News Releases

China positioning itself to dominate world’s copper supply

China is positioning itself to dominate the global supply of copper, a material in high demand as the world transitions to alternative energy systems, according to experts from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Smartphone app for convenience store owners wins 2021 Rice Business Plan Competition

An application that allows convenience store owners to remotely manage and monitor their businesses from their smartphones took home the grand prize during the 2021 Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC).

Survey of Houston-area families reveals depth of COVID-19 financial pain

HOUSTON – (April 8, 2021) – During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, only a third of Houston-area households with children reported having enough money saved to cover one month of expenses, according to a new research brief from Rice University’s Houston Education Research Consortium (HERC).

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.

Rice, Intel optimize AI training for commodity hardware

New AI software trains deep neural networks 15 times faster than platforms based on graphics processors.

Housing growth in high-demand areas stems gentrification, for now

HOUSTON – (April 6, 2021) – An uptick in new townhome construction in Houston may let people live closer to jobs and services, but it could eventually price many Houstonians out of the city's historic neighborhoods, according to a new report from Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

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.

Houston Methodist, Rice U. launch neuroprosthetic collaboration

Rice and Houston Methodist are partnering to solve clinical problems with neurorobotics at the new Center for Translational Neural Prosthetics and Interfaces, a collaboration that brings together scientists, clinicians, engineers and surgeons.

Rice’s OpenStax opens applications for 2021-2022 Institutional Partner Program

OpenStax, Rice’s educational technology initiative, announced today that applications for its 2021-2022 Institutional Partner Program are now open. U.S. colleges and universities looking to expand open education advocacy and adoption of open educational resources (OER) to support their students can apply for the free program.

Could Robinhood debacle lead to 'Robin Hood tax'?

New tax proposals are already being contemplated as a result of the Robinhood-GameStop controversy, according to an expert from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Rice adds operations research major

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

What's in a name? A hurdle for human development research, experts say

Scientists are struggling with public misconceptions on what embryoids are and what research on them entails, confusion that leads to policy decisions restricting access to important scientific exploration, according to a new paper by experts at Rice University — who blame the use of terms like synthetic or artificial embryos to describe them.

Carter Center and Rice’s Baker Institute launch panel discussion series on US election reform

Next week, The Carter Center and Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy are launching “The Carter-Baker Commission: 16 Years Later,” a series of five virtual events focused on key issues affecting U.S. elections and potential reforms.

Rice graduate school programs score high in US News rankings

Eight Rice graduate programs rank among the country’s top 25 in the latest edition of U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools.”