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NEWS 1/10/23 10:17pm

Rice adds 486 students to the Class of 2027 through ED

By Riya Misra

With a 15.2% acceptance rate, Rice admitted 486 new students — 417 through Early Decision and 69 through the Questbridge National College Match program — to the Class of 2027 on Dec. 14. These students were selected from a pool of 2,743 applicants, which is the highest number of applications to date for the Early Decision round, according to Vice President of Enrollment Yvonne Romero da Silva. 

NEWS 1/10/23 9:13pm

Rice astronomer and colleagues discover newborn stars

By Keegan Leibrock

Rice University professor Megan Reiter and her colleagues discovered a previously undetected cluster of newborn stars some 7,500 light years away from Earth. The discovery, published in the December issue of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, was made possible through observations by the James Webb Space Telescope.

NEWS 11/29/22 11:08pm

Campus responds to Houston’s city-wide boil water notice

By Maria Morkas

Due to a power outage at the East Water Purification Plant on Nov. 27 that led to water pressure dropping, Houston’s main water system was under a boil water notice beginning late Sunday until Tuesday morning. The Rice crisis management team sent out an email alert saying that all buildings east of Alumni Drive, including all of the residential colleges and the Rice Memorial Center, are serviced by the campus well and were not affected by the boil water requirement. However, buildings west of Alumni Drive, such as the Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center, were impacted.

NEWS 11/15/22 11:46pm

Tech layoffs, hiring freezes hit Rice community

By Brandon Chen

As layoff and hiring freezes increase across the tech industry, computer science students and alumni are among those at Rice expressing concern for their current and future job prospects. In recent weeks, Elon Musk halved Twitter’s staff, Meta said it was firing 11,000 employees, Amazon announced plans to cut approximately 10,000 jobs and other tech firms such as Lyft and Stripe also announced layoffs.

NEWS 11/15/22 11:45pm

RUPD launches Food for Fines initiative

By Keegan Leibrock

The Rice University Police Department launched a “Food for Fines” initiative, during which students can donate food and hygiene items to cover unpaid parking tickets. From Nov. 15 to Nov. 17, students can bring products to PCF 1 anytime from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

NEWS 11/15/22 11:42pm

Campus prepares to celebrate Thanksgiving

By Sejal Gupta

As Thanksgiving break nears, students and faculty planning to remain on campus have begun preparations to celebrate the holiday at Rice. During the break, some colleges will host a Thanksgiving dinner organized by students and the college’s core teams. This year, all of the serveries are closed on Thanksgiving Day. Multiple serveries will be open on Wednesday and Baker Kitchen will be open on Friday and Saturday. 

NEWS 11/15/22 11:36pm

TEDxRiceU conference addresses climate change

By Viola Hsia

TEDxRiceU held its Countdown event this past Saturday, focusing on combating climate change. The event, composed of six talks given by both faculty and students, addressed the issue of climate change through wscientific, technological and social perspectives, according to TEDxRiceU President Nicholas Ma.

NEWS 11/15/22 10:18pm

Rice ends on-campus winter housing accommodations

By Hajera Naveed

Rice will not be offering on-campus housing for winter recess this year. Due to COVID-related travel restrictions, on-campus housing was available for the past two winter recess periods. Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman said that the decision to revert to pre-pandemic operations, when no on-campus housing was provided, follows the trend of various other aspects of campus life this year.

NEWS 11/9/22 12:39am

Two Rice professors among top 35 women in robotics

By Danika Li

Rice professors Lydia Kavraki and Marcia O’Malley were named among 35 Women in Robotics Engineering and Science honorees at the 2022 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Kyoto, Japan on Oct. 25. IROS is one of the largest international conferences in robotics and intelligent systems.

NEWS 11/9/22 12:34am

Sewall voting location sees hour-plus wait times

By Ben Baker-Katz

Rice’s Sewall Hall served as an Election Day voting location for around 900 voters on Tuesday. According to Vivian Zheng, the presiding election judge, people waited in line for one to two hours before casting their ballots, though wait times dropped off significantly as it got closer to 7 p.m.

NEWS 11/9/22 12:31am

Rice undergrads, alumni celebrate HACER 50th anniversary

By Keegan Leibrock

The Hispanic Association for Cultural Enrichment at Rice celebrated its 50th anniversary this past Saturday. The celebration included a gala with speakers such as Germaine Franco, an Academy-Award nominated Rice alumna and composer of the “Encanto” soundtrack, and Dr. Richard Tapia, the University Professor of Rice, who was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2011.

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