Engineering

illustration of magnetogenetic technology for wireless neuron activation

Wireless activation of targeted brain circuits in less than one second

Rice neuroengineers and collaborators have created wireless technology to remotely activate brain circuits.

A Rice University lab tests material covered in strain-sensing smart skin. The multilayer coating contains carbon nanotubes that fluoresce when under strain, matching the strain experienced by the material underneath. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

Strain-sensing smart skin ready to deploy

Carbon nanotubes’ natural fluorescence enables a method to detect high strain concentrations, which can lead to damage that threatens the integrity of critical infrastructure like aircraft, buildings, pipelines, bridges and ships.

SARS

SARS-Arena reveals hidden hooks in virus

SARS-Arena will help to find conserved parts in proteins from SARS-CoV-2 that could be a key for the development of wide-spectrum vaccines.

Rice University computer scientists introduced Emu, an algorithm that uses long reads of genomes to identify the species of bacteria in a community. The program could simplify sorting harmful from helpful bacteria in microbiomes like those in the gut or in agriculture and the environment. (Credit: Kristen Curry/Rice University)

Emu stands tall at detecting bacteria species

Rice computer scientists develop Emu, which uses long reads of genomes to identify bacteria in a community.

new engineering and science building

Landmark new engineering and science building on campus to bear Ralph S. O’Connor’s name

A self-made businessman who started out working in oilfields and ended up building an empire in energy and real estate investments will be memorialized at Rice University with a landmark new science and engineering building named in his honor.

A tangle of unprocessed boron nitride nanotubes seen through a scanning electron microscope. Rice University scientists introduced a method to combine them into fibers using the custom wet-spinning process they developed to make carbon nanotube fibers. (Credit: Pasquali Research Group/Rice University)

Boron nitride nanotube fibers get real

Rice scientists create the first boron nitride nanotube fibers using the custom wet-spinning process they developed to make carbon nanotube fibers.

Artist's illustration of Galveston Bay Park storm barrier

City, county and port support Galveston Bay Park study

Houston, Harris County, Port Houston and entrepreneur Joe Swinbank have chipped in for an engineering study of Galveston Bay Park, a chain of man-made islands that Rice University experts have proposed building as both a hurricane barrier and a 10,000-acre public park.

Students pose with the feeder designed for the red river hogs at the Houston Zoo.

Rice OEDK team creates new feeding device for Houston Zoo’s red river hogs

Just steps away from Rice University, you can meet Neptune, Luna, Vidalia, Artemis and Ophelia, the Houston Zoo’s resident red river hogs.

Rice University computer scientists and collaborators develop a program to screen short DNA sequences, whether synthetic or natural, to determine their toxicity.

SeqScreen can reveal ‘concerning’ DNA

Rice computer scientists and collaborators develop a program to screen short DNA sequences, whether synthetic or natural, to determine their toxicity.

Environmental engineers determine the economic cost of reactive nitrogen emissions from agriculture, and their significant risks to populations through air pollution and climate change.

Agriculture emissions pose risks to health and climate

Rice researchers find the economic cost of emissions from agriculture and their risks to populations through air pollution and climate change.

Computer scientists develop a method that allows humans to help complex robots build efficient solutions to “see” their environments and carry out tasks.

Humans in the loop help robots find their way

Rice computer scientists develop a method that allows humans to help complex robots build efficient solutions to “see” their environments and carry out tasks.

Natsumi Komatsu

Doctoral alumna wins prestigious Schmidt Science Fellowship

Doctoral graduate Natsumi Komatsu has been awarded a prestigious Schmidt Science Fellowship

A new theory by Rice University researchers suggests that 2D materials like hexagonal boron nitride, at top, could be placed atop a contoured surface and thus be manipulated to form 1D bands that take on electronic or magnetic properties.

Bumps could smooth quantum investigations

Rice University materials theorists model a contoured surface overlaid with 2D materials and find it possible to control their electronic and magnetic properties. The discovery could simplify research into many-body effects, including quantum systems.

In a Rice University study, a polycrystalline material spinning in a magnetic field reconfigures as grain boundaries appear and disappear due to circulation at the interface of the voids. The various colors identify the crystal orientation. (Credit: Biswal Research Group/Rice University)

Grain boundaries go with the flow

Rice engineers mimic atom-scale grain boundaries with magnetic particles to see how shear stress influences their movement.

Rice University chemists, working with the Ford Motor Company, processes waste plastic from end-of-life trucks into graphene for composite materials in new vehicles.

Cars could get a ‘flashy’ upgrade

Rice University chemists, working with the Ford Motor Company, processes waste plastic from end-of-life trucks into graphene for composite materials in new vehicles.