Rice University
TX · AI Readiness #29 of 227
AIREDEX™ Score: 8.8 /10
Rice offers a dedicated undergraduate AI degree, a 20-course Bachelor of Science with access to four GPU research clusters and campus-wide access to Gemini and NotebookLM.
Rice's AI major diverges from the CS core into machine learning theory, computer vision, and ethics coursework developed by the philosophy department, making it one of the few AI degrees to formally integrate humanities faculty into the curriculum. The Ken Kennedy Institute connects undergraduates to 250-plus AI researchers across seven schools through named fellowships, and industry partners including Google, Shell, and Houston Methodist fund capstone projects and applied AI fellowships.
Pillar grades
- Commitment: A-
- Curriculum: A-
- Partnerships: B
- Research: A+
A(I)ttitude™: progressive
Selected Highlights
- Associate Provost for Digital Learning and Strategy (Shawn Miller) serves as de facto senior AI-in-education lead; new Assistant Director for AI and Education role created and funded via Whitten Fund.
- AI Advisory Committee confirmed as named, ongoing, cross-campus governance body co-convened by Provost and CIO; produced public outputs including Rice AI Hub and faculty guidance documents within past 2 years.
- Momentous 10-year strategic plan includes Responsible AI as a named pillar with stated goals, governance commitments, ethical guidelines, and named programs; supplemented by responsibleai.rice.edu portal.
- NSF READINESS award of $19.9M (Rice as lead institution) plus KKI seed funding ($175K), KKI fellowships ($935K cumulative), NEH CHHAIN ($500K), NSF OpenSafe.AI ($1.5M), NSF SBIR ($1M) documented.
- Ken Kennedy Institute confirmed with named director Lydia Kavraki, 250+ researchers across 7 schools and 27 departments, 12 active research clusters, and active fellowship and seed funding programs.