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.
Rice mourns Arthur Few, former professor and college magister
Rice University alumnus and professor emeritus Arthur Allen Few Jr. died Dec. 3, 2022, at his home in Gold Hill, Colorado, after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease and related medical issues. He was 83.
NASA’s head of science visits Rice students
Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, visited with students from the departments of Physics and Astronomy and Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences April 3.
Nanophotonics pioneer Naomi Halas celebrated as newest University Professor
Rice celebrated Naomi Halas’ promotion to University Professor, the institution’s highest academic rank, during a presentation and reception March 22.
Magnetism fosters unusual electronic order in quantum material
Rice physicists have found experimental evidence that magnetism helps bring about the intriguing type of electronic order they discovered in a quantum material last year.
People, papers and presentations for March 13, 2023
Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Ming Yi has won the 2022 Outstanding Young Researcher Award, or Ardentic Prize, from the International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers, a New York-based non-political, not-for-profit organization that promotes physics and astronomy research and achievements by ethnic Chinese physicists and astronomers.
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.
Theory can sort order from chaos in complex quantum systems
Theory can sort ‘order’ from ‘chaos’ in complex quantum systems.
Rice team begins ambitious quantum entanglement research
A Rice research team has begun an ambitious three-year project to see quantum entanglement among billions of particles in a solid material thanks to a $1.2 million grant from the Keck Foundation.
Rice joins neutrino megaproject. Engineering launches energy transition initiative. McHugh lands cancer research grant. Keck Foundation funds quantum research. West named Cottrell Scholar.
Two Rice University professors elected AAAS fellows
Rice University professors Thomas Killian and Marek Kimmel are elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a distinction that honors scientists, engineers and innovators whose efforts on behalf of science and its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.
Rice lab uncovers dynamics behind protein crucial in breast cancer
Just as a puppeteer moves a puppet by manipulating its strings, estrogen receptors, which play a crucial role in breast cancer, work in similar ways when they facilitate the interaction between hormones and DNA, according to Rice scientists.
STAT’s Hopkins co-authors National Academies report. CAREER Awards keep coming. DOE funds NEWT desalination research.
Volcanolike rupture could have caused magnetar slowdown
In October 2020, a highly magnetic neutron star called SGR 1935+2154 abruptly began spinning more slowly. In a Nature Astronomy study this month, Rice astrophysicist Matthew Baring and colleagues showed the magnetar’s rotational slowdown could have been caused by a volcanolike rupture near its magnetic pole.
Naomi Halas named University Professor
Rice University has promoted nanotechnology pioneer Naomi Halas to its highest academic rank, University Professor. Halas, a 33-year member of Rice’s faculty, becomes only the 10th person and second woman to earn the title in Rice’s 111-year history.
