BioSciences at Rice

Congratulations to our faculty members on their well-deserved promotions!

🎉 Scott Egan has been promoted to Professor.
🎉 Natasha Kirienko has been promoted to Professor.
🎉 Yang Gao has been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure.

These promotions recognize their outstanding contributions to research, teaching, mentorship, and service. We are proud to celebrate this exciting milestone and look forward to their continued impact on our community.

Congratulations to Seye Oladeji on earning First Place overall for his research poster at the 2026 Texas Chemical Biology Conference.

His presentation was selected from 135 posters presented at the conference — an outstanding and well-deserved achievement.

Our 2026 NSF BioNetworks REU students arrived over Memorial Day weekend and will spend the summer on campus conducting independent research projects through early August. We’re excited to have this year’s cohort here and look forward to supporting them throughout the program.

Congratulations to all BioSciences-affiliated doctoral candidates participating in the December 2026 commencement.

Last Friday, the department celebrated the end of the semester with a commencement reception honoring graduates from the Department of BioSciences. Award recipients were also recognized for their outstanding achievements and contributions. Congratulations to all of our graduates and honorees on this exciting milestone!

Last Tuesday, the department held a reception honoring Susan Cates for her many years of service. Wishing her a happy retirement!