News Releases

Smart fabrics’ informed touch can tell you where to go

Rice U. engineers developed a lightweight, wearable textile-based device that can deliver complex haptic cues, enabling a user to perform open-world navigation tasks. The device is resilient to regular daily use, withstanding multiple cycles of washing and other damage and repair without loss of function.

Women are just as corrupt as men in Mexican politics

Women are just as corrupt as men in Mexican municipal politics, according to a new study from Rice University.

Experts to discuss new Texas laws affecting child health at Baker Institute event

Texas lawmakers introduced hundreds of new laws during the 2023 legislative session that will impact the health and safety of children across the state. Experts will discuss what the new laws mean for both care providers and children in an event from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. 

Varied regional culture may affect individual expression of religion in US

Religious expression in the workplace — from wearing symbols of one’s beliefs to discussing faith at work — varies from geographic location to location, with Christians more likely to express their faith in the South, Jews most likely in the Northeast and Muslims most likely to do so out West, according to a new paper from researchers at Rice University’s Boniuk Institute and its Religion and Public Life Program, Purdue University, West Virginia University and Wheaton College.

Adrian Trömel joins Rice Office of Innovation as assistant vice president for strategy, investments

Rice University’s Office of Innovation has named Adrian Trömel as assistant vice president for strategy and investments.

Second annual renewable energy leadership conference convenes at Rice Aug. 22

The Renewable Energy Alliance – Houston (REAL) will present its Second Annual Renewable Energy Leadership Conference at Rice University to explore the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed one year ago.

Protective particles allow engineered probiotics to report gut disease

Rice U. bioengineers developed a platform that enhances survival and function of probiotics engineered to diagnose inflammatory bowel disease in animals. The technology holds promise for minimally invasive disease monitoring and advanced smart therapeutics.

OpenStax to launch open access organic chemistry textbook

The first 12 chapters of the textbook Organic Chemistry: A Tenth Edition are now freely accessible to students through OpenStax, an educational initiative of Rice University. On Sept. 12, students and faculty will have free access online to the full version of this historically costly textbook that is a required material for organic chemistry courses nationwide.

Gold buckyballs, oft-used nanoparticle ‘seeds’ are one and the same

Rice chemists have discovered that tiny gold “seed” particles, a key ingredient in one of the most common nanoparticle recipes, are one and the same as gold buckyballs, 32-atom spheres that are cousins of the Nobel Prize-winning carbon buckyballs discovered at Rice in 1985.

Weaker transcription factors are better when they work together

Rice bioengineer Caleb Bashor and colleagues have developed a generalizable method to address “off-target” gene activation, a significant problem in the field of synthetic biology. Taking a cue from nature, the researchers showed they could all but eliminate the activation of off-target genes by designing weak transcription factors that cooperatively assemble.

Rice’s Jing Chen receives early career award from American Psychological Association

Jing Chen, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Rice University specializing in human factors and human-computer interaction, has received the Earl Alluisi Early Career Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association (APA), the world’s largest association of psychologists.

New Rice University students move to campus Aug. 13

Rice University will kick off its annual O-Week tradition Aug. 13, welcoming the incoming Class of 2027 with a weeklong orientation program to familiarize incoming students with their new campus, residential colleges and classmates.

Education program tackles race-based cancer health disparities

Rice U.’s Carolyn Nichol has won a competitive 5-year, $1,038,544 NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) award to address race-based cancer health disparities by increasing underrepresented minority student populations’ engagement and participation in biosciences education.

Kissinger, Clinton and Baker to headline anniversary gala at Rice’s Baker Institute

Three former U.S. Secretaries of State will join a moderated discussion on geopolitics, foreign affairs and public service at the 30th anniversary gala celebrating Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy Oct. 26.

Price increases to blame for rising hospital emergency room costs

Price increases were the largest source of spending per visit in emergency rooms over the past decade in four of five states studied, according to a new report from researchers at Rice University and UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.