Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 — Houston, TX

About Us

The Rice Thresher is the official campus newspaper of Rice University, published by undergraduate students. Since its first publication 105 years ago, in January 1916, the Thresher has continued to provide the student body with up-to-date campus news and information. The Thresher is published each Wednesday during the school year with the exception of examination periods and holidays.

The Rice Thresher aims to promote the free flow of information on campus by acting as a designated public student forum and publishing articles relevant to the student body and greater Rice community. To this end, the Thresher publishes a weekly print edition as well as online content.

Want to learn more? Check out our frequently asked questions.


Prayag Gordy: Editor-in-Chief
Prayag is a senior at McMurtry College studying statistics and mathematics. He's from Takoma Park, Maryland, but his New York family converted him into a huge Yankees fan (and even larger Astros hater). In his free time, you'll find Prayag scrolling through Twitter, trying to memorize Google Maps and finding new and exciting places to eat.

Riya Misra: Editor-in-Chief
Voted most likely to burn the Thresher office down, Riya spends the majority of her free time trying to microwave things that shouldn't go in the microwave. She is a junior double majoring in English and Social Policy Analysis, with a wicked talent for wearing the most uncomfortable shoes at any given moment. She likes Bojack Horseman and hummus, and is very sorry that she hasn't responded to your messages yet.

Nayeli Shad: Managing Editor
Nayeli is a senior from Brown College studying Biosciences. As skilled as she is at making articles concise for her job, she's known to use her thesaurus brain to ramble. You'll likely find her painting her nails while playing hour-long video essays about movies she'll never watch or explaining Taylor Swift's career to her friends unprompted.

Brandon Chen: News Editor
Brandon is a senior from outside Los Angeles who often wonders what it's like to be a dog (especially his own): frolicking, jumping to meet people and napping. He also loves exploring the unknown, be it conquering new peaks of Angeles National Forest, reading a new book and discovering new stories or trying and making new foods. In his free time, you'll find him around Will Rice, vibing to songs, taking photos and videos and dreaming about traveling the world.

Spring Chenjp: Assistant News Editor
Spring is a junior at Wiess majoring in Business and English. Originally from Seattle, Washington, she is disappointed that Houston has no mountains to hike but makes up for it by going to raves and trying funky fusion food (next up on the list is Viet-Cajun crawfish!). One of her red flags is that she watched The Wolf of Wall Street and enjoyed it immensely.

Sammy Baek: Opinion Editor
Sammy is a sophomore at Jones College studying History. When not working on the Thresher, you'll probably find him in his dorm room trying to crack old Call of Duty games on the highest levels, listening to Taylor Swift's re-recorded albums, or otherwise writing the next Nobel Prize-winning novel. Originally hailing from Seoul, South Korea, Sammy has previously lived in Singapore and the Chicago area, and so has a soft spot for Hainanese chicken rice, hotdogs, LA galbi, and kaya butter toast. His favorite drink from Starbucks is an Iced Shaken Espresso.

Sarah Knowlton: Features Editor
Sarah is a Duncan College sophomore studying English and linguistics on the pre-law track. When she isn't in the Thresher office, she's probably color-coding her four-year plan or baking enough cupcakes to fill her entire apartment. Her greatest accomplishment is being named the Thresher's best dressed staff member.

Hadley Medlock: Arts and Entertainment Editor
Hadley is a Jones College senior hailing from a tiny town in Arkansas and studying English and Environmental Studies. When she's not writing and editing for the Thresher, you can find Hadley watching/reading embarrassing rom-coms, wishing AP style would let her use the Oxford comma, listening to folklore or taking a nap.

Pavithr Goli: Sports Editor
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Andrew Kim: Backpage Editor
Andrew (the Lovett Andrew Kim, not the Duncan, Brown, Kinder Institute, or Budget Office ones) is a junior from the Chicago 'burbs studying Political Science and Managerial Econ. He spends his scant free time escaping rooms, escaping basketball defenders, and escaping campus to hit Buffalo Exchange or Sig's Lagoon. If you see Andrew in the wild, he would be happy to autograph your copy of the Backpage for three dollars.

Timmy Mansfield: Backpage Editor
Timmy is a Senior from McMurtry college studying Chemistry. Besides being the Thresher (Co-) Resident Spongebob Expert, Timmy has been working with the Backpage for his whole time at Rice and it's shaped him into the whimsical man he is today. Outside of the Thresher, Timmy enjoys watching the Buffalo Bills, being a gaming warlord, and helping coach the best Powderpuff team on campus.

Ndidi Nwosu: Backpage Editor
Ndidi Nwosu (just call her DD) is a senior majoring in Computer Science (sorry) and minoring in Data Science. Although she moved to Dallas years ago, she was raised in Queens, New York and still stubbornly considers herself a New Yorker. She likes to spend her time pretending to be good at skating, playing silly little table-top games, and laughing at her own jokes before she can say them.

Jonathan Cheng: Copy Editor
Jonathan is a senior at Jones studying Political Science and Business from Hong Kong. His interests include watching football (soccer to y'all), running, old movies, and ranting passionately about the importance of the Oxford comma. He spends every Tuesday night carefully making sure that there are no typos or mistakes that would ruin the crossword.

Annika Bhananker: Copy Editor
Annika is a junior at Martel College majoring in Anthropology. When Annika isn't ridding the world of Oxford commas (except for this webpage, grr) she is most likely talking incessantly about her hometown of Seattle, pretending she isn't allergic to fruit, hauling her fat cat to the Thresher office or drinking an extremely reasonable amount of coffee.

Cali Liu: Photo Editor
Cali is a junior at Duncan College majoring in Psychology and Visual Arts, with minors in Environmental Studies and Neuroscience. She is from San Diego, California, and enjoys taking photographs, traveling, designing graphics and clothes, reading, exploring nature, and playing club lacrosse and soccer.

Francesca Nemati: Assistant Photo Editor
Francesca is a Sophomore at McMurtry from New York, NY, majoring in Computer Science. She enjoys taking photos and perfecting her photography skills, as well as baking and going to museums. She's always overdressed, so don't be surprised when she shows up to class in sundresses on a regular basis. When she's not stressing about all the work she has to do (because she signed up for too many classes and is too stubborn to drop one..), catch her making a juicy peach cobbler in one of the tiny Murt kitchens or exploring fun things to do in Houston.

Camille Kao: Video Editor
Camille is a Brown Senior studying computer science. When she isn't swamped with homework after procrastinating for a week, she is probably taking photos, beating up people on chess.com, or attending various on-campus events as a means of escape from job hunting.

Ayaan Riaz: Web Editor
Ayaan is a Sophomore at Will Rice College studying Computer Science and minoring in Computational and Applied Mathematics & Data Science. Ayaan can often be found in traffic, cursing the local infrastructure whilst trying to find a fishing hole in Houston of all places. Other habits of this lanky giant include taste testing spicy chicken sandwiches, using his height for good, and typing in Visual Studio like it's a text editor.

Alice Sun: Art & Design Director
Alice is a junior from Will Rice studying Health Science and Sports Medicine on a pre-dental track. She really likes birds, and can often be found admiring a variety of feathered friends around Rice campus. In her free time, Alice enjoys doing yarn crafts, exploring the Houston food & boba scene, procrastinating her classwork, and lamenting about how much she misses the desert landscape of her hometown Las Vegas.

Chloe Chan: News Designer
Chloe is a junior at Will Rice College majoring in Cognitive Sciences and Art History. Commonly spotted around campus wearing sunglasses 24/7 (yes, even at night), this ex-competitive gymnast's favorite pastimes include visiting museums of all types, designing for Flame & Fortune (Will Rice's merch brand!), watching movies (Inception anyone?), and occasionally making late night boba runs against her better judgment. Notably, one of her greatest weaknesses (or is it a strength?) is that she can't handle caffeine so if she's awake at 4am that's probably why…

Siddhi Narayan: Opinion Designer
Siddhi is a junior at Sid Richardson majoring in Computer Science and the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. She spends most of her time listening to music and distracting herself by getting into multiple-hour-long conversations. When not designing for the Thresher, she likes exploring cafes in Houston, trying new food, and spending all her tetra at CHAUS.

Robert Heeter: Features Designer
Robert is a senior at Hanszen College from the San Francisco Bay Area, majoring in Bioengineering and minoring in Physics. Besides his design work for the Thresher, Robert loves to do photoshoots around Rice (along with landscape and astrophotography), collect plants, explore Houston, go on late night runs, play competitive tennis for the club team, road-trip and hike in National Parks, munch his way through his stash of servery cookies, and watch sunsets. :D

Ivana Hsyung: Arts & Entertainment Designer
Ivana is a senior at Will Rice and is constantly having a crisis about her height. Paradoxically, her greatest fears consist of being in high places, seeing people in high places, and talking to cashiers. There's a reason she's not a writer or an editor, because the third item on the aforementioned list was in no way related to the other two, the aforementioned list contained an oxford comma (and this one will too), and aforementioned was aforementioned four times in this sentence.

Lauren Yu: Backpage Designer
Lauren is a junior at Jones College who has spent most of her life on Long Island, NY. She's majoring in Computer Science and minoring in Data Science and Biochemistry. She has a terrible sense of direction, but if she's not struggling to make her way across campus, you can probably find her crocheting, listening to indie pop music, taking pictures of squirrels or obsessing over cute dogs.

Priya Armour: Social Media Manager
A native Ohioan, Priya enjoys the finer things in life... corn for example. When she isn't making tik toks, planning events at Sid, or hitting the gym, you can probably find her sitting in a booth at chaus. The fact that she is a bioscience and sports med double major and business minor on the premed track may seem torturous to some, but to her it's a lifestyle!

Cassidy Chhay: Social Media Manager
Cassidy is a junior from Martel from Southern California, studying Cognitive Sciences and is trying to decide their minors. She enjoys doing silly little arts and crafts, cooking, and pretending that they are being productive when they aren't.

Edelawit Negash: Business Manager
Edelawit is a senior at Jones studying Economics and Business. She recently started training for a half marathon and possibly a full marathon sometime in the near future. Outside of running, you can also find her watching her favorite sitcoms like Modern Family or reality competition shows like Survivor.

Korinna Ruiz: Advertisement
Korinna is currently a Senior at Rice University studying Biochemistry and Data Science. She enjoys working at Texas Medical Center conducting research, walking around Houston, and serving as a mentor in the community through various organizations. She enjoys her role as advertisement manager and working with the thresher business team!

Vanessa Chuang: Distribution
Vanessa is a Jones senior from Bakersfield, California, studying Psychology and Sociology. She enjoys reading feminist horror and romance books, cuddling with her dog Sassy, going on long bike rides and delivering your newspapers! If you happen to be awake at 7am on a Wednesday morning, feel free to say hi and grab a Thresher fresh off the press!

Could Be YOU!: Sports Designer