Since 1999, Rice Design Alliance has awarded over $100,000 in grants to Houston-based architecture students and faculty from the leading architecture schools of the region, including the Rice School of Architecture, the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design at the University of Houston, the School of Architecture at Prairie View A&M University, and the Department of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University.
With the generous support of The Mitsui U.S.A. Foundation, Rice Design Alliance relaunched the renamed Houston Design Research Grant in 2020 (formerly known as the Initiatives for Houston Grant) to more actively support research that can make a significant contribution to the Houston community through quality design thinking.
Starting in 2020, applications were expanded nationally to students and faculty looking to work on research projects of relevance to Houston’s urban environment. The grant now awards $6,000 each to a student and faculty winner who will be invited to present their project at a public lunchtime lecture at Rice Architecture and to publish their research in Rice Design Alliance’s Cite magazine.
The areas of study should have a critical focus on Houston’s built environment, its history, present condition, and future development.
In 2022, Rice Architecture HOME-OFFICE's Daniel Jacobs, and Brittany Utitng and Rice Architecture student Rae Atkinson were named the winners of the Rice Design Alliance Houston Design Research Grant.