"Anything That Floats" — an event that's part regatta, part MacGyver — is organized by rdAGENTS, the Rice Design Alliance young professionals group. Teams of two to five people are invited to spend the morning constructing their craft, on the spot, out of provided discarded and donated building materials and their own tools.

Two members of each team must then test the seaworthiness of their DIY device in a race for time across Buffalo Bayou. Each year, "Anything That Floats" teams are challenged with a new and different set of materials, which are revealed to them only at the beginning of the event.