![Person in suit holding a vote button in their hands.](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/144191418_l-310x207.jpeg?itok=7crbcb8a)
High turnout, more early voting expected in Harris County
HOUSTON – (Oct. 13, 2020) – Rice University researchers are expecting high election turnout in Harris County, with a majority of voters heading to the polls during early voting, more ballots cast by mail and a significant decline in the number of voters going to the polls on Election Day.
![South Keeling Island, an atoll in the Indian Ocean's Cocos Islands, as seen from NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite on July 31, 2009](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/1012_ATOLL-b2.jpeg?itok=O6K9psqa)
Study: Darwin's theory about coral reef atolls is fatally flawed
Rice marine geologist and oceanographer André Droxler knows Charles Darwin's theory about atoll formation is incorrect, and Droxler and former Rice postdoc Stéphan Jorry are hoping to set the record straight with a comprehensive new paper about the subject.
![Gravity waves overlap over Australia in this NASA satellite image. Defining how atmospheric gravity waves influence weather and climate is the topic of a new study funded by the National Science Foundation. (Credit: Courtesy of NASA/Visible Earth)](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/1012_GRAVITY-B.jpeg?itok=KbTKWBvg)
Literal rise of the internet enables new climate science
Collaborative National Science Foundation grants will use data from internet balloons to study atmospheric gravity waves and their influence on the weather and climate.
![A rendering of the Ion.](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/0113_IONGLASSCOCK-1.jpeg?itok=ZmXPInZu)
The Ion awarded $1.4M to launch Aerospace Innovation Hub
HOUSTON – (Oct. 8, 2020) – The Ion has been awarded $1.4 million in federal funding for a partnership with NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) and DivInc to create its Aerospace Innovation Hub (ASCI-Hub) – which will support and develop regional minority business enterprises (MBEs) that address aerospace-related challenges.
![Rice artist-in-residence Allison Hunter stands in front of her video projection, “Hive at Rice.” (Photo credit: Brandon Martin/Rice University)](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/200931_tent-art_martin-76.jpeg?itok=WgspwMyH)
Rice Public Art transforms temporary classrooms into public art destinations
HOUSTON – (Oct. 6, 2020) – The tent-like structures serving as temporary classroom spaces at Rice University during the pandemic could have been left as they were built: tall, steel-framed, silvery-white facilities tucked behind a row of live oak trees near Hanszen College at the corner of College Way and Alumni Drive.
![A computational tool created at Rice University may help pharmaceutical companies expand their ability to investigate the safety of drugs. (Credit: Kavraki Lab/Rice University)](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/1005_DRUGS-B.jpeg?itok=3FbrsxNp)
Deep learning gives drug design a boost
A computational tool created at Rice University may help pharmaceutical companies expand their ability to investigate the safety of drugs.
![A comparison showing the ten-times improvement in resolution delivered by an adaptive optics infrared camera on the Gemini South telescope in Chile.](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/0831-CARINA-b.jpeg?itok=6Tyqke6R)
Gemini South's high-def version of 'A Star is Born'
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is still more than a year from launching, but the Gemini South telescope in Chile has provided astronomers from Rice University and Dublin City University a glimpse of what the orbiting observatory should deliver.
![Backlighting required for schlieren imaging experiments produced this silhouette of Houston Symphony flutist Kathryn Ladner '12.](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/1005_SAFEMUSIC-b.jpg?itok=C18OrXAB)
Musicians may need more than social distancing to stay safe on stage
Keeping musicians safe while they're on stage during the pandemic may require more than just social distancing, according to a study of exhaled aerosols conducted by Rice University engineers and musicians from Rice's Shepherd School of Music and the Houston Symphony.
![Paul Brace. Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University.](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-06/190204_-Brace_fitlow_029-1exe76e.jpeg?itok=xXsxhpGV)
Rice political scientist available to discuss impact of Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis
HOUSTON – (Oct. 2, 2020) – With the announcement that President Donald Trump has tested positive for COVID-19 and is showing mild symptoms, Rice University political scientist Paul Brace is available to discuss what it means for the election a month away.
![A rendering of the Ion.](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/0113_IONGLASSCOCK-1.jpeg?itok=ZmXPInZu)
The Ion receives $1.5M grant to rev accelerator programs
HOUSTON – (Sept. 30, 2020) – The Ion, the innovation and startup hub being developed in Midtown Houston by Rice University, has received a grant for $1.5 million from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) that will significantly expand its ability to support entrepreneurship and drive economic development across the Houston-Galveston region.
![Paul Brace. Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University.](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-06/190204_-Brace_fitlow_029-1exe76e.jpeg?itok=xXsxhpGV)
Rice political scientist available to discuss presidential debates
HOUSTON – (Sept. 29, 2020) – As Donald Trump and Joe Biden prepare for tonight's presidential debate, the first of three ahead of the November election, Rice University political scientist Paul Brace is available to discuss what viewers can expect.
![Capital Building with red and blue sky backdrop.](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/0928_INNOVATION.jpeg?itok=B38XosCf)
HOUSTON – (Sept. 28, 2020) – "The Perils of Complacency: America at a Tipping Point in Science and Engineering," a report by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, will be released in a virtual presentation Wednesday.
![Woman Assisting Her Father While Crossing Road](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/108430958_l.jpeg?itok=mFrKVLgJ)
Grant will help Rice researchers improve mobility for the visually impaired
The number of blind or visually impaired people in the U.S. is expected to double in the next 30 years as the country's population ages.
![James A. Baker Institute of Public Policy](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/BI-Building2020-1_0.jpeg?itok=u-SKPvso)
Virtual Energy Summit to explore industry’s resilience
HOUSTON – (Sept. 28, 2020) – The fourth annual -- and first virtual -- Energy Summit hosted by the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and Baker Botts LLP will feature an examination of the industry by more than 20 of its leading experts.
![Matthew Alter and Elise Gibney play, respectively, John "Jack" Worthing and Gwendolyn Fairfax. (Photo by Alan D. Kim)](/sites/g/files/bxs2656/files/styles/thumbnail_100x100_fixed/public/2021-07/Screen-Shot-2020-09-25-at-2.44.32-PM.png?itok=dvV346iX)
Rice U. Theatre Program livestreaming one-night-only production of 'The Importance of Being Earnest'
Actors will wear masks for Oct. 9 play broadcast from Hamman Hall.