It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a...pie?

You can't be an organization called Tau Beta Pi and not celebrate Pi Day on March 14. So that's exactly what the San Diego chapter of the honor society decided to do--by dropping a pie (yes, with an e) from the third floor of the Structural and Materials Engineering building at the Jacobs School.

Students said they were inspired by UC San Diego's long held tradition of dropping objects from tall buildings, including the Watermelon drop at Revelle College and the pumpkin drop at Muir College.

So Friday, they dropped a 13-inch, 4.5 lbs pie from the third floor of the SME building. Students got to eat a wide variety of pies after the drop. As an extra bonus, they could estimate how big of a splatter the pie would make and receive gift cards. Turns out cherries went flying in a circle with a 18.2 feet diameter. The closest estimate was 17 feet.

These 200 people ran for Pi(e)

More than 200 students, staff members, faculty and alums turned out today for the third annual Pi Mile Run at the Jacobs School. We were there to document it all and have pictures here.

Photo highlights below.  Thank you to Victor Chen, from the Jacobs School's Office of Engineering Computing for serving as our photographer during the event.

Congratulations of Dave Berry, a graduate student in bioengineering, who crossed the finish line first, running 3.14 miles in just 18 minutes and 40 seconds. The first woman was Jennifer Kaehms, a fifth-year undergraduate student, who also studies bioengineering and finished the race in 21 minutes and 20 seconds. The first dog finisher was Hiccup, a 2-year-old Shiba inu, whose owner John Chen, is a UC San Diego alum who currently works at The Scripps Research Institute.

Participants received a T-shirt and a slice of pie in exchange for their $10 registration. Proceeds from the event benefit the San Diego Science Alliance.

Two (not so irrational reasons) to sign up for the Pi-Mile Run and Walk

UPDATE 03/12/14: Registration is still open! You're just taking your chances about getting a T-shirt.

We just love this year's T-shirt for the Pi-Mile Run and Walk, an event that takes place every March 14, also known as Pi Day, here at the Jacobs School.
This year's shirt was created by ECE graduate student Eshed Ohn-Bar (see above). "I love running and getting cool T-shirts--so I figured I would design one," he said.
His inspiration came from "I heart NY"-style T-shirts. "But I wanted to make it more relevant to the meaning of Pi," he explained. "So since it's an irrational number and love (symbolized by a heart) is irrational, it worked well together."
Mark Chapman, a Pi-Mile Run organizer, added an additional creative touch by writing the heart shape with some of Pi's first digits.
Want the shirt? Sign up for the Pi-Mile Run and Walk! It's just $10 and you get a slice of pie too. But hurry! The deadline to register is March 3.

More info: 
The event kicks off March 14 in the Bear Courtyard at noon. All proceeds benefit the San Diego Science Alliance. The event is co-sponsored by the Jacobs Graduate Student Council and the Triton Engineering Student Council.
Click here for a route map.