Survivors of middle school math will recall that the value of π starts with 3.14159 and goes off into head-scratching infinity. Those who went on to devote their lives to the discipline celebrate Pi Day every March 14th (as in 3/14). At precisely 1:59 p.m., the Cornell student chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics marked the occasion by sponsoring a pie-eating contest, with a dozen professors, grad students, postdocs, and undergrads digging into a variety of circular confections. Under the gaze of local media—and to the tune of "Eye of the Tiger" and the theme from Chariots of Fire—the competitors wielded a motley array of implements, from a pasta grabber to an ice cream scoop to a giant wooden fork.
In the end, senior lecturer Maria Terrell emerged victorious, polishing off an entire sweet potato pie, more or less in the allotted thirteen minutes. Her tactics included having oatmeal for breakfast, skipping lunch, and lifting up the entire dessert and eating it like a giant cookie. Professor Tara Holm (lemon meringue) came in second—amazingly, she also won a style award for "most fastidious" eater—and postdoc Mathias Lederer (apple) took third. Said Terrell as she savored her victory: "As a mathematician, I love pie."
Or did she mean . . . pi?
— Beth Saulnier