Research

Water can’t touch this sanded, powdered surface

Rice scientists and engineers develop a one-step method involving sandpaper and powder to make robust superhydrophobic materials.

Rice lab’s ‘drug factory’ implants cleared for human trials

Federal regulators have approved the first human clinical trial of cancer-killing “drug factory” implants created by Rice bioengineers.

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. 

Most but not all Texas coaches say they’ll plan for climate change

A survey of Texas college and high school coaches, trainers and athletic directors suggests many are not taking climate change into account as they plan their programs’ futures.

VegSense makes sense for forest studies

Rice ecologists have created open-source software to rapidly gather field data with Microsoft’s mixed reality headset.

Next-generation networks with fast changes and increased security

Rice computer scientists are leading the development of programmable networks that respond to change in seconds without downtime.

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. 

Felony convictions hinder efforts to access stable housing even if no prison time is served, study shows

Even if they’ve never served time in prison, people who have felony convictions still have difficulty accessing stable housing, according to new research from a Rice University sociologist.

Rice improves catalyst that destroys ‘forever chemicals’ with sunlight

Rice chemical engineers have improved their light-powered catalyst for destroying forever chemical PFOA.

Tetrahedrons assemble! Three-sided pyramids form 2D structures

Rice chemists have discovered pyramid-shaped gold nanoparticles put their own twist on 2D self-assembly.

Study: Explosive volcanic eruption produced rare mineral on Mars

Rice, NASA and Caltech scientists have solved a mystery that began with a 2016 discovery by Mars rover Curiosity.

Rice engineers get a grip with ‘necrobotic’ spiders

Rice University engineers find they can manipulate the legs of dead spiders to serve as grippers.

Rice economist’s research on school choice suggests ways to improve experience for students, parents

For school-age students and their parents, school choice programs can be complicated and stressful. Research from Rice University economist YingHua He suggests the process gets easier when schools are upfront about admission prospects and other details that factor into decisions, and that students should be allowed to apply before having to rank schools in order of preference.

Immigration policy, aggressive enforcement harm mental health of people living in US illegally

Restrictive immigration policies and aggressive law enforcement are harmful to the mental health of immigrants living in the United States illegally, according to a new report from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Synthetic tools conduct messages from station to station in DNA

Bioengineers used deactivated Cas9 fusion proteins to synthetically control gene expression and reveal new details about natural processes in human cells.