Rice Institute for Biosciences and Bioengineering records

The Rice Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering takes 1986 as its official formation date, but records in this collection show that the idea for the Institute can be traced to 1882, and specifically the letter in which Rice University President Norman Hackerman requested funding from George R. Brown of the Brown Foundation. Between 1982 and 1986 sufficient funds were raised to plan a building dedicated to biosciences, and construction was undertaken. The completed building, George R. Brown Hall, was dedicated in 1988. This collection includes records of donations from nearly 200 organizations and individuals, as well as records of specific locations in the building associated with particular donors.

Directors of the Rice IBB during the years represented in this collection were George J. Schroepfer (1986-91) and Larry V. McIntire (1991-2002). From the beginning, the mission of the IBB has been “to promote cross-disciplinary research and education encompassing the biological, chemical, physical and engineering disciplines.” The Institute has pursued this mission “by providing opportunities for interaction among researchers at Rice, colleagues in the Texas Medical Center and other institutions, and industry.” The result of these objectives has been creation of an environment “where students can meet the challenges” of the rapidly changing scientific world. [http://ibb.rice.edu, June 10, 2013]

The IBB reports to the Office of the Dean for the Wiess School of Natural Sciences, and the Institute director, a faculty member from one of the affiliated science and engineering departments, is appointed by the Office of the Dean and the IBB Faculty Steering Committee.