News Releases

2020 presidential election in focus at Rice's Baker Institute

HOUSTON – (Nov. 19, 2020) – Leading academics, political experts and journalists from around the country will headline the third annual — and first virtual — Presidential Elections Program conference hosted by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Rice U. convenes expert group to help guide Greater Houston's long-term pandemic response

HOUSTON – (Nov. 19, 2020) – As governments and municipalities in Greater Houston prepare their long-term public health responses to the COVID-19 crisis, Rice University has convened a panel of internationally renowned biomedical experts to provide guidance to health departments, social service agencies, school districts and other policymakers.

Police oversight groups need more resources, better training, fewer legislative hurdles

HOUSTON – (Nov. 19, 2020) – With police departments around the country under heightened scrutiny, a new report from Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research finds that civilian police oversight groups need more resources, fewer legislative hurdles, and proper experience and training.

Christmas week: Worlds will align for spectacular heavenly sight

Early in the evening of Dec. 21, people the world over will get a chance to see Jupiter and Saturn line up closer together in Earth's night sky than they have been since just before daybreak on the morning of March 4, 1226.

Rice’s graduate entrepreneurship program again ranked No. 1 in US

Rice and its Jones Graduate School of Business have the No. 1 graduate entrepreneurship program in the U.S., according to the 2021 rankings announced Nov. 17 by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. This marks the second consecutive year the Rice program has topped this category, its fifth time in a top 3 position nationally and the 12th year in a row ranked in the top 10.

First-ever virtual Fall Chamber Music Festival to be held Dec. 3-9

The festival will include a tribute to Beethoven's 250th birthday and contemporary pieces such as Lutosławski's "String Quartet."

Houston companies awarded top honors at premier life science venture capital conference

HOUSTON – (Nov. 16, 2020) – Life science investors, leaders and innovators from around the world gathered virtually to discuss the pandemic, medical technology and the future of the industry at the Texas Life Science Forum, where Houston companies claimed top honors.

Rice U. grad student debuts interactive ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ concert

HOUSTON – (Nov. 16, 2020) – They say necessity is the mother of invention. In the case of composer Badie Khaleghian, a doctoral candidate at Rice’s Shepherd School of Music, necessity is the pandemic and its restrictions, while invention is his unique new interactive piece: “Let Your Voice Be Heard.”

Rice’s Moody Center celebrates Rothko Chapel’s 50th anniversary with recreation of historic exhibition

HOUSTON – (Nov. 16, 2020) – Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts will celebrate the golden anniversary of Houston’s Rothko Chapel with its spring exhibition, “Artists and the Rothko Chapel: 50 Years of Inspiration,” opening Jan. 22, 2021.

Rice U. courses ask the ‘Big Questions’ about death, hate and Disney

HOUSTON – (Nov. 16, 2020) – There are three things you can’t escape encountering in our world today: death, hate and, yes, The Walt Disney Co. Classes contemplating these forces are featured in the spring 2021 lineup of Big Questions courses from Rice’s School of Humanities.

Americans' attitudes about guns influenced by owners’ race and gender

HOUSTON – (Nov. 16, 2020) – A new study from researchers at Rice University found that Americans' attitudes about gun ownership are impacted by the gender and race of firearms' potential owners.

Former piece of Pacific Ocean floor imaged deep beneath China

In a study that gives new meaning to the term "rock bottom," seismic researchers have discovered the underside of a rocky slab of Earth's lithosphere that has been pulled more than 400 miles beneath northeastern China by the process of tectonic subduction.

What comes next? Rice experts to discuss 2020 election's impact in Nov. 18 webinar

HOUSTON – (Nov. 16, 2020) – The 2020 election is now one for the history books, and Rice University political scientists will discuss the results, President Donald Trump's reaction and the incoming Joe Biden administration’s likely domestic and foreign policy in a Nov. 18 webinar.

Biden must avoid cold war with China, says Rice U. expert

With U.S.-China relations at their lowest point since the Cold War, President-elect Joe Biden’s expected approach to the world’s most populous country will likely exacerbate tensions, according to an expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Once-discounted binding mechanism may be key to targeting viruses

Researchers detail subtle stabilizing effects in cells’ ability to recognize coronaviruses that compromise the immune system. The discovery could lead to new targets to prevent disease.