Overview
- Thomas Rose, 37, was struck while riding his bicycle at the Memorial Drive and Massachusetts Avenue intersection on Aug. 21 and was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where he died on Sept. 2.
- Cambridge police and the Middlesex County district attorney are investigating the collision and officials have not said whether the driver will face charges; police say the driver remained at the scene.
- Rose joined MIT in January as POSCO Professor of Materials Science and a member of the Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and was finalizing his lab and preparing to teach his first courses.
- Colleagues and students remember Rose as an interdisciplinary scholar in archaeometallurgy and an engaged mentor who had begun supervising the first cohort of his graduate researchers.
- Local advocates and state records say the intersection has a history of serious bicycle crashes, and Rose’s death has renewed calls for permanent safety changes such as protected lanes and revised traffic controls.