between 11 and 14. And that doesn't include the time spent in front of a computer for school work.

If you suspect your child is being cyberbullied, Kiggundu says the first thing to do is start a conversation and develop a healthy dialogue so he or she feels comfortable opening up. If your suspicions are confirmed, you'll want to collect as much information and evidence as possible — screenshots, computer print-outs, etc. — because schools will need your assistance in investigating the matter.

Kiggundu warns to never attempt to resolve the matter yourself by approaching the alleged aggressor's parents. Always work through the school and law-enforcement officials to address the issue.

Conversely, if you suspect your child is cyberbullying someone: acknowledge the issue and consider seeking professional help. Remain calm and try to explain to your child how the victim might be feeling, in an effort to elicit empathy and ensure it doesn't continue. Try to delve deep into the issues your son or daughter is facing that may be prompting this behavior, Kiggundu advises.

Remember that if your child is attacking another, you may be held accountable, since you have an obligation to "supervise your child in a non-negligent manner."

Getting a brake at the pick-up line

Changing gears: the dreaded, long pick-up and drop-off line hasn't changed, even if you now work from home. Add to the fact that the Delta Variant is still making its way through schools, creating a health hazard for children packed together as they await their parents.

One hack is to invest in a bicycle with a rear or front carrier to pick up your kids and bypass the lines. There are also bikes with trailers to easily haul your kids to-and-from school.

Another option is to hire a safe car service. Consider the "part Uber, part carpool" HopSkipDrive. The company allows parents to request rides for children at least six years of age via its app or website. Parents then receive a profile photo of the "CareDriver," as well as tracking updates throughout the ride. HopSkipDrive assures parents that their employees are screened, have childcare experience and are thoroughly vetted before they join the service.

Inner-Loop may have also seen ride-share service Alto making its way around town. The Texas-based company hires background-checked employees, as opposed to independent contractors, to chauffeur people in comfortable, well-kept vehicles. They can seat up to six passengers, so parents can arrange for a carpool with multiple stops to make it more economical. Drivers are incentivized to drive responsibly since their pay is dependent on the "safety score" they earn.

While after-school activities typically buy parents time to pick up their children and avoid long lines, several schools are temporarily suspending their programs due to COVID. But places like the YMCA are still taking in kids and implementing COVID-compliant safety measures. Or create a safe after-school network of vaccinated kids and parents who can join at the school playground and take turns transporting the students.

A major mid-day boost: lunch

While you may feel helpless when it comes to protecting your young ones from the threat of COVID, you can offer them a nutritious diet to aid in their good health.

School-provided lunches are generally improving, but parents should remain watchful of what their kids are being served.

One of the biggest health factors is added sugars, which creep into juice pouches, breakfast cereals and snacks. The American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that children ages 2 to 18 not consume more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar daily.

If you're packing their lunches, make sure to thoroughly read nutrition labels and to incorporate as many fruits and vegetables as possible.

Physician and mom of two, Chelsea Casey, MD, suggests "including a fat (like olives) and protein" when meal prepping. Avoid leaving the produce section when food shopping because "the less processed the better."

She also suggests investing in a thermos for pasta and other warm meals. "Alternate sandwiches and get creative," Casey said. "We make skewers of tomatoes, mozzarella and olives."

Also: give yourself a break. Casey says not to fall into the mom-guilt trap, "We definitely do cheat days."

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

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Rice University, Houston Methodist launch new institute to revolutionize health care through AI, innovation

collaboration station

Rice University and Houston Methodist have established through a multi-year joint effort the Digital Health Institute, which aims to transform healthcare through advanced technology and the collaborative expertises of the university and hospital.

Rice’s leadership in engineering, digital health and artificial intelligence will combine with Houston Methodist’s academic medicine and research infrastructure.

“This partnership embodies Rice’s bold vision to lead at the forefront of innovation in health and responsible AI,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches says in a news release. “By combining our strengths with Houston Methodist, we are creating a transformative platform to address critical challenges in healthcare with solutions that are ethical, accessible and impactful. This initiative exemplifies our commitment to driving interdisciplinary collaboration and advancing global health for the benefit of humanity.”

Leading the initiative will be Rice’s Ashutosh Sabharwal, the Ernest Dell Butcher Professor of Engineering and professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Houston Methodist’s Dr. Khurram Nasir, the Centennial Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine, and Dr. William Zoghbi, division chief of cardiovascular prevention and wellness. Rice and Houston Methodist have worked previously with the Center for Neural Systems Restoration that opened earlier this year and the Center for Human Performance that was established in 2022.

The Digital Health Institute allows for both institutions to share data, and resources that focus on key areas like the early detection through AI algorithms for early diagnosis of cancer, infections, cardiovascular diseases and other conditions, predictive analytics that utilize real-time monitoring that can predict and prevent events such as strokes and heart failure, and the development of novel sensors, wearables and ingestibles to innovate new remote monitoring and care pathways.

The Digital Health Institute will also work to utilize more personalized medicine efforts, developments of new novel and assistive technologies, expansion of telemedicine, and proactive self-care management through AI-driven patient self-management.

“This partnership between our institutions marks a bold new chapter in driving meaningful innovation at the intersection of healthcare and technology through solutions that are both visionary and practical,” Dr. Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist, adds. “Our long-standing relationship with Rice University has produced impactful collaborations, but this initiative is by far the most transformative endeavor in our shared commitment of leading medicine through innovation.”

Rice President Reginald DesRoches and Houston Methodist CEO Marc Boom announced the new partnership at the Ion. Photo courtesy of Rice

Elon Musk wants to turn SpaceX's Starbase site into a Texas city

mayor musk?

SpaceX is launching a new mission: making its Starbase site a new Texas city.

Billionaire Elon Musk 's company last week sent a letter to local officials requesting an election to turn what it calls Starbase — the South Texas site where SpaceX builds and launches its massive Starship rockets — into an incorporated city. Residents of the area known as Starbase submitted the petition, according to the company.

The area is on the southern tip of Texas at Boca Chica Beach, near the Mexican border. Earlier this year, Musk announced he was moving the headquarters of SpaceX and his social media company X from California to Texas.

“To continue growing the workforce necessary to rapidly develop and manufacture Starship, we need the ability to grow Starbase as a community. That is why we are requesting that Cameron County call an election to enable the incorporation of Starbase as the newest city in the Rio Grande Valley,” Kathryn Lueders, the general manager of Starbase, wrote in a letter to the county.

It's not the first time turning Starbase into its own city has been floated. Musk proposed the idea in 2021 when he wrote a social media post that simply said, “Creating the city of Starbase, Texas.”

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr., the county’s top elected official, said despite the talks of incorporation in 2021, this was the first time a petition was officially filed.

“Our legal and elections administration will review the petition, see whether or not it complied with all of the statutory requirements and then we’ll go from there," Treviño said on Thursday.

More than 3,400 full-time SpaceX employees and contractors work at the Starbase site, according to a local impact study issued by Trevino earlier this year.

SpaceX's rapid expansion in the region has drawn pushback from some locals. Earlier this year, a group called Save RGV sued the company in July over allegations of environmental violations and dumping polluted water into the nearby bay. SpaceX said in response that a state review found no environmental risks and called the lawsuit “frivolous.”

Editor's Picks: 7 favorite Houston Innovator Podcast episodes of 2024

year in review

Editor's note: This year, recorded over 40 episodes of the Houston Innovators Podcast — a weekly discussion with a Houston innovator, startup founder, investor, and more. I've rounded up seven podcast episodes that stood out for me looking back at the year of recordings. Scroll through to see whom I selected and stream their individual episodes, and tune into the last episode of the year where I explain why I enjoyed each conversation.



Episode 220 - Better than just 'inclusive' - Denise Hamilton of WatchHerWork

Houstonian Denise Hamilton is coming out with a book she hopes helps leaders reach beyond inclusivity. Photo courtesy of WatchHerWork

Denise Hamilton says she's been used to looking around and realizing she's the only woman or African American in the room, and for the past nine years, she's been providing resources and education to trailblazing women like her. Now, she wants to prepare current and future leaders on how to go beyond inclusivity and work toward indivisibility.

Hamilton's book, "Indivisible: How to Forge Our Differences into a Stronger Future," publishes February 6 from Countryman Press. She explains that the book comes from years of her on personal experiences, as well as inspiration from the women she's met with her company, WatchHerWork, multimedia digital platform providing advice and resources for professional women.

"I've learned a lot of lessons about what skills work, what behaviors are not intuitive, and built WatchHerWork with the intention of creating a space where people can get all of that advice — and juicy goodness — so that they can learn what they needed to do to be authentically successful," Hamilton says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

"This led to me being brought in as a speaker, and ultimately has led to me becoming an author," she continues. "It's always shocking when people want to listen to what you want to say. It's unbelievable." Continue reading the original article.

Episode 231 - Fostering a collaborative energy transition ecosystem - Barbara Burger

Houston energy leader Barbara Burger joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss the energy transition's biggest challenges and her key takeaways from CERAWeek. Photo courtesy

When Barbara Burger moved to Houston a little over a decade ago to lead Chevron Technology Ventures, she wondered why the corporate venture group didn't have much representation from the so-called energy capital of the world.

“I had no companies in my portfolio in CTV from Houston, and I wondered why,” Burger says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

Much has changed in the ecosystem since then, she says, including growth and development to what the community looks like now.

“There are a few things I’m proud of in the ecosystem here, and one of theme is that it’s a very inclusive ecosystem,” she explains, adding that she means the types of founders — from universities or corporate roles — and the incumbent energy companies. “The worst way to get people to not join a party is to not invite them.”

“No one company or organization is going to solve this. We have to get along,” she continues. “We have to stop thinking that the mode is to compete with each other because the pie is so big and the opportunity is so big to work together — and by and large I do see that happening.”Continue reading the original article.

Episode 233 - How a Houston angel earns their wings - Mitra Miller of Houston Angel Network

Mitra Miller, vice president and board member of the Houston Angel Network, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to share her passion for growing angel investors in Houston. Photo via LinkedIn

One of the biggest components of a well-functioning startup ecosystem is inarguably access to capital, and Mitra Miller is dedicated to enhancing education around investment and growing Houston's investor base.

As vice president and board member of the Houston Angel Network, the oldest angel network in Texas and one of the most active angel networks in the country, Miller strives to provide guidance to new and emerging angel investors as well as founders seeking to raise money from them.

"Most founders have no idea or understanding of how investors think — we are not an ATM," Miller says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "We are really partners you are getting married to for the next 5, 8, 10 years — sometimes longer. We need to bring your allies in every sense of the word." Continue reading the original article.


Episode 237 - Gearing up for 100x growth - Tim Latimer of Fervo Energy

Tim Latimer, CEO and co-founder of Fervo Energy, joins the Houston Innovators Podcast. Photo courtesy of Fervo Energy

Geothermal energy has been growing in recognition as a major player in the clean energy mix, and while many might think of it as a new climatetech solution, Tim Latimer, co-founder and CEO of Fervo Energy, knows better.

"Every overnight success is a decade in the making, and I think Fervo, fortunately — and geothermal as a whole — has become much more high profile recently as people realize that it can be a tremendous solution to the challenges that our energy sector and climate are facing," he says on the Houston Innovators Podcast.

In fact, Latimer has been bullish on geothermal as a clean energy source since he quit his job as a drilling engineer in oil and gas to pursue a dual degree program — MBA and master's in earth sciences — at Stanford University. He had decided that, with the reluctance of incumbent energy companies to try new technologies, he was going to figure out how to start his own company. Through the Stanford program and Activate, a nonprofit hardtech program that funded two years of Fervo's research and development, Latimer did just that. Continue reading the original article.

Episode 248 - Houston's beating heart - Dr. William Cohn of The Texas Heart Institute

Dr. William Cohn is the chief medical officer for BiVACOR, a medical device company creating the first total artificial heart. Photo via TMC

It's hard to understate the impact Dr. William Cohn has had on cardiovascular health as a surgeon at the Texas Heart Institute or on health care innovation as the director of the Center for Device Innovation at the Texas Medical Center. However, his role as chief medical officer of BiVACOR might be his most significant contribution to health care yet.

The company's Total Artificial Heart is unlike any cardiovascular device that's existed, Cohn explains on the Houston Innovators Podcast. While most devices are used temporarily for patients awaiting a heart transplant, BiVACOR's TAH has the potential to be a permanent solution for the 200,000 patients who die of heart failure annually. Last year, only around 4,000 patients were able to receive heart transplants.

"Artificial hearts historically have had bladders that ejected and filled 144,000 times a day. They work great for temporary support, but no one is suggesting they are permanent devices," Cohn says on the show. Continue reading the original article.

Episode 251 - Building enduring innovation ecosystems - Jon Norby of Anthropy Partners and EconWerx

Jon Nordby's career has been focused on cultivating a culture for innovation, and now he's focused on human potential technology opportunities. Photo courtesy

In his role overseeing startup accelerators for MassChallenge, Jon Nordby started noticing one industry vertical stood out in terms of success and opportunities: Human potential. Now, Nordby is a founding member of an investment firm looking for those opportunities.

Nordby, who served in various leadership roles at MassChallenge — including managing director and head of ecosystems — said he started realizing the opportunities within the organization's space and sports tech programs.

"What we realized over a couple of years running the program was that sports tech as a theme was too limiting," Nordby says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "We were finding really great technologies, but we were limited at the market size of teams and leagues to deploy those technologies."

"Over the course of that program, we found that the things that were related more to human health and performance tended to out perform all of the other things related to sports tech — like media, entertainment, gambling," Nordby continues. "Still really great markets for those technologies, but we found a lot more traction for human performance." Continue reading the original article.

Episode 263 - Maintaining a legacy of innovation - Reginald DesRoches of Rice University

Rice University President Reginald DesRoches joins the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss balancing tradition with growth, innovation, and global impact in education. Photo courtesy Tommy LaVergne/Rice University

How does a historic university maintain its legacy while still making room for growth and increased opportunities? That's what Rice University President Reginald DesRoches considers with every decision he makes.

"It's this idea of preserving what's special about the university, while also knowing we need to adapt to a new time, a new Rice, a new time in higher ed, and a new time in society," DesRoches says on the Houston Innovators Podcast. "There's a healthy tension between preserving what Rice is known for — the culture of care, the close-knit community — while knowing that we need to grow, have a global impact, and position Rice on a global scale. It's something that's constantly in my mind to make sure we do both." Continue reading the original article.