Graduate studies: A piece of cake

The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies handed out 75 cakes Nov. 26 in Farnsworth Pavilion as part of its semiannual Cake Walk. Dozens of cakes stacked on tables formed a semicircle around Rice graduate students who laughed along with Seiichi Matsuda, dean of graduate and postdoctoral studies, as he tried to calculate the number of calories in the room.

Every graduate student who won a fellowship, grant or award this semester was invited to select a cake of their flavor — tres leches, tiramisu and chocolate were among the top orders — from a local bakery. Matsuda encouraged the students to enjoy the treat as a reward for their hard work and, of course, to share it with their lab partners. (Photos by Jeff Fitlow)