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.
‘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.
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.
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.
Rice hosts International Workshop on Quantum Vacuum in Matter
Rice recently hosted the first International Workshop on Quantum Vacuum in Matter, an event that brought together leading experts in the field from around the world to discuss recent advances, discoveries and research priorities.
Atomic dance gives rise to a magnet
Rice researchers turned a paramagnetic material into a magnet by manipulating electrons’ spin via atomic motion.
Annual SSPEED Center conference welcomes international flood-control experts
The Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center at Rice hosted its 11th annual conference last month at the university’s Anderson-Clarke Center.
Global temperature variations impact the planet’s water cycle
A new study by Rice climate scientist Sylvia Dee and an international team of collaborators sheds light on the impact that global temperature variation over the past 2,000 years has had on the planet’s hydrological cycle.
Rice expert available to comment on FDA decision on sickle cell disease therapy
Rice University’s Gang Bao is available to comment on today’s decision by the FDA on whether or not to approve a CRISPR-based therapy for sickle cell disease.
Rice physicist Evelyn Tang is inaugural recipient of early career award
Rice theoretical physicist Evelyn Tang is an inaugural recipient of the Interdisciplinary Early Career Scientist Prize from the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.
A Rice-led collaboration of engineers, oncologists and global health partners from three continents is establishing a research center in the Texas Medical Center to develop affordable, effective point-of-care (POC) technologies to improve early cancer detection in low-resource settings in the United States and other countries.
Breakthrough synthesis method improves solar cell stability
A process developed by Rice engineers and collaborators yields 2D halide perovskite crystal layers of ideal thickness and purity through dynamic control of the crystallization process ⎯ a key step toward ensuring device stability for optoelectronics and photovoltaics.
