On Apr. 20, 2020, the Rice University COVID-19 Research Fund Oversight and Review Committee announced it will support projects to develop affordable diagnostic tools, seals to maximize the efficiency of surgical masks, a system to identify signs of the coronavirus in Houston wastewater and methods to ensure voter safety this fall.

The highly flexible fund was established to back projects in biomedicine, engineering, social sciences, humanities and other fields intended to help end the pandemic and prepare for similar outbreaks in the future.