Faculty share secrets to success with Class of 2027
On the second morning of O-Week, Rice’s Class of 2027 gathered in Tudor Fieldhouse to receive advice from a three-person panel of professors regarding their secrets for success — both at Rice and beyond. The faculty delivered short, TED-style talks encouraging new students to stay open to the possibilities the university offers.
Protective particles allow engineered probiotics to report gut disease
Rice U. bioengineers developed a platform that enhances survival and function of probiotics engineered to diagnose inflammatory bowel disease in animals. The technology holds promise for minimally invasive disease monitoring and advanced smart therapeutics.
Rice introduces Tommy McClelland as director of athletics
Rice University formally introduced Tommy McClelland as the school’s new vice president and director of athletics during a morning press conference Aug. 15.
Class of 2027 lauded for diversity, talent during matriculation address
Fireworks lit up the sky over Lovett Hall and the Sallyport the night of Aug. 13 as the incoming Class of 2027’s first day of O-Week culminated with Rice’s annual matriculation ceremony.
Gold buckyballs, oft-used nanoparticle ‘seeds’ are one and the same
Rice chemists have discovered that tiny gold “seed” particles, a key ingredient in one of the most common nanoparticle recipes, are one and the same as gold buckyballs, 32-atom spheres that are cousins of the Nobel Prize-winning carbon buckyballs discovered at Rice in 1985.
Weaker transcription factors are better when they work together
Rice bioengineer Caleb Bashor and colleagues have developed a generalizable method to address “off-target” gene activation, a significant problem in the field of synthetic biology. Taking a cue from nature, the researchers showed they could all but eliminate the activation of off-target genes by designing weak transcription factors that cooperatively assemble.
Cost-effective jaundice testing developed for low-resource hospitals
The Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies has validated the accuracy of its latest testing technology for newborn jaundice. BiliDx addresses a critical gap in the availability of accurate, affordable, point-of-care jaundice testing in low-resource hospitals.
Newest parliament of Owls lands on campus
Rice University greeted the incoming Class of 2027 for the first time during an eventful, emotional and celebratory O-Week move-in day on Aug. 13.
Rice’s Jing Chen receives early career award from American Psychological Association
Jing Chen, an assistant professor of psychological sciences at Rice University specializing in human factors and human-computer interaction, has received the Earl Alluisi Early Career Achievement Award from the American Psychological Association (APA), the world’s largest association of psychologists.
Education program tackles race-based cancer health disparities
Rice U.’s Carolyn Nichol has won a competitive 5-year, $1,038,544 NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) award to address race-based cancer health disparities by increasing underrepresented minority student populations’ engagement and participation in biosciences education.
Price increases to blame for rising hospital emergency room costs
Price increases were the largest source of spending per visit in emergency rooms over the past decade in four of five states studied, according to a new report from researchers at Rice University and UTHealth Houston School of Public Health.
Tiny, flexible spinal probe system could lead to better therapies
A $6.25 million National Institutes of Health grant supports Rice U. engineers optimizing a neural probe array that can record the activity of spinal cord neurons as bodies move and behave. Scientists would also develop an integrated data-processing and stimulation-feedback system.
Rice lab’s boron nitride composite could be useful for advanced technology applications
Rice University scientists have found that a boron nitride nanocomposite interacts with light and heat in unexpected ways that could be useful for advanced technology applications.
Rice study: Children are usually the poorest members of refugee communities
Violent conflicts around the world have driven more people from their home countries than ever before. As these individuals and families seek safe havens, new research from Rice University has found that refugee children are up to three times more likely to be poor than adults – even within their own families.
When D turns to F, quantum matter is A-plus
In a potential boon for quantum computing, Rice physicists have shown that topologically protected quantum states can be entangled with other, highly manipulable quantum states in some electronic materials.
