The Wiess School of Natural Sciences is an academic school at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. It comprises the departments of BioSciences (a merging of Biochemistry and Cell Biology and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology); Chemistry; Earth, Environment and Planetary Sciences; Kinesiology; Mathematics; and Physics and Astronomy. Rice is well known for its groundbreaking research in

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal ...

. As well as undergraduate in instruction, the school also supports a professional science master's program. One of Rice's greatest minds and pioneers of the field was Richard Smalley, the Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Physics and Astronomy. Smalley received the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

(along with chemist

Robert Curl Robert Floyd Curl Jr. (August 23, 1933 – July 3, 2022) was an American chemist who was Pitzer–Schlumberger Professor of Natural Sciences and Professor of Chemistry at Rice University. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1996 for ...

) in 1996 for the discovery

buckminsterfullerene Buckminsterfullerene is a type of fullerene with the formula C60. It has a cage-like fused-ring structure (truncated icosahedron) made of twenty hexagons and twelve pentagons, and resembles a soccer ball. Each of its 60 carbon atoms is bonded ...

, an

allotrope Allotropy or allotropism () is the property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different forms, in the same physical State of matter, state, known as allotropes of the elements. Allotropes are different structural modifications o ...

of carbon commonly referred to as "buckyballs".

About Natural Science at Rice

The four founding departments of Rice (

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

) are still a part of the Wiess School, which has historically been known for its strength in the sciences. Its Department of Space Science was established in 1963. The land on which the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center was built was donated by

. Following this, President John F. Kennedy made a speech at Rice Stadium calling on the United States of America to develop its space program further. Rice is also known for its emphasis on undergraduate education. The Wiess School of Natural Sciences offers research experiences for its students. The premedical students in particular benefit from the nearby

Texas Medical Center The Texas Medical Center (TMC) is a medical district and neighborhood in south-central Houston, Texas, United States, immediately south of the Museum District and west of Texas State Highway 288. Over 60 medical institutions, largely concentrat ...

which offers many opportunities for research.

Organization

The Dean of the school is Tom Killian, taking over from Peter Rossky in 2021. Dr. Killian received his undergraduate degree in physics in 1991 from Harvard University and then attended Cambridge University on a Marshall Scholarship, where he received an MPhil in physical chemistry in 1993. Killian earned his PhD in atomic physics in 1999 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for studies of ultracold atomic gases. After a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at the National Institute of Standards and Technology working in the emerging field of ultracold neutral plasmas, he joined the Rice faculty in 2001. Killian has served in many leadership roles at Rice, including Deputy Speaker of the Faculty Senate, Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Associate Dean of Strategic planning in the School of Natural Sciences, and Rice Faculty Liaison and Advisor to the Houston Midtown Innovation District. The Associate Dean for Research is George Phillips, the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs is Kenton Whitmire, the Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives is Janet Braam, and the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs is Rachel Miller. The BioSciences department was created in July 2014 upon the merging of the Biochemistry & Cell Biology (BCB) department with the Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB) department.

References

External links

Wiess School of Natural SciencesRice UniversityTexas Medical Center
{{Rice University Rice University Educational institutions established in 1912 1912 establishments in Texas