People, papers and presentations for Oct. 24, 2022
Naomi Halas, the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of chemistry, bioengineering, physics and astronomy and of materials science and nanoengineering and the director of Rice’s Smalley-Curl Institute, touted the findings of a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office study on women inventors Oct. 19 in Houston as part of the Society of Women Engineers’ annual meeting.
NSF backs bid to speed environmental tests for viruses
The NSF backs Rice University efforts to speed the analysis of wastewater for coronaviruses from hours to seconds.
Wehmeyer team receives $1.5 million NSF grant
A team of researchers headed by Geoff Wehmeyer, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Rice, has received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program to support work on large-scale materials made from oriented carbon nanotubes.
Rice team eyes cells for sophisticated data storage
Rice University receives National Science Foundation support to turn living cells, starting with bacteria, into random-access memory devices. These will be able to store and report data about their environments.
2D boundaries could create electricity
Rice engineers lead study to create piezoelectricity in two-dimensional phase boundaries. They could power future nanoelectronics like sensors and actuators.
Smalley-Curl Institute rewards students’ summer research
The Smalley-Curl Institute held its annual Summer Research Colloquium Aug. 5.
Halas, Nordlander win prestigious Eni Energy Transition Award
Rice’s Naomi Halas and Peter Nordlander have won the prestigious 2022 Eni Energy Transition Award.
Cherukuri named Rice University’s first vice president for innovation
Paul Cherukuri, the executive director of the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering, has been named Rice University’s first vice president for innovation.
Ramesh named Rice University’s vice president for research
Ramamoorthy Ramesh, a condensed matter physicist and materials scientist with more than 25 years in academia, industry, national labs and government service, has been named Rice University’s vice president for research.
Rice improves catalyst that destroys ‘forever chemicals’ with sunlight
Rice chemical engineers have improved their light-powered catalyst for destroying forever chemical PFOA.
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.
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.
Grain boundaries go with the flow
Rice engineers mimic atom-scale grain boundaries with magnetic particles to see how shear stress influences their movement.
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.
Rice ‘metalens’ could disrupt vacuum UV market
Rice photonics researchers have created a potentially disruptive technology for the ultraviolet optics market.
