Each year,  denizens of Patterson labs and surrounding buildings, having honed their craft for months, wage an epic battle for beef and spice superiority.  2017 saw a second loss in as many years for the W Lab, with Claire McWhite from the Marcotte Lab quietly taking the top slot.  In 2016 newcomers Annie Park and Emily Grantham collected over 20 award winning recipes online and then used Principle Component Analysis to guide the construction of their own award winning uber-recipe.  They wouldn't share it, but if you are using any chili powder other than Gebhardt's, you are doing it wrong.  
Ring of Fire Cup Holders:
2017 - Claire McWhite (Marcotte Lab)
​2016 - Annie Park & Emily Grantham                      (Atkinson Lab)
2015 - Mitch Butler ties with        
​                 Rebecca Fitch
2014 - Pawat Seritrakul (Gross Lab)
2013 - Airon Wills (Wallingford Lab)
2012 - Jakub Sedzinski
                    (Wallingford Lab)
2011 - Mitch Butler (Wallingford Lab)
2010 - Mei-I Chung (Wallingford Lab)
2009 - Alfreddo Ghezzi
                    (Atkinson Lab)
2008 - Sukant Khurana*
                     (Golding Lab)
2007 - Anthony Ng (Gross Lab)
2006 - Thomas Sosa (O'Halloran Lab)
2005 - Esther Kieserman
                    (Wallingford Lab)

*This controversial winner was -by all accounts- a curry.  Thus, new by-laws were set in place in 2009 to prevent future strife.