Engineering

Diagram illustrating how a C-worthy technique that dramatically enhances the accuracy of gene editing.

‘Bystander’ Cs meet their match in gene-editing technique

Biomolecular engineers at Rice have developed new tools to increase the accuracy of CRISPR single-base editing to treat genetic diseases.

Urban crows, ducks and gulls are a potentially important reservoir of antimicrobial resistance genes, according to Rice University engineers who studied their droppings.

Bird droppings carry risk of antibiotic resistance

Rice University engineers analyze the droppings of urban birds and show persistent levels of antibiotic-resistant genes and bacteria that may be transferred to humans through the environment.

illustration of boron nitride breaking down PFOA

Boron nitride destroys PFAS 'forever' chemicals PFOA, GenX

Rice chemical engineers discovered a photocatalyst that can destroy 99% of the “forever” chemical PFOA

Hurricane Harvey as seen from the International Space Station on Aug. 28, 2017. (Photo courtesy of Randy Bresnik/NASA)

Future Texas hurricanes: Fast like Ike or slow like Harvey?

Climate change will make fast-moving storms more likely in late 21st-century Texas.

A sample of blood vessel templates that Rice University bioengineers 3D-printed using a special blend of powdered sugars

Laser-welded sugar: Sweet way to 3D-print blood vessels

Bioengineers keep cells alive in lab-grown tissues by creating networks of branching blood vessels from templates of 3D-printed sugar.

A model by Rice University scientists shows how two positively charged spheres attached to springs are attracted to the electric field of light. Due to the motion of the spheres, the spring system scatters light at different energies when irradiated with clockwise and anticlockwise trochoidal waves. (Credit: Link Research Group/Rice University)

Cartwheeling light reveals new optical phenomenon

Researchers at Rice University have discovered details about a novel type of polarized light-matter interaction with light that literally turns end over end as it propagates from a source.

Vicky Yao

Study finds new link between Alzheimer’s suspects

Researchers have described for the first time specific genes and pathways in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Rice University physicists discover that plasmonic metals can be prompted to produce “hot carriers” that in turn emit unexpectedly bright light in nanoscale gaps between electrodes. The phenomenon could be useful for photocatalysis, quantum optics and optoelectronics. (Credit: Illustration by Longji Cui and Yunxuan Zhu/Rice University)

Rice lab’s bright idea is pure gold

Physicists discover plasmonic metals can produce “hot carriers” that emit unexpectedly bright light in nanoscale gaps between electrodes.

Todd Treangen

Rice shares grant for AI-driven COVID-19 research

Todd Treangen received a C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute Award for computational biology research to apply AI models to COVID-19 mitigation.

Naomi Halas is a Rice University engineer and chemist who's spent more than 25 years pioneering the use of light-activated nanomaterials.

Purifying water with a partly coated gold nanoparticle

Rice's Naomi Halas has collaborated with Yale University engineers on the creation of a light-activated nanoparticle for clearing water of pollutants. The research is part of an effort by NEWT, the Rice-based Nanosystems Engineering Research Center for Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment.

Figure depicting the action of an aluminum-palladium antenna-reactor nanocatalyst that harnesses light energy to break chemical bonds in fluorocarbons

Fluorocarbon bonds are no match for light-powered nanocatalyst

Rice University engineers have created a light-powered catalyst that can break the strong chemical bonds in fluorocarbons, a group of synthetic materials that includes persistent environmental pollutants.

Lydia Kavraki

NSF RAPID grant supports COVID-19 'computational pipeline'

Lydia Kavraki wins a NSF Rapid Response Research grant to help identify SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins for vaccine development.

Rice scientists found certain combinations of weakly bound 2D materials let holes and electrons combine into excitons at the materials’ ground state. Courtesy of the Yakobson Research Group

Excitons form superfluid in certain 2D combos

Mixing and matching computational models of 2D materials led scientists at Rice University to the realization that excitons can be manipulated in new and useful ways.

Fred Higgs

Higgs addresses RCEL students; Engineering shares anti-racism resources

Find reading lists and toolkits for allies, information on self-care and ways to get involved in social justice initiatives.

Rice University researchers have demonstrated methods for both designing data-centric computing hardware and co-designing hardware with machine-learning algorithms that together can improve energy efficiency in artificial intelligence hardware by as much as two orders of magnitude.

Rice engineers offer smart, timely ideas for AI bottlenecks

Rice researchers demonstrate methods to design data-centric hardware and co-designing hardware with machine-learning algorithms that can improve energy efficiency in artificial intelligence hardware.