The 2026 H. Albert Napier Rice Launch Challenge saw five ventures founded by Rice students compete for the top prize of $50,000. The April 21 event showcased some of the university’s top student startups and celebrated the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie) participants’ work over the academic year.
Students, alumni and fans gathered at Rice April 10-11 to celebrate the 69th annual Beer Bike, one of the university’s most popular traditions and a centerpiece of the residential college experience.
Rice continues to earn national recognition for the strength and breadth of its graduate programs with multiple disciplines ranked among the nation’s best in the 2026 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools.
Nearly 700 prospective graduate students, current scholars, faculty and staff gathered at the Houston Museum of Natural Science for Rice University’s annual Night at the Museum, a signature recruitment event hosted by the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
Designed especially for children and first-time concertgoers, the hourlong performance centers on Benjamin Britten’s beloved “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra."
Rice’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business today announced the launch of its Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Management program, a 10-month, credit-bearing professional credential designed for current and aspiring leaders seeking deep expertise in the business of healthcare. Situated at the crossroads of Houston’s renowned Texas Medical Center and global healthcare innovation, the program blends rigorous business fundamentals with healthcare-specific strategy, operations and management.
Rice’s online graduate programs earned significant gains in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Online Programs rankings, with strong upward movement across engineering, computing and business disciplines. The 2026 rankings underscore Rice’s growing national profile for delivering rigorous, high-impact graduate education in a flexible online format.
Led by internationally acclaimed stage director Paul Curran, the Aleko Endowed Artist and Director, the program explores two full-length American comic operas through a deconstructed, audience-guided format.
In one of the country’s most diverse and fast-growing cities, it’s not unusual to find people juggling multiple roles. But few balance them quite like HTC Kelly, a postdoctoral researcher at Rice University by day and a Houston Texans Cheerleader on nights and weekends.
Student performers from across the school brought color and energy to the stage with a program that moved seamlessly from Rossini and Bizet to Broadway classics and festive ensemble numbers.