Mike Williams

Rice engineers WERC hard for the money

Students calling themselves “PFAS and PFurious” took four prizes, including first place, in this year’s 31st WERC Environmental Design Contest.

Rice’s Walker beams down from space station

Rice alumna Shannon Walker and crewmate Kate Rubins, aboard the International Space Station, joined a conversation with students in Houston, Scotland and Ecuador.

Bioengineer wins NIH grant to attack cystic fibrosis

Rice chemical and biomolecular engineer Xue Sherry Gao wins a National Institutes of Health grant to develop gene editing to treat cystic fibrosis.

Houston astronaut Shannon Walker joins space station conversation with local, international students

NASA has announced that Rice alumna Shannon Walker, the only Houston-born astronaut to fly in space, will join Thursday’s live International Space Station conversation with students from eight Houston-area schools.

Houston students get time with astronauts aboard ISS

Students from eight Houston-area schools will take part in a live Q-and-A session with two astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Thursday, April 8.

Rice adds operations research major

Rice will offer a new major and bachelor of arts degree, operations research, this fall.

Akane Sano wins NSF CAREER Award

Forget the mood ring. Akane Sano has a far better idea.

Ultimate field trip will be out of this world

While it may be virtual, the Rice Space Institute (RSI) has organized the ultimate spring trip for grade school students.

Houston refines hunt for COVID in wastewater

There are many ways to test municipal wastewater for signs of the virus that causes COVID-19, but scientists in Houston have determined theirs is the best yet.

Teamwork makes light shine ever brighter

If you’re looking for one technique to maximize photon output from plasmons, stop. It takes two to wrangle.

Christopher Tunnell wins NSF CAREER Award

Rice University computational astroparticle physicist Christopher Tunnell is getting help in his search for the nature of the universe through a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award.

Physics camp has proven benefits for high school girls

HOUSTON – (March 5, 2021) – Even a small effort up front can boost the abilities and confidence of girls as they anticipate taking challenging science courses.

Rice team forges path toward geothermal future

Rice scientists have joined a federal project to accelerate breakthroughs in geothermal systems for unlimited, inexpensive energy.

Cerium sidelines silver to make drug precursor

Rice scientists have developed a simplified method to make fluoroketones, a drug precursor that typically requires an expensive silver catalyst.

Bioinformatics tool accurately tracks synthetic DNA

A Rice computer science lab challenges -- and beats -- deep learning in a test to see if a new bioinformatics approach effectively tracks the lab of origin of a synthetic genetic sequence.