Rice, Texas Heart Institute to use nanoparticles to track stem cells
The National Institutes of Health has awarded researchers at Rice University and the Texas Heart Institute a two-year $1 million Challenge Grant to develop an advanced stem-cell-tracking technology based on an ultrasensitive class of magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents invented at Rice in 2005.

Perseverance carried chemist Noe Alvarez from Bolivian farm to Rice doctorate
Maybe Noe Alvarez, a fifth-year graduate student in chemistry working in the labs of Rice's Robert Hauge and James Tour, was destined to grow crops no matter how far he strayed from home.
Rice is not his father's farm, but here the newly minted doctor has been raising nanotubes, planting the seeds of our future as well as his own.

Rice pioneers method for processing carbon nanotubes in bulk fluids
Rice University scientists this week unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics.

Rice cuts deal to research graphene-infused drilling fluids
Rice University and Houston-based M-I SWACO, the world's largest producer of drilling fluids for the petrochemical industry, have signed an agreement for research funds to develop a graphene additive that will improve the productivity of wells.

Rice scientists argue nanotubes can be treated like polymers
Rice scientists advocate in the Oct. 9 issue of the journal Polymer that single-walled carbon nanotubes are polymers and should be treated as such.

Dunn Foundation awards first grants under $3M collaborative research program
As part of a 10-year commitment to Rice University’s BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC), the John S. Dunn Research Foundation has awarded the first four competitive grants under the $3 million collaborative research program the foundation established last year to foster interdisciplinary and interinstitutional research at the BRC.

Rice-born company to ease solar-panel manufacturing goes public, gives back
The first publicly traded company to spring from Rice University technology is now taking stock in some of the best brains at Rice. Natcore Technology, a New Jersey firm that specializes in advancing the science of solar energy, has signed an agreement to fund research by the Rice lab of Andrew Barron to the tune of $100,000.

Tour group advances fabrication of nanoscale memory, chip-design tools
Advances by the Rice University lab of James Tour have brought graphite's potential as a mass data-storage medium a step closer to reality and created the potential for reprogrammable gate arrays that could bring about a revolution in integrated circuit logic design.

Platinum nanocatalyst could aid drugmakers
Nanoparticles combining platinum and gold act as superefficient catalysts, but chemists have struggled to create them in an industrially useful form. Rice University chemists have answered the call this week with a polymer-coated version of gold-platinum nanorods....... Read More

Scuseria elected to prestigious international academy   
Rice chemist Gustavo Scuseria has been elected to one of quantum science's most exclusive academic societies, the International Academy of  Quantum Molecular Science in Menton, France.

Barron lab technology wins grant to develop flexible solar panels  
A process created in the laboratory of Rice University Professor Andrew Barron is at the root of new solar-energy technology that has drawn major investment from the federal government.

 'Silicon with afterburners' developed at Rice could be boon to  electronics manufacturers  
Silicon is at the heart of an electronics revolution that has buoyed the   civilized world for decades. But as time goes on and technology advances, it's becoming apparent that silicon could use a little help. Jim Tour's Rice University laboratory is manipulating molecules that might just be the ticket to extending Moore's Law, the theory that dictates the number of transistor  that can be placed on an integrated circuit doubles about every two years.

Student researchers get a piece of the pie in the BRC              
Last week, Vicki Colvin and her lab group became the first pioneering researchers to move into Rice's BioScience Research Collaborative, a place  where scientists and educators from Rice University and Texas Medical  Center institutions can work together to perform leading research that benefits human medicine and health.

High schoolers don lab gear for Project SEED at Rice  
Here are two lessons worth learning: Be nice to everyone, and never discount the value of a chance meeting. Two Greater Houston high schoolers working their dream summer jobs at Rice University are glad graduate student Alvin Orbaek put those lessons into practice.

Project GRAD summer institutes at Rice prepare summer hopefuls
To provide resources that help Houston Independent School District's underserved students enter and excel in college, Rice University facilitated institutes this summer geared toward at-risk high school students from underserved communities in Houston.

Congratulations in order!       
Please join us in congratulating Eugene Zubarev on his promotion to Associate Professor effective July 1, 2009.  Eugene joined Rice   University in 2005 as Norman Hackerman Assistant Professor of Chemistry.  His current research is focused on self-assembly,  synthesis of gold nanostructures, and hybrid materials.

Lab-on-a-Chip Technology to Arrive at the BRC  
John T. McDevitt has joined the Rice University faculty as the Brown-Wiess   Professor of Chemistry and Bioengineering effective July 1, 2009.  John and his research group have relocated from University of Texas at Austin to the BioScience Research Collaborative  (BRC) as one of the first occupants of the building.  We welcome John to Houston and Rice and  look forward to his future endeavors with "Lab-on-a Chip" sensor technology.

Christy F. Landes joins the Chemistry Department   
Christy F. Landes has joined the Rice University faculty as Assistant Professor of Chemistry effective July 1, 2009.  Christy joins the Rice Faculty after three years as Assistant Professor at the University of Houston where she studied dynamic heterogeneity and its role in biological and synthetic materials function.  Please help us in welcoming Christy to Rice!

Rice Graduate Students journey to Germany to meet laureates            
Any young scientist will tell you it's a thrill to talk shop with a Nobel Prize laureate. So what must it be like to encounter 20 of them at once? In less than a month, Andria Denmon and Ashley Leonard will have the answer.

Michael Wong receives 2009 Hamill Innovation grant         
Rice's Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering has awarded Hamill Innovation Grants to three new cross-disciplinary collaborative research projects by Rice faculty. 

IN fight against HIV, Rice lab goes international       
With HIV cases continuing to spread across the globe, the fight against the deadly virus remains a worldwide effort.  That's why Rice University's Andrew Barron is enlisting the help of internmational scientists.  Working  with labs in Italy, Germany and Greece, Barron's research team is seeking a molecular method to block the virus from spreading. 

Tour honored by Houston Technology Center     
Rice Professor James Tour was one of six high-profile Houstonians  honored at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Houston Technology Center this week, earning a special achievement award for his advances in nanotechnology.  

Pasquali earns kudos for outstanding service to graduate student education  
Shakespeare takes the stage alongside nanotechnology this year as the Graduate Student Association (GSA) recognizes English's Dennis Huston and chemical engineering's Matteo Pasquali with the GSA's Faculty Teaching/Mentoring Awards. The awards are presented annually to Rice faculty who demonstrate outstanding service to graduate student education. 

2009 Chemistry Awards Presented at Awards/Graduate Reception   
This years recipients were announced in a combined Awards and   Graduate reception May 8th.  Both undergraduate and graduate student award recipients were invited to attend the reception where their awards were presented.  Congratualtions to this years award recipients! 

Rice Professor Naomi Halas, alums John Doerr and Karen Davis elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences  
The Rice University scientist, along with two Rice alums, philanthropist John Doerr and economist Karen Davis, joined the reclusive novelist, the  U2 singer and a host of others renowned in their fields when they were elected members of the prestigious American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Rice course goes the distance 
High school science teachers in Greater Houston and Colorado are taking part in a bold experiment by Rice and the University of Colorado at Boulder's ATLAS Institute to share a class taught both here and there.   It's a perfect example of the way Rice is reaching beyond the hedges to help the community, a prime goal of the Vision for the Second Century.

Nanotube's 'tapestry' controls its growth  
Rice University materials scientists have put a new "twist" on carbon nanotube growth. The researchers found the highly touted nanomaterials grow like tiny molecular tapestries, woven from twisting, single-atom threads.

Ajayan group creates hybrid nanocables to improve lithium battery technology  
Need to store electricity more efficiently? Put it behind bars.  That's essentially the finding of a team of Rice University researchers who   have created hybrid carbon-nanotube/metal-oxide arrays as electrode material that may improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries.

Rice Rolls Out New Nanocars 
This year's model isn't your father's nanocar. It runs cool. The drivers of Rice University's nanocars were surprised to find modified versions of their creation have the ability to roll at room temperature.  While practical applications for the tiny machines may be years away, the breakthrough suggests they'll be easier to adapt to a wider range of uses than the originals, which had to be heated to 200 degrees Celsius before they could move across a surface.

Rice’s James Tour wins Feynman Prize 
James Tour, the inventor of the nanocar at Rice University, has been awarded the prestigious Foresight Institute Feynman Prize for experimental nanotechnology for 2008 by the California think tank dedicated to the beneficial implementation of nanotechnology. Tour was one of four  nominees for the prize, specifically for his work on the synthesis of nanocars, molecule-sized vehicles with buckyball wheels that served as an experiment to explore the possibility of building working machines at such a scale.