Institutes & Centers

The Wiess School of Natural Sciences is home to six unique institutes and centers that illustrate two of our hallmarks: interdisciplinary collaboration and research excellence. These alliances of faculty and staff across campus and beyond enable us to compete with other large institutions while remaining intimate in size.

We invite you to learn more about each of these unique organizations, each with its own culture, mission, and accomplishments that enrich our School tremendously, and prove to the world that our boundaries are limitless and invisible when it comes to creating knowledge:

Wiess School Institutes and Centers:

Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN)

Center for Computational Geophysics

Center for the Study of Environment and Society (CSES) 

Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC) 

Institute of Biosciences & Bioengineering (IBB)

Rice Quantum Institute (RQI)

Rice Space Institute (RSI)

Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology (SINST)

Other important Rice Institutes and Centers with whom we interact frequently include:

Baker Institute for Public Policy 

Collaborative Research Center (CRC)

Energy & Environmental Systems Institute (EESI) 

Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology

Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship