Rice University Computer Science

Are you ready to elevate your expertise and advance your career?

Join us for an exclusive Student-Faculty Panel Discussion to discover what it takes to succeed in Rice University's top-tier online master's programs.

Hear directly from our esteemed faculty and current students about their experiences, gain insights into the rigorous curriculum and find out how Rice can help you achieve your professional goals in the fast-growing tech industry.

Event Details:
Programs: Online Master of Computer Science & Online Master of Data Science
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Time: 12:00 p.m. CT
Location: Live on Zoom

Don't miss this opportunity to get your questions answered live and see if Rice University is the right fit for your future!

Register today: https://online.rice.edu/mcsmds

Today is National Online Learning Day, and we're proud to offer two fully online Master's degrees: Computer Science and Data Science.

Both deliver the same curriculum, faculty interaction and rigor as our on-campus programs, built for working professionals advancing in place.

Choose your area of focus. Learn directly from faculty shaping the future of computing. Put your skills to work without stopping your career.

Explore our online Master's programs: https://ow.ly/SMJS50ZNs7C

Rice Computer Science teaches you how AI actually gets built and deployed.

But here's what's different: our students are in Houston.
They can see how energy companies approach AI. How hospitals use it. How aerospace programs build it.

Different problems. Different constraints. Different solutions. All just minutes away.
Most students learn from textbooks. Ours learn from the ecosystem.

That's the Houston advantage.

cs.rice.edu

Are you passionate about the foundations of computer science? The Texas Area Theory & Algorithms Workshop is coming to Rice on September 19!

This one-day event is your chance to engage with the latest research, connect with fellow theorists and peers from across Texas and share your own work during the poster session.

Whether you’re a student, researcher or faculty member, you’ll find a community that values deep thinking and collaborative discovery.

Join us on Saturday, September 19, at Rice University, Ralph S. O’Connor Building, 5th Floor, to hear from leading voices in the field.

Featured Speakers:
• Piotr Indyk (MIT)
• Mingda Qiao (UMass Amherst)
• John Wright (UC Berkeley)

Texas Speakers:
• Jianer Chen (Texas A&M)
• Ovidiu Daescu (UT Dallas)
• Alireza Fallah (Rice University)
• Noah Golowich (UT Austin)
• Moshe Vardi (Rice University)
• David Wu (UT Austin)

Organized by Maryam Aliakbarpour, Kevin Tian and Samson Zhou. Co-sponsored with ACM SIGACT.

Register today: https://txtheoryday.com/2026/

You probably don't remember every professor's name from undergrad. At Rice Computer Science, your faculty advisor doesn't just know your name.

They know what you're building.
They work side-by-side with you on research, career advice, real problems.

That changes everything.

Tell us about a mentor who really knew you.
What's one thing they did that changed your trajectory?

What if you could predict how a disease will progress in a specific person before symptoms appear?

That's the question driving Rice Computer Science Assistant Professor Vicky Yao's lab. She integrates genetic data, clinical records and imaging to build computational models of disease.

Watch how her research bridges data and disease.
https://youtu.be/SATSKpa8pAs?si=JosWk43K09Rsu2FP

Computer Science Professor Lydia Kavraki and Bioengineering Professor Rebecca Richards-Kortum are the first two faculty members in Rice’s history to be elected to all three National Academies: Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

Fewer than 35 researchers hold memberships in all three academies. Yesterday, nearly 300 faculty, students and colleagues gathered at McMurtry Auditorium for the Triple Crown of Discovery celebration to honor Lydia and Rebecca. Rice University President Reginald DesRoches spoke about the significance of their distinction.

Lydia’s surprise guest, Jean-Claude Latombe, her PhD advisor, delighted the crowd and delivered remarks about the curiosity and work ethic that have defined her career in robotics and computational biology. Luay Nakhleh, Dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing, proudly presented both honorees with awards in recognition of this extraordinary achievement.

Lydia shared with attendees that at age 17, she chose computer science because it was a new and exciting field. Her work has since advanced medicine and shaped generations of students and researchers. Learn more about Lydia’s research: kavrakilab.org

We are proud to recognize both Professors Kavraki and Richards-Kortum for this historic achievement.

Excited for Rice Computer Science's Thai Duong and Ria Stevens.
Both are advancing to the next chapter of their careers and have been selected for the 2026-27 Future Faculty Fellows program, an honor that recognizes their potential to shape the future of academia.

Thai is developing autonomous robotic systems under Prof. Lydia Kavraki's mentorship, while Ria focuses on the theoretical foundations of machine learning under Profs. Maryam Aliakbarpour and Tasos Kyrillidis.

They're among 11 fellows chosen across the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing for their commitment to research, teaching and mentorship. The program prepares them with one-on-one consultations, tailored workshops and mock interviews to launch successful academic careers.

Read more about this year's cohort. https://ow.ly/J4Ux50ZCvHE

Pictured Front (L-R): Arka Chatterjee, Duygu Vargun, Sarah Glass and Weifan Liu.
Back (L-R): Thai Duong, Md Abid Shahriar Rahman Saadi, Yihua Xu and Ria Stevens.
Not pictured: Rose Graves, Shalini Pandey and Lei Zhang.

Welcome back, Rice Computer Science students. Whether you're starting week one or finishing your final stretch, first-day energy is real. You're part of a community doing work that matters.

The first day means a fresh start for everyone, and we can't wait to see you at Duncan Hall.

We're excited to see what you build this year.

Good luck this year!
https://cs.rice.edu/

Meet Jefferson Hernandez.

This summer at Adobe Research, he built evaluation tools for image editing, collaborated with teams across the company and learned what it looks like to move research ideas into real products as a PhD Research Scientist Intern.

His takeaway: "Rice is a great place to learn how to interact in this big tech environment. The PhD teaches you a lot about how to do research and collaborate with other peers."

Internships aren't just about the work. They're about seeing yourself in those spaces. Working alongside people who are thinking about hard problems. Discovering what kind of engineer or researcher you want to become.

What did your internship teach you? Drop a comment.