Jeff Falk

Leaders from US, French space industries to discuss future of spaceflight at Rice Global Paris Center

Key leaders from the Houston and French space industries will discuss the future of spaceflight at a conference at the Rice Global Paris Center Dec. 4-6.

Newest OpenStax textbook provides essential workplace skills to students

OpenStax’s newest textbook, “Workplace Software and Skills,” addresses the evolving needs of college and university students preparing for their careers with free, customizable resources. Just like the other 65 textbooks freely available in Rice University’s OpenStax library, this textbook is openly licensed and peer-reviewed. 

Disc around star observed in another galaxy for the first time

Astronomers have uncovered evidence of an extragalactic accretion disk for the first time.

Rice physicists launch extreme quantum materials symposium

An international audience of more than three dozen quantum researchers, including Rice’s Pengcheng Dai, Randall Hulet, Douglas Natelson, Han Pu, Ming Yi and Boris Yakobson, attended the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship Symposium on Extreme Quantum Materials at Rice Nov. 9.

Rice’s Pedro Alvarez wins Chinese Chemical Society’s Outstanding Achievement Award

Pedro Alvarez, the George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice, received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Chinese Chemical Society for his “long-term systematic contributions in basic research and technology development in the field of environmental chemistry.”

Kavli Exploration Award backs Rice-led sustainable carbon materials research

An international team of scientists led by Rice’s Matteo Pasquali has won a $4.1 million grant to optimize carbon nanotube synthesis. The award is a joint effort by The Kavli Foundation, with a $1.9 million Exploration Award in Nanoscience for Sustainability, and Rice’s Carbon Hub, which contributed an additional $2.2 million.

Rice Business online MBA ranks No. 6 nationally, according to Poets&Quants

Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business ranks No. 6 nationally for its online Master of Business Administration program, according to Poets&Quants rankings released today. MBA@Rice is the fastest-growing program at the business school since its launch in 2018.

‘Strange metal’ is strangely quiet in noise experiment

Rice experiments have provided the first direct evidence that electricity seems to flow through “strange metals” in an unusual liquid-like form. The first “shot noise” experiments on a strange metal from the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) are detailed this week in Science by physicists from both universities.

Rice receives $2.5M grant to support inclusive STEM education

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute awarded Rice University with $2.5 million spanning over five years as part of its Driving Change initiative designed to connect research universities that are working to build inclusive learning environments for students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 

Symphony concert, annual ‘Spirit of the Season’ and more on tap as Rice Shepherd School wraps up fall events

As the holiday season approaches, Rice’s Shepherd School of Music has a number of events on tap for concertgoers to enjoy.

Grant backs research on teaching networks to make better decisions

Rice’s Santiago Segarra and Ashutosh Sabharwal have won a grant from the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory to develop a machine learning framework that improves military communication networks’ decision-making processes. The research could also help inform applications such as self-driving vehicles and cyber intrusion detection.

Rice research: DACA uncertainty leads to psychological stress for recipients

After former President Donald Trump announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in 2017, beneficiaries of it experienced significantly higher levels of distress and post-traumatic stress diagnoses than their non-DACA counterparts, according to a new study from Rice University.

Wearable art heels sport tree wart texture

A Rice student used galls — plant tissue growths caused by small wasps — to decorate a pair of shoes as part of an art project, creating some online buzz when a picture of the heels were posted on social media.

Study sheds light on how Earth cycles fossil carbon

Rice’s Mark Torres and collaborators used rhenium as a proxy for fossil carbon in order to quantify the rate at which Earth naturally releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and found that high rates of carbon breakdown persist across the different geographical profiles of a river basin.

Fluorine catch-and-attach process could boost drug efficiency

Rice scientists have developed a new low-cost, safe and effective process to free up and reattach fluorine to chemical compounds. In pharmaceuticals, fluorine can expand lifetime, increase absorption and minimize side effects.