Special Projects

Senior Spotlight: Cindy Sheng explores new experiences by design

Cindy Sheng’s biggest passion is for design, whether it’s creating a campus-wide organization, building ways to form connections with new people or her aspirations to develop products through user interface and user experience design avenues.

04-19-2023 Crossword Solutions

04-19-2023 Crossword: "Cross Pollinated"

Reassessing 2003: What Rice’s only national championship means 20 years later

Twenty years ago this June, Rice won its only national title in a team sport, the 2003 College Baseball World Series. In the 14 years that followed, the Owls made the NCAA regionals every season. But the six years since have seen the reign of long-time head coach Wayne Graham draw to a close and the short-lived tenure of his successor, Matt Bragga, come and go, as the Owls failed to qualify for even the conference tournament in Bragga’s final year.

Farewell to C-USA, the conference that was never supposed to last this long

There’s a trophy in the Rice baseball offices. It’s from 2006, the Owls’ first season in Conference USA. On the front, it reads “C-USA 2006 Baseball Tournament Champions.” On either side are the logos of nine schools.

04-19-2023 Sports Cartoon: "Owl-American"

Women’s tennis sweeps on Senior Day, men’s falls to SMU

Both Rice tennis teams held their annual Senior Days this weekend. On Saturday, the men’s team took a 4-2 loss at home against Southern Methodist University, putting their season record at 12-9. The following day, the women’s team swept Prairie View A&M University, to move to 11-8.

Mckyla Van der Westhuizen’s last name is long, her philosophy isn’t

There are 280 McDonald’s stores in Africa. 230 of them are in South Africa, according to freshman javelin thrower Mckyla Van der Westhuizen.

MBB’s Reed Myers: I hope to be an example for future Asian-American hoopers

The road to being a Division I basketball player is hard. It is even harder when you are an Asian-American. According to the most recent data from the 2019-2020 NCAA basketball season, players of Asian descent make up 0.4% of Division I Men’s basketball players. But growing up, that number never even came into my mind for a second. I just wanted to hoop. 

‘The only catharsis that comes to mind’: Students open up about suicide

“The way that people view suicidal ideation is very interesting to me,” Gargi Samarth, a Brown College senior, said. “You tend to see the person who is dealing with them as less of a person, [like] they’re not as capable of understanding themselves, being self aware or as possessing rationality.”

Ranking Rice publics, best to worst

While I maintain that the best party a Rice student can attend are University of Houston parties, some of this year’s publics have been bearable — enjoyable, even. A few might even be worth their ticket resale price on the Rice Clothing Resale GroupMe.

‘We’re still working’: The future of inter-college events

Rice’s residential college system is a cornerstone of the university’s culture, frequently touted for its ability to foster a sense of community for students. With 11 different colleges boasting unique structures, traditions and inhabitants, many students find it easy to connect with others within their college. However, while these dynamics produce tight-knit support systems and friend groups, some might find it challenging to broaden their relationships across colleges, and sometimes lack organized opportunities to develop them.

Golden Talon scavenges on campus

Normally, the steam tunnels under Rice are off-limits to students. But on Tuesday, April 6, as part of a scavenger hunt organized by a student group called the Order of the Golden Talon, two intrepid teams got the privilege of exploring the steam tunnels under Rice. Duncan College junior Ethan Peck, who was on the winning team, noted that this was one moment when the team had doubts about the hunt.

Leebron lives up sabbatical year

After 18 years as the president of Rice, David Leebron has been spreading his wings. During what he refers to as his sabbatical year, emphasizing that he is too young to be retired, his pastimes have included skiing and attending musicals. He also spends his time listening to Aretha Franklin and Bob Marley.

The Backies 2023

Four Rice undergraduates awarded Goldwater scholarship

Rice undergraduates Maria Hancu, Alex Lin, Ruofeng Liu and Ryan Wang were recipients of the Goldwater scholarship this year. The Goldwater scholarship, founded on Nov. 14, 1986 in honor of former U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, is awarded to undergraduates pursuing careers in engineering, math and science. Liu did not respond to requests for an interview.

Rice student struck by car on inner loop, taken to trauma center

A Rice student was struck by a moving car as they attempted to cross the inner loop near Baker College at around 1:15 a.m on Saturday, April 15. The student was transported to a trauma center in the Texas Medical Center, and their condition is currently unknown. Out of respect for the student and their family, the Thresher is not releasing their name at this time. 

CIA Director Bill Burns visits Baker Institute

The Baker Institute hosted US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns to discuss his career in government, pressing foreign policy issues and the importance of public service as a part of the Shell Distinguished Lecture series on April 11. Following a lecture-style presentation, Baker Institute Director David Satterfield presented a few questions.

Steven Murdock, former chair of sociology department, passes at 75

Steven Murdock, founding Director of the Hobby Center who served as the Allyn and Gladys Cline Chair in Sociology at Rice University, passed away on April 7 at the age of 75.

Baker Institute’s ‘Israel at 75’ conference sparks controversy

The Baker Institute for Public Policy will host an ‘Israel at 75’ conference on April 27, featuring diplomats, subject-matter experts and stakeholders to analyze the relationship between the U.S. and Israel, among other topics. In response, the Rice Students for Justice Palestine group began a petition calling for cancellation of the event.