Each series in the collection focuses on engineering. Rice offered his expertise to the United States Government, city planners, and private corporations. The Personal Files are contained within five file folders offering information and correspondence relating to Rice's career. The Diesel Engineering Department series is a significant part of the collection, covering Rice's years as department administrator and includes extensive course material from each class, students' work, faculty minutes from meetings, and the specifications and dedication of the Diesel Engineering Laboratory Building. Inventories, blueprints, contracts, and supply lists offer detailed descriptions of the engineering department's role in national defense.
Most files contain photographs and cover diverse projects.
By 1938, Professor Rice headed the Experimental Engineering Department in Mechanical Engineering at North Carolina State College. He taught undergraduate courses in thermodynamics, hydraulics, aircraft internal combustion engines, and graduate courses in internal combustion engine design and mechanical engineering research. In addition to teaching, he was responsible for the designing of the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, procuring and testing equipment, as well as supervising, organizing, and developing the laboratories for heating, ventilation, steam power, metallurgy, hydraulics, aeronautics, internal combustion engines and associated studies. During World War II, Rice directed the Naval Diesel School, a designated North Carolina State College training facility for national defense. While teaching at NC State in 1950, Rice and two partners formed Engineering Development Associates, a corporation offering services in design, construction, supervision, and consultation in many branches of engineering and architecture.