Physics and Astronomy

Researchers discover new flat electronic bands, paving way for advanced quantum materials

A team of scientists led by Qimiao Si predicts the existence of flat electronic bands at the Fermi level.

Rice chemist Gustavo Scuseria wins 2024 Schrödinger Medal

Pioneering Rice chemist Gustavo Scuseria has won the 2024 Schrödinger Medal from the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists.

Swedish delegation visits Rice campus with eye on space exploration

A delegation from Sweden visited Rice to forge new pathways for collaboration and growth in space education and research.

Rice study reveals insights into protein evolution

Rice University’s Peter Wolynes and his research team have unveiled a breakthrough in understanding how specific genetic sequences, known as pseudogenes, evolve. Their paper was published May 13 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal.

Rice undergraduates win coveted Goldwater Scholarship

Rice University students Emma Codianne and Daniel Wang have won the Barry Goldwater Scholarship , an annual award that recognizes pioneering science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) undergraduates in the United States.

Rice hosts 2024 Workshop on Quantum Materials Synthesis

The Rice Center for Quantum Materials recently hosted the second edition of the Workshop on Quantum Materials Synthesis, an event dedicated to communicating recent developments in the field, identifying new research areas and providing a platform for theorists and experimentalists to come together for discussion and knowledge exchange.

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.

Rice’s Megan Reiter wins NSF CAREER Award to investigate planet-forming environments

Megan Reiter, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University, has won a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to investigate the influence of neighboring stars on the formation of planets.

Rice faculty and alumni travel to path of totality for ‘Great Owl Eclipse’

As the moon completely eclipsed the sun April 8, more than 300 Rice University alumni, faculty and staff gathered on the lawn of the Flying L Ranch Resort in Bandera, Texas, to view the last total solar eclipse in the contiguous United States for the next two decades.

Discovery points path to flashlike memory for storing qubits

Rice physicists have discovered a phase-changing quantum material — and a method for finding more like it — that could potentially be used to create flashlike memory capable of storing quantum bits of information, or qubits, even when a quantum computer is powered down.

Chemical reactions can scramble quantum information as well as black holes

A team of researchers from Rice University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has shown that molecules can be as formidable at scrambling quantum information as black holes by combining mathematical tools from black hole physics and chemical physics and testing their theory in chemical reactions.

Junichiro Kono tapped to lead Rice’s Smalley-Curl Institute

Rice University’s Junichiro Kono has assumed leadership of the Smalley-Curl Institute, named for Nobel Laureates Richard Smalley and Robert Curl ’54 and home to some of the world’s most accomplished researchers in nanoscience, quantum science and materials science.

Rice scholars to weigh in on last total solar eclipse in the U.S. for 20 years

Nationally recognized solar eclipse and solar power experts from Rice University are available to discuss the April 8 eclipse, which will be the last total solar eclipse in the U.S. for 20 years.

Rice nuclear physics team tapped to lead $15 million Large Hadron Collider upgrade project

A team of physicists at Rice University led by Wei Li has been awarded a five-year, $15.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Physics, marking a significant leap forward in the realm of high-energy nuclear physics.

Rice’s Naomi Halas awarded Optica’s C.E.K. Mees Medal

Rice University’s Naomi Halas has been selected as the 2024 recipient of the C.E.K. Mees Medal by Optica for her “original use of optics across multiple fields.”