Rice-Hamburg U. of Technology launch research collaboration
Rice chemical engineer Walter Chapman is spearheading a collaboration with the Hamburg University of Technology’s SMART Reactors Collaborative Research Center, which aims to develop solutions in support of a transition from fossil fuel to renewables-based economic and production chains through innovative reactor design and development.
Chance twists ordered carbon nanotubes into ‘tornado films’
Rice scientists in the lab of Junichiro Kono have developed two new methods to create ordered carbon nanotube films with either a left- or right-handed chiral pattern.
Rice faculty among 2023 PATHS-UP Seed Fund award winners
Spurred by the first Digital Health Workshop held at Rice in August, 10 clinician-engineering teams have been selected as PATHS-UP Seed Fund award winners for projects that explore promising new directions for advancing digital health solutions with several Rice faculty members among awardees.
Rice to host National Society of Black Engineers’ Fresh Start event
Rice University will host the National Society of Black Engineers Houston Professional Chapter’s Fresh Start event this week, expecting a record number of participants. The Dec. 9 event at Rice’s Ley Student Center aims to engage third- through 12th-grade students in interactive workshops that creatively explore the various disciplines in the field of engineering.
Rice engineers tackle hard-to-map class of materials
Rice materials scientist Yimo Han and collaborators mapped the structural features of a 2D ferroelectric material made of tin and selenium atoms using a new technique that can be applied to other 2D van der Waals ferroelectrics, unlocking their potential for use in electronics and other applications.
Disc around star observed in another galaxy for the first time
Astronomers have uncovered evidence of an extragalactic accretion disk for the first time.
Rice physicists launch extreme quantum materials symposium
An international audience of more than three dozen quantum researchers, including Rice’s Pengcheng Dai, Randall Hulet, Douglas Natelson, Han Pu, Ming Yi and Boris Yakobson, attended the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship Symposium on Extreme Quantum Materials at Rice Nov. 9.
Rice’s Pedro Alvarez wins Chinese Chemical Society’s Outstanding Achievement Award
Pedro Alvarez, the George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice, received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Chinese Chemical Society for his “long-term systematic contributions in basic research and technology development in the field of environmental chemistry.”
Kavli Exploration Award backs Rice-led sustainable carbon materials research
An international team of scientists led by Rice’s Matteo Pasquali has won a $4.1 million grant to optimize carbon nanotube synthesis. The award is a joint effort by The Kavli Foundation, with a $1.9 million Exploration Award in Nanoscience for Sustainability, and Rice’s Carbon Hub, which contributed an additional $2.2 million.
‘Strange metal’ is strangely quiet in noise experiment
Rice experiments have provided the first direct evidence that electricity seems to flow through “strange metals” in an unusual liquid-like form. The first “shot noise” experiments on a strange metal from the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) are detailed this week in Science by physicists from both universities.
Rice receives $2.5M grant to support inclusive STEM education
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute awarded Rice University with $2.5 million spanning over five years as part of its Driving Change initiative designed to connect research universities that are working to build inclusive learning environments for students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Grant backs research on teaching networks to make better decisions
Rice’s Santiago Segarra and Ashutosh Sabharwal have won a grant from the DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory to develop a machine learning framework that improves military communication networks’ decision-making processes. The research could also help inform applications such as self-driving vehicles and cyber intrusion detection.
Wearable art heels sport tree wart texture
A Rice student used galls — plant tissue growths caused by small wasps — to decorate a pair of shoes as part of an art project, creating some online buzz when a picture of the heels were posted on social media.
Study sheds light on how Earth cycles fossil carbon
Rice’s Mark Torres and collaborators used rhenium as a proxy for fossil carbon in order to quantify the rate at which Earth naturally releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and found that high rates of carbon breakdown persist across the different geographical profiles of a river basin.
Fluorine catch-and-attach process could boost drug efficiency
Rice scientists have developed a new low-cost, safe and effective process to free up and reattach fluorine to chemical compounds. In pharmaceuticals, fluorine can expand lifetime, increase absorption and minimize side effects.
