Research
Centers, Institutes, & Programs

BRIDGE (Building Research on Inequality and Diversity to Grow Equity) brings together Rice University faculty and students to enrich understanding of inequality by leveraging our location in Houston, Texas, one of the nation’s most racially and ethnically diverse urban centers. We aim to enhance knowledge of inequality’s patterns, causes, consequences, promote dialogue and action about inequality’s impact; and invest in the training of future scholars of inequality.

The Center for African and African American Studies is Rice’s primary location for curriculum and research related to Africa and to people of African descent in the Americas and beyond. Offering a broad base for teaching and pedagogical resources as well as interdisciplinary scholarship and programming that brings Rice into national and international conversations, the center is a clearinghouse for critical conversation, instruction, cutting-edge research and community outreach in an interdisciplinary fashion.

The mission of the Center for Coastal Futures & Adaptive Resilience (CFAR) is to advance transformative, social scientific research that empowers coastal communities confronting the twin challenges of climate change and social inequality. Based in Rice’s School of Social Sciences, CFAR integrates the diverse methodological expertise of allied fields, faculty and partners to empower adaptive resilience that cannot be achieved through individual effort or technological innovation alone. Launched in 2024, we pursue this mission through research relevant to Houston, the Gulf region, and coastal areas worldwide. Current foci include: Coastal Industrial Communities; Urban Infrastructure Futures; Climate Adaptation; and, Disaster Recovery & Resilience.

The Social Sciences Research Institute is a research funding entity for Rice social sciences faculty and graduate students. It provides seed funds and other awards to promote cutting-edge research in the social sciences. "Thinking New and Thinking Big" is the Institute's mission.

The Texas Policy Lab (TPL) aims to change how policy is developed, implemented and evaluated in the state of Texas by providing rigorous, unbiased, timely, evidenced-based research to the key players in the decision-making process. TPL partners with state and local governments of Texas to evaluate the impact of select policies and programs. With the guidance and help of the Rice University faculty, TPL generates scientific evidence and knowledge that assist the Texas government bodies to tackle social and economic problems. These partnership will improve Texas state and local governments’ capacity to utilize data, research and technology in policymaking and resource allocation. TPL’s projects are initiated through a close partnership with government bodies and are guided by the pressing problems that our partners wish to solve.