Take the Cake

What is Take the Cake?

Take the Cake is a Rice tradition that originally started in 2016. It recognizes graduate students and postdocs who have won competitive external fellowships. Students and postdocs who have won such major awards choose from a variety of cakes and other desserts, which they receive from Seiichi Matsuda, Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, in an annual event.

Students are encouraged to share their cakes with their Rice communities. Over 3,000,000 calories were consumed at our Fall 2024 event. Wow! Read more about the 2024 Take the Cake here.

The awards that have already been recorded and confirmed are shown here. If you have won an eligible award that has not been recorded, please ask your administrator to fill out the form at the bottom of this page so you get your cake!

Which awards are eligible for Take the Cake?

- A single award of $5,000 or more that supports Rice graduate thesis research.
- Honorable mentions or semi-finalists for graduate student awards that would provide $5,000 or more (e.g. NSF GRFP, Ford) are eligible.
- Postdoctoral fellows who win an external award of $50,000 or more that supports their research
- National or international fellowship competition - The fellowship must be a competition outside of Rice and the Gulf Coast Consortium (GCC). For example, we consider awards such as (but not limited to) Wagoner, Welch, K2I, GCC, training grants (T32), and iGERT as internal. These awards are either governed by Rice faculty/staff, the competitors are primarily Rice students, or the funds reside in Rice/GCC accounts: these are ineligible.
- Received by ANY Rice postdoc or graduate student – doctoral or masters, domestic or international. However, the student or postdoc must be the primary applicant, PI or Co-PI and should have an award letter addressed to them to be cake eligible. Funding that was won by a faculty submission rather than a student/postdoc submission generally is not eligible.

Not sure if you're eligible? Email us with your award details to find out.

I'm eligible; how do I get my cake?

Make sure that your award has not already been recorded by having your graduate program administrator check here, and then ask your administrator to complete the form here to participate in the next Take the Cake event held each fall!