Harnessing the Power of Discovery

Spring 2024
By Reginald DesRoches

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Malawi with a wonderful group from the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies. My time in the “Warm Heart of Africa” really opened my eyes to the incredible work Rice360 is doing there, especially for moms and their newborn babies.

More than 1 million newborns die in sub-Saharan Africa each year because hospitals lack the lifesaving resources that have been available for decades in developed countries like ours. Rice360, through its Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies program, is on a mission to change that narrative. They’re proving that with trained staff and the right equipment, data systems and facilities, we can dramatically decrease newborn mortality rates.

Since kicking off in 2019, they’ve partnered with government and medical leaders in Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria to train tens of thousands of medical professionals and to supply hospitals with lifesaving technology, some of it designed and developed by talented Rice engineering students.

When people ask me about Rice’s standout institutes, I always point to this kind of impactful work. Our institutes are where distinguished researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines come together to tackle big problems and advance fresh ideas and real-world solutions — often by teaming up with community and industry partners.

When people ask me about Rice’s standout institutes, I always point to this kind of impactful work. Our institutes are where distinguished researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines come together to tackle big problems and advance fresh ideas and real-world solutions — often by teaming up with community and industry partners.

Rice’s institutes are not just about research and discovery — they’re also about developing the next generation of scholars and leaders. Through hands-on training, classes, seminars and workshops, they’re preparing graduate students and postdocs for impactful careers in academia, government, research, industry and beyond.  

This past year, Rice launched five new institutes: Medical Humanities, Advanced Materials, Sustainability, Synthetic Biology and WaTER. These new institutes will harness Rice’s expertise in these critical areas to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges in health and medicine, energy and climate, urban resilience, and much more. These are problems that can only be solved by bringing together people from disparate disciplines — engineering and science, architecture, business, the humanities, music, and social sciences — to tackle these problems from different perspectives and with different skill sets and tools. 

Rice is also supporting five new research centers. Like the institutes, but on a smaller, more focused scale, these centers bring people together to tackle big issues like coastal safety and improved cancer care. Rice has also launched several accelerators. In addition to serving as a home for discovery and fundamental research, universities like Rice are increasingly seen as places where faculty and students can turn their discoveries into real-world solutions that can be quickly brought to the marketplace.   

At Rice, we’re harnessing the power of discovery to make the world a better place. And with these new institutes, centers and accelerators, we’re primed for collaboration, innovation and impact. I can’t wait to see how they’ll shake things up at Rice and around the world.