Rice University Chemistry Department

10/14/2026

🔬 NAME THAT LAB TOOL: ANSWER REVEAL!

The answer is a Büchner funnel and filter flask!

Together, these tools are used for vacuum filtration. A vacuum pulls liquid through filter paper, leaving the solid material behind.

Did you guess correctly? 🧪

10/13/2026

🔬 NAME THAT LAB TOOL! 🧪

Think you know your way around a chemistry lab?

Can you identify this piece of laboratory equipment and explain what it's used for?

Drop your guesses in the comments! 👇

We'll reveal the answer tomorrow!

10/07/2026

🔬 Rice Chemistry Faculty & Lab Spotlight | Spotlight #1: Professor James Tour 🧪

We're excited to launch our new Faculty & Lab Spotlight series, highlighting the incredible faculty, innovative research, and groundbreaking discoveries happening in the Rice University Department of Chemistry!

For our very first spotlight, we're featuring Professor James Tour, whose research spans nanotechnology, materials science, and innovative approaches to solving complex scientific challenges.

Follow along as we introduce the people and discoveries shaping the future of chemistry at Rice! 🦉



https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/james-tour
https://jmtour.com/

Welcome to the James Tour Group Welcome to the official website of Dr. James Tour, a synthetic chemist and nanotechnologist. Here, you will find a comprehensive collection of his academic work, encompassing groundbreaking research, published papers, and awards. This site also offers a wealth of help...

10/02/2026

🏆 Congratulations to Prof. Angel Martí!

We’re excited to celebrate Prof. Martí as the 2026 recipient of the ACS-GHS Joe W. Hightower Award! 🎉

This honor recognizes his outstanding contributions to chemistry, and we are incredibly proud to celebrate this achievement with him.

Congratulations, Prof. Martí! 🧪✨

09/25/2026

Exciting new research from Rice Chemistry’s Kushal Bagchi is challenging how scientists think about phase transitions.

Bagchi, an assistant professor and Norman Hackerman-Welch Young Investigator, and his team found that an organic semiconductor can transform from a liquid crystal into a solid crystal through a process resembling a Martensitic transformation — a phenomenon traditionally associated with hardened steel and shape-memory alloys.

Published in PNAS, the findings could help advance the development of highly ordered organic semiconductors for technologies such as flexible electronics and transistors.

Congratulations to Kushal, first author Nurjahan Khatun, and the entire research team!

Rice researchers have shown that an organic semiconductor can transform from a liquid crystal into a solid crystal through a rapid, highly coordinated process resembling a Martensitic transformation.

09/09/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Rice Chemistry’s Lea Nienhaus on receiving the 2027 WCC Rising Star Award, presented by the American Chemical Society Women Chemists Committee!

This recognition celebrates outstanding women scientists making significant contributions to the chemical sciences. We are proud to celebrate this exciting achievement and Dr. Nienhaus’s continued impact in chemistry, research, and innovation.

Congratulations, Lea! 👏🧪

The Nienhaus Group is interested in understanding the role of nanoscale structure on the ensemble materials properties. Research is highly interdisciplinary combining a wide variety of chemical and physical methods, materials development and synthesis and engineering approaches.

08/31/2026

New AI tools are creating exciting opportunities in computational chemistry!

Prof. David Sholl and Georgia Tech’s Andrew Medford recently shared their perspective in ACS Central Science on how machine learning could shape the future of the field.

Read more below!

David Sholl, Rice’s executive vice president for research and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, recently published an opinion piece in ACS Central Science, where he and co-author Andrew Medford, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Georgia Institute of ...

07/28/2026

The Rice University Department of Chemistry is pleased to share its Fall 2025–Spring 2026 Newsletter.

This edition highlights the accomplishments, research, awards, events, and milestones that have shaped our department over the past academic year. We are proud to recognize the contributions of our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and broader chemistry community.

Click the link below to read the newsletter and learn more about the department’s latest achievements and activities.

Check out this US Letter designed by Bridget Reis.

06/01/2026

New model helps understand why most human pregnancies are singletons. Rice researchers use chemistry principles to predict how a single antral follicle is selected to mature. Read the full story down below!

Rice researchers develop new model of follicle selection that suggests its chance, not size, that selects a follicle during the menstrual cycle.

05/04/2026

Rice seed grants are helping accelerate critical work in dementia and brain health, enabling researchers to build momentum ahead of upcoming state funding opportunities. Strategic early investment is paving the way for meaningful progress in understanding and treating neurological conditions.

An internal seed funding initiative will support 12 projects exploring brain health research.