News Releases

Rice lab dives deep for DNA’s secrets

Structural biologist Yang Gao receives a five-year National Institutes of Health grant to detail how complex protein chains replicate DNA and fix errors on the fly. What they find could help treat genomic disease, including cancer.

US must take responsibility for Afghan refugees, says expert

As some Afghan refugees fleeing the chaos in their home country head to the United States, Kelsey Norman, fellow for the Middle East and director of the Women’s Rights, Human Rights and Refugees Program at Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy, argues that the U.S. is dodging responsibility by distributing most refugees across the globe, which will force them to wade through more bureaucracy.

Physicists find room-temperature, 2D-to-1D topological transition

Physicists have discovered a room-temperature transition between 1D and 2D electrical conduction states in the topological insulator bismuth iodide.

Drive-through voting is a hit with Harris County voters, according to newly released Rice U. survey

HOUSTON – (Aug. 24, 2021) – As Texas legislators continue fighting over election reform, a new survey from researchers at Rice University finds that drive-through voting is a big hit with Harris County voters who chose to cast their 2020 general election ballots in their cars – even among Republicans.

Trailblazing Rice bioengineer is turning cells into disease fighters

Rice University bioengineer Isaac Hilton has been awarded an NIH Trailblazer Award to create synthetic circular DNA that can be used to reprogram cells as disease fighters.

CPRIT grant establishes Genetic Design and Engineering Center

Rice faculty members led by bioengineer Gang Bao have been awarded a $4 million CPRIT grant to establish the Genetic Design and Engineering Center.

National 2D materials research center wins NSF funding

Rice, Penn State and Boise State have won a federal grant to expand ATOMIC, a national research center that develops atom-thin 2D coatings via university, industry and government partnerships.

Shale oil investments may be protected from nationalization, experts say

Shale oil’s short-cycle production protects foreign investors from the risk of expropriation — government taking private property for public use — providing an opportunity for the increasingly risk-averse global petroleum industry, according to a new report.

Rice U. study: Use your team’s emotions to boost creativity

HOUSTON – (Aug. 17, 2021) – If you’re putting together a team for a project, you might be inclined to pick people with cheerful, optimistic dispositions and flexible thinking. But a new management study indicates your team might also benefit from people who are exactly the opposite, according to experts at Rice University, the University of Western Australia, Bond University and the University of Queensland.

Woven nanotube fibers turn heat into power

Carbon nanotubes woven into thread-like fibers and sewn into fabrics become a thermoelectric generator that can turn heat from the sun or other sources into energy.

‘Smart cells’ show promise to treat disease

Laura Segatori wins NIH backing to develop synthetic biological circuits for cells that may someday sense trouble and respond by making just enough of the appropriate drugs.

Helpful house design has an eye on history

Rae Atkinson, a master of architecture student at Rice University, won first place in the American Institute of Architects Houston chapter’s Gulf Coast Green Student Competition to design a “self-help hub” for residents in Houston’s Fourth Ward.

Rice provost, structural engineer available to comment on Haiti earthquake

HOUSTON – (Aug. 15, 2021) – Rice University Provost Reginald DesRoches, a professor of civil and environmental engineering with expertise in structural engineering, is available to discuss this weekend’s magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Haiti.

FEMA disaster recovery funds favor white entrepreneurs, study finds

Federal recovery funding after a disaster may disproportionally benefit white entrepreneurs, according to new research from Rice University’s Department of Sociology.

Rice Alliance to host startup pitch event at OTC