Case Studies
Rice University Technology Department Site Rebrand
Rice University at a Glance
Rice University is a top-tier United States private research university in Houston, Texas, consistently ranked as the #1 university in the state and among the top 150 institutions globally. Its campus supports a high-density academic community of over 8,500 undergraduate and graduate students—including more than 2,000 international students from 100+ countries—alongside 900+ faculty and 3,000+ staff members hosting over 1,000 major campus events annually. Historically, Rice has served as a global gathering point for scientific pioneers, heads of state, and international diplomats. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered his landmark "We choose to go to the Moon" address at Rice Stadium, cementing an enduring research partnership with NASA. The university hosted the 1990 G7 Economic Summit and has welcomed world figures like Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama. In physical sciences, Rice faculty maintain major global research partnerships—including key contributions to particle physics experiments at CERN—and pioneered nanotechnology on campus, earning the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Operating at this scale demands a seamless, highly accessible digital infrastructure to support its high volume of daily research, teaching, and administrative operations.
The Problem: Rebranding, Adding Accessibility and Tackling Structural Debt
When Rice University’s technical support ecosystem fractured across competing sub-domains (kb.rice.edu, tutorial.rice.edu, and dozens of unlinked departmental forms), internal navigation broke down entirely. The legacy platform relied on an unintuitive hamburger menu where essential resources such as helpful articles and customer service contact forms were buried layers deep. Because items were improperly linked and hidden behind poor visual hierarchy, over 10,000 students, faculty, and staff were regularly forced to Google internal pages just to locate basic help. The bounce and exit rates of major pages in the schema and navigation were positioned at over 87%. Then, in late 2025/Early 2026 new management called for a rebrand from "The Office of Information Technology" oit.rice.edu to "Technology Solutions & Services (TS&S)", and the new domain located at tss.rice.edu, as well as a complete accessibility overhaul, all in one project.
User Research, Analytical Insight & Accessibility Audits
To move beyond anecdotal feedback, I paired formal accessibility research with quantitative user behavior tracking to prove where and why the legacy site was failing:
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LevelAccess Research & Audit: Partnered with LevelAccess to conduct thorough user research and accessibility assessments. The testing exposed severe WCAG 2.2 non-compliance issues, screen reader barriers, and broken focus states that created immediate dead ends for users relying on assistive technology.
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Google Analytics Behavior Tracking: Analyzed drop-off metrics across key pathways, uncovering unsustainable bounce rates on critical support pages like /get-help. The data proved that users arrived looking for immediate help, couldn't navigate the fragmented layout, and abandoned the site entirely to search for answers on external search engines.
System-Level Information Architecture & Menu Overhaul
Driven by these research findings, I led the platform overhaul to resolve this structural debt alongside the institutional domain transition from OIT to Technology Support Services (tss.rice.edu).
I audited hundreds of fragmented forms and knowledge base entries across departments, replacing the hidden mobile-style menu with a fully accessible, WCAG 2.2 AA-compliant navigation framework:
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"Get Help" Primary CTA: Built as the very first action item in the accessible global menu, giving users immediate access to tutorials, help desk portal forms, knowledge base articles, and direct support channels.
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Role-Based Pathways ("I Am A..."): Dedicated navigation hubs designed around specific user classifications—Undergraduate Students, Graduate Students, Faculty & Staff, and Visitors.
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Task-Driven Shortcuts ("I Need To..."): Direct access to high-frequency execution goals like password resets, campus Wi-Fi onboarding, and software requests.
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Categorized Service Directory: Standardized technical offerings across 13 core domains (Data & Analytics, Research Computing, Teaching & Learning, etc.) to eliminate redundant sub-domain queries.
Takeaway & Project Reflection
By untangling decades of sub-domain fragmentation and replacing hidden navigation with an intent-driven, WCAG 2.2 AA-compliant structure, the transition from oit.rice.edu to tss.rice.edu fundamentally transformed how 10,000+ students, faculty, and staff access technical support. Eliminating the friction that previously forced users onto external search engines proved that true platform modernizations require far more than visual rebrands—they demand aligning complex backend systems directly with real human workflows to make essential tools effortlessly discoverable.
Confidentiality & Data Privacy Notice:
Due to strict Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), non-compete clauses, and security protocols, certain proprietary assets, internal wireframes, early-stage prototyping, and pre-decision strategic materials cannot be publicly shared. My work spans high-security environments, private research universities, financial entities, local city governments, and high-security entertainment partners where multi-party stakeholder decisions and client privacy take precedence. Under the terms of my previous employment and contractual agreements, early planning and preliminary assets remain the property of these entities and are restricted from public distribution. Consequently, public portfolio case studies focus on methodologies, public outcomes, and architectural problem-solving while fully respecting all legal and contractual limitations. For additional questions or verified inquiries regarding specific project scope, please reach out below.