Provost

Lab Notes for Jan. 30, 2023

STAT’s Hopkins co-authors National Academies report. CAREER Awards keep coming. DOE funds NEWT desalination research.

Kory Evans wins NSF CAREER Award

Kory Evans, an assistant professor of biosciences at Rice University, has won a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award to study shape change in the skull of spiny ray-fin fishes across their evolutionary history.

Rice scientists’ discovery could lead to new Alzheimer’s therapies

A new approach to the study of amyloid-beta, a peptide associated with Alzheimer’s disease, has led Rice University scientists to findings that could have a significant impact on the understanding and potential treatment of the disease.

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.

New enzyme could mean better drugs

Biomolecular engineers at Rice University identified a new enzyme that catalyzes the Nobel Prize-winning Diels-Alder reaction.

Rice’s Jamie Padgett wins Texas academy’s O’Donnell Award

Rice University structural engineer Jamie Padgett has received the 2023 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Engineering from The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas.

Research on televised opera, slave voyages honored with National Endowment for the Humanities grants

A Rice University musicologist and history professor are among the recipients of 2023 grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for their research projects on televised opera and tracking historical slave trading voyages.

New fluorescent dye can light up the brain

Rice chemist Han Xiao and Stanford researcher Zhen Cheng have developed a tool for noninvasive brain imaging that can help illuminate hard-to-access structures and processes. Their small-molecule dye is the first of its kind that can cross the blood-brain barrier, allowing researchers to differentiate between healthy brain tissue and a glioblastoma tumor in mice.

DARPA grant will fund hunt for drug that can keep people warm

Rice University bioengineer Jerzy Szablowski has won a prestigious DARPA Young Faculty Award to identify nongenetic drugs that can temporarily enhance the human body’s resilience to extreme cold exposure.

Mikos wins Jensen Tissue Engineering Award

Bioengineer Antonios Mikos receives the 2023 Jensen Tissue Engineering Award.

Ramesh, vice president for research, inducted as National Academy of Inventors Fellow

Ramamoorthy Ramesh, vice president for research, has been elected as a National Academy of Inventors Fellow, the highest professional distinction awarded to academic inventors.

Padgett named NSF BRITE Fellow

Rice University engineer Jamie Padgett is one of five United States researchers to be named a National Science Foundation BRITE Fellow.

US names two Rice students inaugural Quad Fellows

Two Rice graduate students are among the inaugural recipients of the Quad Fellowship.

Seiichi Matsuda receives top honors for leadership in graduate education

Rice Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Seiichi Matsuda has been named the recipient of the 2022 Debra W. Stewart Award for Outstanding Leadership in Graduate Education, the top honor bestowed by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).

Evelyn Tang wins CAREER Award

Evelyn Tang, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy and a member of Rice University’s Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, has won a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award.