Engineering

NSF-funded Rice study to examine how collaborative community design can mitigate severe storm impacts

A new National Science Foundation-funded study by Rice University will examine whether design strategies aimed at improving civic engagement in stormwater infrastructure could help reduce catastrophic flooding.

DREAM tool for gene therapies uses ‘locally sourced’ components

Rice bioengineers developed a tool that activates silent or insufficiently expressed genes using human-derived building blocks and a CRISPR-based genome-targeting platform.

Robotic cup helps wheelchair users stay hydrated

Rice undergraduate engineering students Thomas Kutcher and Rafe Neathery designed a robotic device that enables people with limited mobility to stay hydrated without caretaker help.

Interdisciplinary Rice team tackles the future of semiconductors

An interdisciplinary team of Rice University scientists has won a $1.9 million National Science Foundation grant for research on materials that could serve as the basis for next-generation energy-efficient computing devices.

Two Rice bioengineers win NIH Director’s New Innovator awards

Rice bioengineers Jerzy Szablowski and Julea Vlassakis received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award for their respective research projects. Szablowski’s work seeks to develop a noninvasive method of mapping gene expression, while Vlassakis is studying complex, single-cell level processes and interactions in pediatric bone cancer.

NSF backs Rice processor design, chip security research

Rice computer scientists have won two grants from the National Science Foundation to explore new information processing technologies and applications that combine co-designed hardware and software to allow for more effective and efficient data stream analysis using pattern matching.

It's easier to get valuable metals from battery waste if you ‘flash’ it

A battery recycling process developed by Rice scientists can retrieve valuable metals from mixed cathode and anode waste with a yield exceeding 98% in less time than normal using low-concentration acid, reducing both the cost and negative environmental impact.

NIH funds new Baylor/Rice genome editing testing center

A five-year, $3.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health will help establish a joint Baylor College of Medicine/Rice University center to support the development and testing of new genome editing technologies.

Tiny CRISPR tool could help shred viruses

Rice scientists mapped out the three-dimensional structure of one of the smallest known CRISPR-Cas13 systems then used that knowledge to modify its structure and improve its accuracy.

Feds fund $45M Rice-led research that could slash US cancer deaths by 50%

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health has awarded a Rice-led team $45 million to rapidly develop an implant with sense-and-respond technology that could slash U.S. cancer-related deaths by more than 50%.

Copper-based catalysts efficiently turn carbon dioxide into methane

Copper-based catalysts developed by Rice University materials scientists help speed up the rate of carbon dioxide-to-methane conversion.

Split gene-editing tool offers greater precision

To make a gene-editing tool more precise and easier to control, Rice University engineers split it into two pieces that only come back together when a third molecule is added.

Preston, four others win Ig Nobel Prize for ‘necrobotic’ spider study

Mechanical Engineering’s Daniel Preston, three graduate students and a postdoctoral fellow have won a 2023 Ig Nobel Prize for their “necrobotic” robot arm that incorporated a dead spider.

Ralph S. O’Connor Building for Engineering and Science official opening marks ‘beginning of new era at Rice’

The Ralph S. O’Connor building for Engineering and Science was officially inaugurated yesterday with a ceremony commemorating the late Rice University trustee whose generosity helped make it a reality.

Making hydrogen from waste plastic could pay for itself

Rice University researchers have found a way to harvest hydrogen from plastic waste using a low-emissions method that generates graphene as a by-product, which could help offset production costs.