News

Debate Over P vs. NP Proof Highlights Web Collaboration
K2I Executive Director Moshe Vardi is quoted in a New York Times article discussing the “P versus NP” problem, a Clay Mathematics Institute designated Millennium Prize Problem, and whether it was recently proven.  (August 16, 2010)

Dual Antennas Would Boost Cell-Phone Signals
The recent furor over the iPhone 4's antenna has made consumers aware of the constraints designers face when trying to build sleek, compact gadgets that also get a good connection. Researchers at Rice University, including K2I's Lin Zhong, have come up with a design that could make signal worries a thing of the past, and extend battery life as well. The design uses two antennas that focus their power in different directions.  (August 12, 2010)

Rice professor's program brings Van Goghs back to basics
Vincent Van Gogh was picky about his canvas. That turns out to be a boon for art historians studying the master's work using modern tools developed at Rice University. Don Johnson, Rice's J.S. Abercrombie Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and colleague Richard Johnson (no relation to Don), the Geoffrey S.M. Hedrick Senior Professor of Engineering at Cornell University, have developed a computer program to analyze aspects of Van Gogh and other paintings that can't be seen by the naked eye.  (August 6, 2010)

Rice group celebrates million-download milestone for DrJava
The JavaPLT group at Rice continues to develop DrJava as a SourceForge open-source project, primarily to give students an intuitive interface as they learn programming skills. More than 60 Rice students have contributed to DrJava over the years through K2I member and Rice professor of computer science Dr. Cartwright's class on production programming or as part of independent study projects. DrJava is now being used at institutions across the globe.  (July 7, 2010)

Optical imaging device instantly captures the brilliance of living cells in action
 Just as a gemologist looks at carat, color, cut and clarity to maximize the brilliance of a diamond, Rice University researcher Tomasz Tkaczyk works to manipulate light when building high-performance optical imaging systems that display an array of cellular and subcellular profiles.  (July 7, 2010)

Rice program takes on protein puzzle
All proteins self-assemble in a fraction of the blink of an eye, but it can take a long time to mimic the process. And there has been no guarantee of success, even with the most powerful computers – until now. Cheng Zhang (an applied physics graduate student at Rice) and Jianpeng Ma (professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Rice University and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine) found the computational muscle they needed in Rice's supercomputer cluster, the Shared University Grid at Rice, aka SUG@R. "We can't overstate the significance of state-of-the-art computing facilities, as well as excellent service from Rice's Research Computing Support Group," Ma said. His group is continuing its work on Rice's newest supercomputer cluster, BlueBioU, for longer polypeptide sequences.    (July 6, 2010)

Nanoshell Structures Could Form Basis of Future Biosensors
Scientists from four universities in the United States have created a way to use light-activated nanoshells as building blocks for two- and three-dimensional structures. Peter Nordlander, K2I member and  Rice University professor of physics and astronomy and in electrical and computer engineering, is quoted.  (June 23, 2010)

Answer to saliva mystery has practical impact
 Researchers at Rice University, Purdue University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have solved a long-standing mystery about why some fluids containing polymers -- including saliva -- form beads when they are stretched and others do not. Study co-author Matteo Pasquali, professor in chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice and K2I member, said the study answers fundamental scientific questions and could ultimately lead to improvements as diverse as ink-jet printing, nanomaterial fiber spinning and drug dispensers for "personalized medicine."  (June 11, 2010)

Rice wins $3M NSF grant for supercomputer
A wide-ranging team of 53 Rice faculty have won almost $3 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a powerful new high-performance computer system that will feature Rice's first 3-D visualization studio.  Jan Odegard, executive director of Rice's Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology, who played a key role in developing the concept and proposal for DAVinCI, said the system is "the natural next step" for Rice's vision of supporting shared research computing infrastructure.  "We are building on the strength of Rice’s faculty, and leveraging the partnership between the Ken Kennedy Institute and the division for Information Technology."   (June 4, 2010)

Liquid method: pure graphene production
 In a development that could lead to novel carbon composites and touch-screen displays, researchers from Rice University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology this week unveiled a new method for producing bulk quantities of one-atom-thick sheets of carbon called graphene. The lead co-author is Matteo Pasquali, a K2I member and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and chemistry at Rice.   (June 2, 2010)