2025 Rice Engineering Magazine Cover

The 2025 issue of Rice Engineering and Computing Magazine is here!


In our 50th anniversary issue, we celebrate the deep and growing connection between engineering and computing. From our early breakthroughs in high-performance computing to today’s advances in AI and data science, Rice has long been at the forefront of computing innovation. This edition highlights some of the people, ideas, and investments shaping what’s next.

Home
Featured
From the Dean Future Processing: Computing Systems Building Responsible AI 50 Years at Rice Engineering and Computing
In the Hedges
School of Engineering Renamed Latest News Headlines State of the School Rice Remembers Esteemed Faculty Rice In The World New Digital Health Institute Five Stories that Excite Us New Faculty
Ideas + Research
Computing + X In the Design Kitchen Throughline
People + Perspectives
In Their Own Words A Framework for Success 5 Questions
Alumni
Rice Engineering Alumni Report Summer Engineering Experience OEDK Investment REA By The Numbers Rice Engineering Alumni Awards
The Way Back
Question? Looking Back/Looking Forward

Rice Engineering Renamed to Reflect Computing Excellence

Rice University’s school of engineering is now the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing, recognizing the transformative role of computing and the school’s record of excellence in the field.

Illustration of Rice Engineering and Computing Quad

“Our decision to rename the school to the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing reflects the crucial role computing plays today, its expanding importance for the future and our school’s distinguished achievements in this field,” said Luay Nakhleh, the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering and Computing and professor of computer science and biosciences.

“We harness computing power to develop solutions across various domains, from public health and climate change to designing new materials and building resilient, adaptive communities. This focus on computing is why future computing is one of the five research thrusts of the school’s strategic plan,” Nakhleh said.

The school has been at the forefront of innovative computing curricula, with its graduate program in computer science ranked among the top 30 in the country. Both the university and the school have made significant investments in computing in recent years. Notable initiatives include the commitment in 2019 to double the size of the computer science department and expand faculty hires in computing across all nine departments; increased investment in the Ken Kennedy Institute; the renovation of Maxfield Hall as home of the Statistics department; the establishment of the Data to Knowledge (D2K) Transformation Lab; the launch of the Data Science and Quantum Initiatives; and the introduction of new degree programs in computing and data science.

Rice Engineering and Computing has a rich history of pioneering advances in computing research, spanning high-performance computing, digital signal processing, computer systems, AI, programming languages, and computational optimization. Computing at Rice can be traced back to the late 1950s and the Rice Computer Project, or R1 — the university’s largest computational research tool. The R1 cemented the university’s reputation in hardware and software design.