Houston health orgs lost $58M in canceled, stalled NIH grants, new report shows

research cuts

The Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project identified 37 cancelled or frozen NIH grants for Houston institutions. Photo via Unsplash.

Seven institutions in the Houston area have lost nearly $60 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that were aimed at funding health research.

The Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project identified 37 cancelled or frozen NIH grants worth $58.7 million that were awarded to seven Houston-area institutions. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston suffered the biggest loss — five grants totaling nearly $44.8 million.

The Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health reported in May that over the previous several months across the U.S., the federal government had terminated roughly 2,100 NIH research grants worth around $9.5 billion.

In August, the U.S. Supreme Court derailed researchers’ efforts to reinstate almost $2 billion in research grants issued by NIH, according to Nature.com.

“Make no mistake: This was a decision critical to the future of the nation, and the Supreme Court made the wrong choice. History will look upon these mass National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant terminations with shame,” the American Association of Medical Colleges said in a statement. “The Court has turned a blind eye to this grievous attack on science and medicine, and we call upon Congress to take action to restore the rule of law at NIH.”

Texas health researchers rely heavily on NIH grants and contracts. During the federal government’s 2024 budget year, NIH awarded $1.9 billion in grants and contracts that directly supported 30,553 jobs and more than $6.1 billion in economic activity in Texas, according to the United for Medical Research coalition.

Here’s a rundown of the cancelled and frozen NIH grants in the Houston area.

University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston: Five cancelled or frozen grants, totalling approximately $44.8 million in funding lost.
Baylor College of Medicine: 17 grants cancelled or frozen, totalling approximately $8 million in funding lost
University of Houston. Five cancelled or frozen grants, totalling approximately $3.7 million in funding lost
University of Texas Health Science Center Houston: Five grants cancelled or frozen, totaling approximately $1.1 million in funding lost.
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Two grants cancelled or frozen, totalling $831,581 in funding
Rice University. Two grants cancelled or frozen, totaling $254,645 in funding lost
Prairie View A&M University: One grant cancelled or frozen, totalling $31,771 in funding lost

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The Ivy League of the South has done it once again. Photo via Rice University

Houston's Rice University tops new 2025 list of best colleges in Texas

report

The most prestigious higher education institution in Houston has done it again: Rice University has topped WalletHub's 2025 list of the best colleges and universities in Texas for 2025.

The just-released list analyzed more than 800 colleges and universities in the United States using 30 metrics to determine their rankings.

Rice claimed the No. 1 spot in Texas and in WalletHub's regional category of best universities in the South. The school also ranked as the No. 6 best college nationwide.

Rice earned first place in the category for the "best" (or lowest) on-campus crime rates, and ranked 13th for its gender and racial diversity. The school ranked No. 24 in the category for net cost. According to U.S. News and World Report, tuition and fees at Rice cost $60,709 per year. Rice also has an acceptance rate of eight percent, earning the university No. 27 in the category for admission rates.

Here's how WalletHub broke down the rest of Rice's ranking, where No. 1 is the best and No. 49 is the worst:

No. 26 – Student-faculty ratio
No. 43 – Graduation rate
No. 47 – Post-attendance median salary

Rice's recent accolades add to an ongoing winning streak of high rankings. In September, the private university ranked as the No. 1 best Texas college for 2025 by U.S. News, and ranked No. 18 nationally. Education information and review platform Niche also recently ranked Rice the 15th best college in the country and the No. 1 best in Texas for 2025. And Forbes named Rice No. 9 in its 2024-25 list of top U.S. colleges.In the spring, Rice's Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business ranked No. 2 in the national publication's ranking of the best graduate schools in Texas.

The only other Houston university to earn a spot in WalletHub's report was the University of Houston, earning No. 12 in Texas and No. 288 nationally.

The top five universities that outranked Rice in the national rankings were Princeton University (No. 1), Yale University (No. 2), Harvard University (No. 3), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (No. 4), and Dartmouth College (No. 5).

The top 10 colleges and universities in Texas are:

No. 1 – Rice University
No. 2 – The University of Texas at Austin
No. 3 – Trinity University
No. 4 – Texas A&M University-College Station
No. 5 – Southwestern University
No. 6 – Texas Christian University
No. 7 – Austin College
No. 8 – Texas A&M International University
No. 9 – University of Dallas
No. 10 – Southern Methodist University

The full report can be found on wallethub.com

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

An annual ranking recognized Rice University again — but the Houston school ranked a tad lower this year. Photo courtesy of Rice

Report: Rice University again ranks among the top schools in nation

hooting in Houston

Rice University has earned yet another accolade worth hooting about.

Niche, an education review and ranking website, has named Rice the ninth best college in the U.S., down from No. 6 last year. The Houston university receives an A+ in nine of the 12 ranking categories, including academics, diversity, and value. It gets an A for the party scene, a B+ for athletics, and a B for safety.

“We’re proud that Niche once again rates Rice not only one of the nation’s top universities, but also one of the nation’s best college values,” university President Reginald DesRoches said in 2022. “This is especially gratifying because Niche reflects the opinions of students and parents who know firsthand what outstanding education opportunities Rice continues to offer.”

Rice regularly ranks highly on lists of the best colleges and universities in the country, including those published by Niche, Forbes, and U.S. News & World Report.

“Rice is an awesome place. I went to Rice because I wanted professors who actually wanted to see their students succeed, and I can confidently say that’s what I found at Rice,” a student wrote in a Niche review. “The classes are thorough but the tests are very reasonable and focus on the material we learned in class.”

Topping Niche’s national list is Yale University, followed by Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth College.

Rice comes in at No. 12 on Niche’s list of the “best value colleges” in the U.S. and ranks first among the best colleges in Texas. Here are the top 10 Texas schools, including the eighth-ranked University of Houston:

1. Rice University
2. University of Texas at Austin
3. Texas A&M University (College Station)
4. Trinity University (San Antonio)
5. Southern Methodist University (University Park)
6. Texas Christian University (Fort Worth)
7. Texas Tech University (Lubbock)
8. University of Houston
9. University of Texas Permian Basin (Odessa)
10. Baylor University (Waco)

Other Houston-area schools in the Texas ranking are:

University of Houston – Clear Lake (No. 13)
University of St. Thomas (No. 26)
University of Houston – Downtown (No. 39)
Prairie View A&M University (No. 43)

“Choosing where to go to college is easily one of the most significant — and expensive — decisions of a person’s life. Niche’s mission is to ensure that every college-bound student has access to easy, transparent and free resources … to help them find their best fit,” Luke Skurman, founder and CEO of Niche, says in a news release.

Here's what student teams from around the world were invited to compete in the Rice Business Plan Competition. Photo via rice.edu

Annual student startup competition in Houston names teams for 2023

getting pitch perfect

Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship has named the 42 student startup teams that were extended invitations to compete in the 23rd annual Rice Business Plan Competition

The 2023 startup competition will take place on Rice University campus May 11 to 13, and the teams representing 37 universities from six countries will pitch to investors, mentors, and other industry leaders for the chance to win funding and prizes. Last year's RBPC doled out nearly $2 million in investment prizes.

This year, Rice saw its largest number of student startups applying for the RBPC internal qualifier from within campus. The university selected three to move on to compete at RBPC in May — Sygne Solutions, Neurnano Therapeutics, and Tierra Climate, which also received a total of $5,000 in cash prizes to these top three teams.

The 2023 RBPC will focus on five categories: energy, cleantech and sustainability; life science and health care solutions; consumer products and services; hard tech; and digital enterprise.

This invited companies, if they attend, will join the ranks of the 784 teams that previously competed in RBPC and have raised more than $4.6 billion in capital, as well as seen more than 50 successful exits including five IPOs.

The 2023 Rice Business Plan Competition invitees, according to Rice University's news release:

Active Surfaces, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Adrigo Insights, Saint Mary’s University (Canada)
AirSeal, Washington University in St. Louis
Algbio, Yeditepe University (Turkey)
Arch Pet Food, University of Chicago
Astria Biosciences, University of Pittsburgh
Atma Leather, Yale University
Atop, UCLA
Biome Future, University of Florida
BioSens8, Boston University
BlueVerse, Texas Tech University
Boardible, Northwestern University
Boston Quantum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ceres plant protein cereal, Tulane University
Citrimer, University of Michigan
Dart Bioscience, University of Oxford (United Kingdom)
DetoXyFi, Harvard University
E-Sentience, Duke University
Edulis Therapeutics, Carnegie Mellon University
FluxWorks, Texas A&M University
Integrated Molecular Innovations, Michigan Technological University
Inzipio, RWTH Aachen University (Germany)
LoopX AI, University of Waterloo (Canada)
Magnify Biosciences, Carnegie Mellon University
MiraHeart, Johns Hopkins University
MyLÚA, Cornell University
Outmore Living, University of Texas
Pathways, Harvard University
Pediatrica Therapeutics, University of Arkansas
Perseus Materials, Stanford University
Pike Robotics, University of Texas
Quantanx, Arizona State University
Sheza, San Diego State University
Skali, Northwestern University
Sundial Solar Components, University of Utah
Thryft Ship, University of Georgia
Tierra Climate, Rice University
TrashTrap Sustainability Solutions, Visvesvaraya Technological University (India)
Unchained, North Carolina A&T State University
Unsmudgeable, Babson College
Vivicaly, University of Pennsylvania
Zaymo, Brigham Young University

Turns out Austin-born millennials haven't moved too far. Photo by Getty Images

Houston named No. 1 destination for millennials on the move from this Texas city

putting down roots

For the most part, Austin millennials have stayed close to home after entering adulthood, a new report indicates.

At age 26, nearly 70 percent of people who were born from 1984 to 1992 and raised in Austin remained there, according to the report. That leaves more than 30 percent who moved elsewhere.

Data compiled by researchers at Harvard University and the U.S. Census Bureau pinpoints Houston as the No. 1 target for millennials who lived in Austin at age 16 and grew up here but lived somewhere else in the U.S. at age 26. The Bayou City attracted 3.9 percent of millennial movers born from 1984 to 1992 (a large subset of the millennial generation) who grew up in Austin.

Bayou City was followed by San Antonio (3.1 percent), Dallas (2.8 percent), Killeen (1.3 percent), and Fort Worth (1.2 percent). These were the only Texas cities to surpass the 1 percent mark for the share of millennials born from 1984 to 1992 who had moved away from Austin. In 2022, these millennials are celebrating birthdays from 30 to 38.

These are the top five out-of-state destinations for Austin-raised, on-the-move millennials:

Los Angeles — 0.86 percent
New York City — 0.79 percent
Denver — 0.64 percent
Seattle — 0.50 percent
Washington, D.C. — 0.43 percent

The list of Texas places that sent millennials to Austin looks very similar to the list of places that gained millennials from Austin. The top five are Houston (6.7 percent of movers born from 1984 to 1992 who came to Austin), Dallas and San Antonio (3.7 percent each), Fort Worth (2 percent), and Brownsville (1.6 percent).

Los Angeles is the only out-of-state destination that broke the 1 percent barrier for millennials who relocated to Austin (1.6 percent), followed by Chicago (0.97 percent), Washington, D.C. (0.63 percent), Detroit (0.51 percent), and Boston and New York City (0.49 percent each).

The geographic regions cited in the report are not metro areas but, instead, are commuting zones. A commuting zone represents a collection of counties that define an area’s labor market.

Researchers relied on federal tax, population, and housing data to assemble the report.

The statistics for Austin largely align with nationwide trends. The researchers say 80 percent of young-adult movers in the U.S. had relocated less than 100 miles from where they grew up and 90 percent had moved less than 500 miles.

“The majority of young adults stay close to home,” the researchers explain. “Average migration distances are shorter for Black and Hispanic young adults than for White and Asian young adults. Average migration distances are also shorter for those with lower levels of parental income.”

“For many individuals,” the researchers conclude, “the ‘radius of economic opportunity’ is quite narrow.”

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

The Rice Business Plan Competition is back in person this year, and these are the 42 teams that will go head to head for investments and prizes. Photo courtesy of Rice University

Rice University's student startup competition names 42 teams to compete for over $1 million in prizes

ready to pitch

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship and the Jones Graduate School of Business have announced the 42 student teams that will compete in the 2022 Rice Business Plan Competition, which returns to an in-person format on the Rice University campus in April.

Of the teams competing for more than $1 million in prizes and funding in this year's competition, six hail from Texas — two teams each from Rice University, University of Texas at Austin, and Texas A&M University. The student competitors represent 31 universities — including three from European universities. The 42 teams were narrowed down from over 400 applicants and divided into five categories: energy, cleantech and sustainability; life sciences and health care solutions; consumer products and services; hard tech; and digital enterprise.

This is the first in-person RBPC since 2019, and the university is ready to bring together the entrepreneurs and a community of over 250 judges, mentors, and investors to the competition.

“As we come out on the other side of a long and challenging two years, we're feeling a sense of renewal and energy as we look to the future and finding inspiration from the next generation of entrepreneurs who are building a better world,” says Catherine Santamaria, director of the RBPC, in a news release.

“This year's competition celebrates student founders with a strong sense of determination — founders who are ready to adapt, build and grow companies that can change the future,” she continues. “We hope their participation will provide guidance and inspiration for our community.”

According to a news release, this year's RBPC Qualifier Competition, which narrowed down Rice's student teams that will compete in the official competition, saw the largest number of applicants, judges, and participants in the competition’s history. The Rice Alliance awarded a total of $5,000 in cash prizes to the top three teams from the internal qualifier: EpiFresh, Green Room and Anvil Diagnostics. From those three, Rice teams EpiFresh and Green Room received invitations to compete in the 2022 RBPC..

The full list of student teams that will be competing April 7 to 9 this year include:

Acorn Genetics from Northwestern University
Advanced Optronics from Carnegie Mellon University
Aethero Space from University of Missouri
AImirr from University of Chicago
AiroSolve from UCLA
Algeon Materials from UC San Diego
Anise Health from Harvard University
Beyond Silicon from Arizona State University
Bold Move Beverages from University of Texas at Austin
Diamante from University of Verona
EarthEn from Arizona State University
Empower Sleep from University of Pennsylvania
EpiFresh from Rice University
EpiSLS from University of Michigan
Green Room from Rice University
Horizon Health Solutions from University of Arkansas
Hoth Intelligence from Thomas Jefferson University
INIA Biosciences from Boston University
Invictus BCI from MIT
Invitris from Technical University of Munich (TUM)
KLAW Industries from Binghamton University
LIDROTEC from RWTH Aachen
Locus Lock from University of Texas at Austin
LymphaSense from Johns Hopkins University
Mallard Bay Outdoors from Louisiana State University
Mantel from MIT
Olera from Texas A&M University
OpenCell AI from Weill Cornell Medicine
OraFay from UCLA
Pareto from Stanford University
Photonect Interconnect Solutions from University of Rochester
PLAKK from McGill University
PneuTech from Johns Hopkins University
Rola from UC San Diego
RotorX from Georgia Tech
SimulatED from Carnegie Mellon University
SuChef from University of Pennsylvania
Symetric Finance from Fairfield University
Teale from Texas A&M University
Team Real Talk from University at Buffalo
TransCrypts from Harvard University
Woobie from Brigham Young University

Last year's awards had 54 student teams competing virtually, with over $1.4 million in cash and prizes awarded. Throughout RBPC's history, competitors have gone onto raise more than $3.57 billion in capital and more than 259 RBPC alumni have successfully launched their ventures. Forty RBPC startups that have had successful exits through acquisitions or trading on a public market, per the news release.

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Micro-nuclear reactor to launch at Texas A&M innovation campus in 2026

nuclear pilot

The Texas A&M University System and Last Energy plan to launch a micro-nuclear reactor pilot project next summer at the Texas A&M-RELLIS technology and innovation campus in Bryan.

Washington, D.C.-based Last Energy will build a 5-megawatt reactor that’s a scaled-down version of its 20-megawatt reactor. The micro-reactor initially will aim to demonstrate safety and stability, and test the ability to generate electricity for the grid.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) fast-tracked the project under its New Reactor Pilot Program. The project will mark Last Energy’s first installation of a nuclear reactor in the U.S.

Private funds are paying for the project, which Robert Albritton, chairman of the Texas A&M system’s board of regents, said is “an example of what’s possible when we try to meet the needs of the state and tap into the latest technologies.”

Glenn Hegar, chancellor of the Texas A&M system, said the 5-megawatt reactor is the kind of project the system had in mind when it built the 2,400-acre Texas A&M-RELLIS campus.

The project is “bold, it’s forward-looking, and it brings together private innovation and public research to solve today’s energy challenges,” Hegar said.

As it gears up to build the reactor, Last Energy has secured a land lease at Texas A&M-RELLIS, obtained uranium fuel, and signed an agreement with DOE. Founder and CEO Bret Kugelmass said the project will usher in “the next atomic era.”

In February, John Sharp, chancellor of Texas A&M’s flagship campus, said the university had offered land at Texas A&M-RELLIS to four companies to build small modular nuclear reactors. Power generated by reactors at Texas A&M-RELLIS may someday be supplied to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid.

Also in February, Last Energy announced plans to develop 30 micro-nuclear reactors at a 200-acre site about halfway between Lubbock and Fort Worth.

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This article originally appeared on our sister site, EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Houston falls from top 50 in global ranking of 'World's Best Cities'

Rankings & Reports

Houston is no longer one of the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious annual report by Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing firm Resonance Consultancy.

The newest "World's Best Cities" list dropped Houston from No. 40 last year to No. 58 for 2026.

The experts at Resonance Consultancy annually compare the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of at least 1 million residents or more based on the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity. The firm additionally collaborated with AI software company AlphaGeo to determine each city's "exposure to risk, adaptation capacity," and resilience to change.

The No. 1 best city in the world is London, with New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Madrid (No. 5) rounding out the top five in 2026.

Houston at least didn't rank as poorly as it did in 2023, when the city surprisingly plummeted as the 66th best city in the world. In 2022, Houston ranked 42nd on the list.

Despite dropping 18 places, Resonance Consultancy maintains that Houston "keeps defying gravity" and is a "coveted hometown for the best and brightest on earth."

The report cited the Houston metro's ever-growing population, its relatively low median home values ($265,000 in 2024), and its expanding job market as top reasons for why the city shouldn't be overlooked.

"Chevron’s shift of its headquarters from California to Houston, backed by $100 million in renovations, crowns relocations drawn by record 2024 Port Houston throughput of more than four million containers and a projected 71,000 new jobs in 2025," the report said.

The report also draws attention to the city's diversity, spanning from the upcoming grand opening of the long-awaited Ismaili Center, to the transformation of several industrial buildings near Memorial City Mall into a mixed-use development called Greenside.

"West Houston’s Greenside will convert 35,000 square feet of warehouses into a retail, restaurant and community hub around a one-acre park by 2026, while America’s inaugural Ismaili Center remains on schedule for later this year," the report said. "The gathering place for the community and home for programs promoting understanding of Islam and the Ismaili community is another cultural jewel for the country’s most proudly diverse major city."

In Resonance Consultancy's separate list ranking "America's Best Cities," Houston fell out of the top 10 and currently ranks as the 13th best U.S. city.

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also saw major declines in their standings for 2026. Austin plummeted from No. 53 last year to No. 87 for 2026, and Dallas fell from No. 53 to No. 78.

"In this decade of rapid transformation, the world’s cities are confronting challenges head‑on, from climate resilience and aging infrastructure to equitable growth," the report said. "The pandemic, long forgotten but still a sage oracle, exposed foundational weaknesses – from health‑care capacity to housing affordability. Yet, true to their dynamic nature, the leading cities are not merely recovering, but setting the pace, defining new paradigms of innovation, sustainability and everyday livability."

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

Waymo self-driving robotaxis will launch in Houston in 2026

Coming Soon

Houston just cleared a major lane to the future. Waymo has announced the official launch of its self-driving robotaxi service in the Bayou City, beginning with employee-only operations this fall ahead of a public launch in early 2026.

The full rollout will include three Texas cities, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, along with Miami and Orlando, Florida. Currently, the company operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, with service available in Austin and Atlanta through Uber.

Before letting its technology loose on a city, Waymo first tests the routes with human drivers. Once each locale is mapped, the cars can begin driving independently. Unique situations are flagged by specialists, and engineers evaluate performance in virtual replicas of each city.

“Waymo’s quickly entering a number of new cities in the U.S. and around the world, and our approach to every new city is consistent,” explained the announcement. “We compare our driving performance against a proven baseline to validate the performance of the Waymo Driver and identify any unique local characteristics.”

The launch puts Waymo ahead of Tesla. Elon Musk’s Austin-based carmaker has made a lot of hullabaloo about autonomy being the future of the company, but has yet to launch its service on a wide scale.

Waymo started testing San Antonio’s roadways in May as part of a multi-city “road trip,” which also included Houston. The company says its measured approach to launches helps alleviate local concern over safety and other issues.

“The future of transportation is accelerating, and we are driving it forward with a commitment to quality and safety,” Waymo wrote. “Our rigorous process of continuous iteration, validation, and local engagement ensures that we put communities first as we expand.”

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