Jeff Falk

Rice U. physicist to lead world’s longest-running nuclear collider experiment

Rice U. Frank Geurts has been named co-spokesperson of STAR, the world’s longest-running particle collider experiment.

Rice U. expert available to discuss social media giants’ rivalry and the launch of a new app by Meta

The launch of a new social media app by Facebook parent-company Meta yesterday has brought renewed attention to the social media landscape. Rice University Professor and computing expert Moshe Vardi is available to comment on the Meta-Twitter rivalry and its potential impact.

Rice U.’s Songtao Chen wins NSF CAREER Award

Songtao Chen, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice University, has won a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award to advance the development of quantum networks by leveraging point defects in silicon.

Study: Pandemic FOMO had mental health consequences for older adults

During the COVID-19 pandemic, fear of missing out (FOMO) on social activities may have negatively affected the mental health of adults at high risk of serious disease, according to a new study from Rice University and Baylor University.

NeuWS camera answers ‘holy grail problem’ in optical imaging

Engineers from Rice and the University of Maryland have created technology that could allow cameras to "see" through fog, smoke, driving rain, murky water, skin, muscle and other light-scattering obstructions.

Electrochemical device captures carbon dioxide at the flick of a switch

New carbon capture technology developed by Rice University engineers can generate a continuous, high-purity carbon dioxide stream from diluted, or low-concentration, gas streams using only electricity and a water-and-oxygen-based reaction.

New enzyme could aid anticancer drug development

Retracing nature’s steps, Rice University engineer Xue Gao and her team mapped out the full series of enzyme-powered reactions a marine fungus uses to produce a complex molecule with anticancer properties. In the process, the Gao lab uncovered the first fungal enzyme of its kind known to break an amide bond.

Baker Institute report: Russia-Ukraine provides policy lessons on oil, natural gas as geopolitical weapons

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought renewed focus on the use of energy resources as geopolitical “weapons.” But the respective experiences for oil and natural gas in the past year — Russia’s two main energy exports and the leading energy sources for Europe and the U.S. — provide strategic lessons for policymakers, according to a new report from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Study finds human impact on wildlife even in protected areas

The largest long-term standardized camera-trap survey to date finds that human activity impacts tropical mammals living in protected areas and sheds light on how different species are affected based on their habitat needs and anthropogenic stressors.

DNA test could broaden access to cervical cancer screening

Rice bioengineers have demonstrated a low-cost, point-of-care DNA test for HPV infections that could make cervical cancer screening more accessible in low- and middle-income countries where the disease kills more than 300,000 women each year.

Study: Childhood trauma survivors with high heart rate variability are more resilient when grieving spouse

While childhood trauma is often linked to mental and physical health problems later in life, a new study from Rice University finds that individuals who have faced mistreatment in their youth but have high heart rate variability — variation in the time between heartbeats — are more resilient emotionally and physically when grieving the loss of a spouse.

Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator announces Class 3 ventures

Fifteen new energy ventures that are building technologies to accelerate the energy transition will work with the Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator as part of the third cohort of the program.

Study: ‘Multiplicity of impact’ from natural disasters affects Black people most

The many personal, physical and social impacts of natural disasters disproportionately affect Black people, and such events can have political consequences for local governments regardless of constituents’ political ideology, according to new research from Rice University.

Rice U. chemist leverages heterogeneity for insight into catalysis, cancer initiation

Rice U. chemist Anatoly Kolomeisky has won a National Science Foundation award to study the role of heterogeneity in chemical and biological processes.

Homeowners in mostly white communities prefer to risk repeat flooding rather than move to more diverse neighborhoods on safer ground

Even after suffering flood damage, homeowners in mostly white communities prefer to accept higher risk of disaster repeating itself than relocate to areas with more racial diversity and less flood risk, according to new research from Rice University.