About 5,000 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students gathered Wednesday night at the Dean Smith Center to pay their respects to the professor shot and killed this week on campus.
Zijie Yan was an associate professor in UNC’s Department of Applied Physical Sciences, where he focused on nanoscience technology and was studying how it can be used to improve drug delivery to human cells. Yan died in Monday’s shooting.
“[He was] a man devoted to expanding our knowledge about the world,” said Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz.
Guskiewicz described Yan as a teacher, a scholar, a friend and a colleague. Yan was also a father of two daughters.
“We’re here to acknowledge the pain that this has brought to our community, to sit together, to grieve together [and] to comfort one another,” said Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz. “It’s a deeply human impulse to come together in times of tragedy, and we have seen so much support and care on this campus over the past few days.”
UNC students are set to go back to classes on Thursday.
“Now comes the challenge, we must find a way to move forward while never forgetting the loss that we have felt this week, but how?” Guskiewicz said. “How do we move forward when our lives feel so fragile and out of control?
“The answer to that question comes from our community. It comes from the countless acts of kindness and bravery that we have witnessed.”
Guskiewicz said he’s heard stories of strangers, classmates and faculty who acted with bravery during Monday’s shooting.
“Yes, our sense of security and safety was pierced, but it is together with one another that we can find healing,” Guskiewicz said.
Dr. Jim White, the dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, spoke Wednesday night.
“Most of you here did not know Zijie Yan, but you felt the need to honor the life of someone who was a part of the Carolina community,” White said.
White said to check in friends, classmates and coworkers.
Chair of the Department of Applied Physical Sciences Theo Dingemans also spoke Wednesday.
"[He] was a very intelligent colleague," Dingemans said. "He was pushing the boundaries of nanoscience with his research program."
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