Texas AI Docket

National Science Foundation awards Rice University a cooperative agreement for a self driving laboratory that designs its own semiconductor experiments

Research and scienceNational Science FoundationHarrisWrite to the decider

The National Science Foundation obligated a cooperative agreement to William Marsh Rice University for a test bed called READINESS. The award runs from August 1st, 2026 to July 31st, 2030 and its estimated total is carried in the award record quoted below. The agency's own abstract describes the platform as a self driving laboratory that designs, tests and improves material synthesis processes with minimal human intervention. The performance site is Houston and the principal investigator of record is Jun Lou.

How to take part

The award record is public in the National Science Foundation award database and carries the abstract, the amounts and the dates. No comment window attaches to a made award.

Where to do it

Where

1 county. In Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.

Timeline

  1. ordered

    Award date on the National Science Foundation record

  2. effective

    Award start date

  3. Today

How this decision moved

One dated line per check, oldest first. A line that says nothing changed means somebody looked and it had not.

  1. 2026-08-22

    The National Science Foundation award record carries the estimated total and the award dates. Its abstract describes a self driving laboratory and names Houston as the performance site.

  2. 2026-08-27

    Checked and unchanged. The award still stands and the laboratory is still described as one that designs and runs its own experiments.

  3. 2026-08-30

    The cooperative agreement is unchanged. The self driving laboratory it pays for is still described the same way.

  4. 2026-09-01

    Rice's cooperative agreement for an autonomous semiconductor laboratory remains in the federal award record.

  5. 2026-09-02

    Checked and unchanged. The decision still stands as decided.

  6. 2026-09-05

    The Rice cooperative agreement for the self driving semiconductor laboratory still stands as awarded.

The evidence

Every fact above rests on one of these. The words are the source's own.

The platform will function as a “self-driving laboratory” capable of autonomously designing, testing, and improving material-synthesis processes with minimal human intervention.
National Science Foundation award 2607553, abstract Primary source, official · api.nsf.gov
PCL-Test Bed: Revolutionizing AI-Driven Autonomous Experimentation for Next-Generation Semiconductor Synthesis (READINESS)
National Science Foundation award 2607553, title Primary source, official · api.nsf.gov
William Marsh Rice University
National Science Foundation award 2607553, awardee name Primary source, official · api.nsf.gov
"estimatedTotalAmt":"19928016"
National Science Foundation award 2607553, estimated total amount Primary source, official · api.nsf.gov

Questions about this decision

Answered from the record itself. Every answer is assembled from stored fields, so an answer the record has no basis for is left out rather than guessed.

What is this decision?

The National Science Foundation obligated a cooperative agreement to William Marsh Rice University for a test bed called READINESS. The award runs from August 1st, 2026 to July 31st, 2030 and its estimated total is carried in the award record quoted below. The agency's own abstract describes the platform as a self driving laboratory that designs, tests and improves material synthesis processes with minimal human intervention. The performance site is Houston and the principal investigator of record is Jun Lou.

Who decides it?

National Science Foundation decides. The record names the deciding body for every entry it carries.

Can the public take part?

The award record is public in the National Science Foundation award database and carries the abstract, the amounts and the dates. No comment window attaches to a made award. No dated public window is on the record. The deciding body is named and reachable.

Where in Texas does it apply?

It covers Harris County in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX area.

Has it been decided?

It has been decided. The dates on the item page carry when.

What happens next?

No future date is on the record. The last dated step on it was effective on August 1st.

When did it start?

The earliest date on its record is July 21st, 2026.

What kind of decision is it?

It is filed under research and science.

What sources back it?

One source backs it. It is primary.

Is it on the ERCOT grid?

Yes. It sits inside the ERCOT interconnection.

When was it last checked?

Every fact on it was last verified against its source on September 5th, 2026.

Cite this

Texas AI Docket, National Science Foundation awards Rice University a cooperative agreement for a self driving laboratory that designs its own semiconductor experiments. Tracked since July 21st, 2026. Last verified September 5th, 2026. https://texasaidocket.com/item/tx-2026-0085/. Reuse permitted under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. The same entry is in the docket JSON as item tx-2026-0085.

Beat

Filed under Research and science, with every other decision on that beat.

Last checked 2026-09-05