Faculty

D. Colette Nicolaou wins George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching

For Despina Colette Nicolaou, successful teaching comes down to one thing — connection.

Faculty bestowed with award recognizing superior teaching

Nine faculty received the 2023 George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching, which honors top Rice instructors by votes from alumni who graduated within the past two, three and five years.

Faculty, staff, students honored for excellence in teaching, mentoring, service

Each year, Rice honors members of the university community who have served students through outstanding teaching, dedication and service. Here are recipients of some of this year's awards.

McIntosh celebrated for four-plus decades at Rice

Susan McIntosh, the Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Anthropology, was celebrated April 18 for her 40-plus-year career at Rice.

Rice mourns passing of Manik Talwani

Rice is mourning the death of Manik Talwani, professor emeritus in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences.

Lab Notes for April 17, 2023

Rice U. lab develops sustainable chemical synthesis tool; Julian West derives alcohol products from epoxides

Alex Dessler, founding father of Rice space science, dies at 94

Pioneering space scientist Alexander Dessler, who taught at Rice University for 30 years after founding the first university department dedicated to the study of space science at the height of the U.S.-Soviet space race, died April 9 at age 94.

DesRoches, design firm discuss reimagined Academic Quad with faculty, staff

Rice University faculty and staff gathered April 11 to learn more and provide feedback regarding the proposed Academic Quadrangle redesign.

Rice remembers Steven Murdock, founding director of Rice’s Hobby Center and former director of Census Bureau

Steven Murdock, founding director of Rice University’s Hobby Center for the Study of Texas who served as director of the U.S. Census Bureau and state demographer of Texas, died April 7. He was 75.

Rice mourns loss of trailblazing history chair, former dean Katherine Fischer Drew

Katherine Fischer Drew ’44 ’45, the esteemed Rice history chair, former acting dean of humanities and social sciences and the first woman ever hired as a tenure-track faculty member by the university, died March 19 at the age of 99.

Rice psychologist Danielle King wins coveted NSF CAREER Award

Rice University’s Danielle King, an assistant professor of psychological sciences and a member of the faculty since 2018, has won a coveted National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. The accolade includes a five-year grant that will support her research on preventing and overcoming race-based threats and how employers can improve workplace experiences for employees who face such threats.

Higgs, Ramos elected AIMBE Fellows

Engineering’s Fred Higgs and Renata Ramos have been elected fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

James Chappell wins NSF CAREER Award

Rice bioscientist James Chappell has won a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to develop RNA programming methods that can improve human health and the environment.

Rice’s Salas receives American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award for Impact in Psychology

Eduardo Salas, professor and chair of Rice University’s Department of Psychological Sciences, is a 2023 recipient of the American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal Award for Impact in Psychology.

Rice selects Lane Martin to lead new Advanced Materials Institute

Lane Martin has been appointed director of the new Rice Advanced Materials Institute and Welch Professor of Materials Science and NanoEngineering in the George R. Brown School of Engineering.