Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University

Under the direction of the leadership team—Director Bill Fulton, Founding Director Stephen Klineberg, and Associate Director of Research Ruth Lopez-Turley—the Kinder Institute for Urban Research builds better cities and improves people’s lives by bringing together data, research, engagement, and action.

The Kinder Institute is housed Kraft Hall for Social Sciences at Rice University. Photo courtesy of Tommy LaVergne/Rice University.
The Kinders’ transformational gift supports research initiatives including the long-running Houston Area Survey.
Public roundtable discussion featuring Annise Parker, former mayor of Houston; Bill Fulton, former mayor of Ventura, Calif., and current director of the Kinder Institute; and Jon Gnarr, former mayor of Reykjavik, Iceland.

Endowed with a $15 million gift in 2010 from the foundation, the Institute provides analysis on a range of pressing urban issues such as education, transportation, health, development, resiliency, immigration, and more. In addition to the long-running Kinder Houston Area Survey, the Institute produces research and leads the conversation on topics important to Houston, Sunbelt cities and all urban areas.

In 2018, the foundation contributed $6 million toward the future home of the school of sciences at the university, which will bring together its departments and institutes for the purposes of research and collaboration.

kinder.rice.edu

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