Faculty

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.

Rice composition professor Pierre Jalbert’s new work has New York premiere at Carnegie Hall

The Houston-based Apollo Chamber Players performed Rice Shepherd School composition professor Pierre Jalbert’s “L'esprit du Nord” and additional works written by Rice alums in “A Universal Celebration of Storytelling, Outer Space, and Folk Music” March 9 at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

Rice’s Eduardo Salas receives inaugural Wayne Cascio Scientist-Practitioner Award from Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Eduardo Salas , professor and chair of Rice University’s Department of Psychological Sciences, has been named the inaugural recipient of the Wayne Cascio Scientist-Practitioner Award from the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) .

Shepherd School’s Shih-Hui Chen selected as 2023 music award winner by American Academy of Arts and Letters

Shih-Hui Chen, a professor of composition and theory at The Shepherd School of Music , was selected as a 2023 music award winner by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Rice’s Hanyu Zhu wins NSF CAREER Award

Rice materials scientist Hanyu Zhu has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, which includes a five-year research grant to probe quantum materials modified by terahertz quantum fluctuations.