Two University of Colorado doctoral students in physics died in a rockslide while hiking in a national park in China last week.
Jing Yin and Ethan Townsend, both 24, died as they hiked a trail in Jiuzhaigou National Park in the Sichuan province of southwestern China.
“She asked if any of her friends would be interested in visiting China with her. Ethan had long dreamed of backpacking in southern China so accompanied her on the trip to China,” Paul Beale, chairman of the physics department at CU-Boulder, said in an e-mail.
“They were just traveling there and hiking. They said they were going to check out Sichuan. They liked outdoor sports, and they liked to hike,” said Chan La-O-Vorakiat, a friend who also is a doctoral physics student.
It isn’t clear when the two died, but word reached the Boulder campus Friday. Both were taking an approved vacation from their research activities.
Yin, of Hefei, China, and Townsend, of Ashland, Ore., researched laser physics and optics, Beale said.
Yin received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei and came to Boulder after her graduation in 2006.
Townsend received a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. He came to Boulder in 2007.
Yin was president of the campus Chinese Students and Scholars Association. She is survived by her husband, a doctoral student at Kansas State University.
Yin and Townsend were bright and well-liked, said La-O-Vorakiat. “This is going to be a great loss for us,” he said.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
