Engineering

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.

A graphic shows the process by which a Rice University lab uses 3D printing to make shapeshifting materials that may be useful to make soft robots or as biomedical implants. (Credit: Verduzco Laboratory/Rice University)

Lab makes 4D printing more practical

Soft robots and biomedical implants that reconfigure themselves upon demand are closer to reality with a method developed at Rice to print shapeshifting materials.

Yvette Pearson

Yvette Pearson: I can't breathe — and this is why

Systemic racism manifests itself throughout the fabric of our society

A sample of Rice University's "magnetoelectric" film atop a bed of uncooked rice. Rice neuroengineers created the bi-layered film to power implantable neural stimulators that are approximately the size of a grain of rice. The film converts energy from a magnetic field directly into an electrical voltage, eliminating the need for a battery or wired power connection. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

Rice team makes tiny, magnetically powered neural stimulator

Rice University neuroengineers have created a tiny surgical implant that can electrically stimulate the brain and nervous system without using a battery or wired power supply.

A coating developed at Rice University made primarily with protein from eggs that would otherwise be wasted can be used to extend the freshness of produce. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

Egg-based coating preserves fresh produce

Eggs that would otherwise be wasted can be used as the base of an inexpensive coating to protect fruits and vegetables, according to Rice University researchers.

"At Your Cervix" video

Rice team’s cancer-treatment device scores major award

Rice engineering students won a grand prize at the Design of Medical Devices Conference for their invention to simplify treatment of late-stage cervical cancer

NASA Flight Surgeon Dr. Rob Mulcahy '08 in Johnson Space Center's mission control room.

Meet the Rice alum in charge of NASA's prelaunch quarantine program

NASA flight surgeon Rob Mulcahy '08 was in charge of the prelaunch quarantine -- a precaution doubly important during the COVID-19 pandemic -- for the space agency's first manned mission to launch from the U.S. in almost a decade.

Rice University scientists analyzed the motion of single boron nitride nanotubes. The nanotubes are stable semiconductors and excellent conductors of heat. They could be useful as building blocks for composite materials or in biomedical studies. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

Exotic nanotubes move in less mysterious ways

Rice University researchers capture the first video of boron nitride nanotubes in motion to prove their potential for materials and medical applications.

Mask transposed over a model fo the corona virus

Rice's COVID-19 research fund awards final grants

The Rice University COVID-19 Research Fund Oversight and Review Committee funds nine more faculty teams working to mitigate the effects of the new coronavirus.

Rice neurobiologists show that increased blood flow to the brain is not an accurate indicator of neuronal recovery after a microscopic stroke. The researchers created a custom implant that combines the ability to simultaneously monitor both blood flow and brain activity. (Credit: Luan Laboratory/Rice University)

Blood flow recovers faster than brain in micro strokes

Work by a Rice neurobiologist shows that increased blood flow to the brain is not an accurate indicator of neuronal recovery after a microscopic stroke.