’Tis the season of giving . . . and engineering
The holiday season kicked off early this year for a Rice staff member who received a welcome and much-needed gift from a team of freshman engineering students.
Molecular jackhammers’ ‘good vibrations’ eradicate cancer cells
Rice scientists and collaborators at Texas A&M University and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found a new way to kill cancer cells by using near-infrared light to make a small dye molecule attached to their membrane vibrate strongly. It is the first time this kind of mechanical molecular action has been used as a potential therapy.
For this emergent class of materials, ‘solutions are the problem’
Rice materials scientists developed a fast, low-cost, scalable method to make covalent organic frameworks (COFs), a class of crystalline polymers whose tunable molecular structure, large surface area and porosity could be useful in energy applications, semiconductor devices, sensors, filtration systems and drug delivery.
Electronic pathways may enhance collective atomic vibrations’ magnetism
A new study from Rice’s RAMBO laboratory and collaborators suggests the magnetism of phonons, collective atomic vibrations, is enhanced by electronic pathways.
Working women feel unsupported by Christian congregations — even more progressive ones
As church membership declines across the United States, a new study from Rice University’s Boniuk Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance finds that working women do not feel supported by their clergy and churches, regardless of whether they’re involved with a more conservative or liberal congregation.
Rice MBA ranks among top 20 business degrees in the US, according to Poets&Quants
The full-time on-campus Master of Business Administration program from Rice’s Jones Graduate School of Business ranks No. 18 in the country, according to new 2024 rankings from Poets&Quants. The school rose 11 spots since 2023. This latest ranking makes Rice Business the No. 1 business school in Texas, according to Poets and Quants.
Rice-Hamburg U. of Technology launch research collaboration
Rice chemical engineer Walter Chapman is spearheading a collaboration with the Hamburg University of Technology’s SMART Reactors Collaborative Research Center, which aims to develop solutions in support of a transition from fossil fuel to renewables-based economic and production chains through innovative reactor design and development.
A new Rice University study of the remains of modern African antelopes found that AI technology accurately identified animals more than 90% of the time compared to humans, who had much lower accuracy rates depending on the expert.
Chance twists ordered carbon nanotubes into ‘tornado films’
Rice scientists in the lab of Junichiro Kono have developed two new methods to create ordered carbon nanotube films with either a left- or right-handed chiral pattern.
Rice faculty among 2023 PATHS-UP Seed Fund award winners
Spurred by the first Digital Health Workshop held at Rice in August, 10 clinician-engineering teams have been selected as PATHS-UP Seed Fund award winners for projects that explore promising new directions for advancing digital health solutions with several Rice faculty members among awardees.
Rice to host National Society of Black Engineers’ Fresh Start event
Rice University will host the National Society of Black Engineers Houston Professional Chapter’s Fresh Start event this week, expecting a record number of participants. The Dec. 9 event at Rice’s Ley Student Center aims to engage third- through 12th-grade students in interactive workshops that creatively explore the various disciplines in the field of engineering.
Rice engineers tackle hard-to-map class of materials
Rice materials scientist Yimo Han and collaborators mapped the structural features of a 2D ferroelectric material made of tin and selenium atoms using a new technique that can be applied to other 2D van der Waals ferroelectrics, unlocking their potential for use in electronics and other applications.
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.