Born in 1983, Yu grew up as an only child in the Shandong province on the eastern coast of China. “Loving painting as a kid, Minghui always dreamed of turning into an artist, but he would never imagine studying on a science major in the college then years later.

His creativity fueled his intellectual prowess. His friend and CUCSSA Executive Vice President Junhua Shen, GSAS ’09, explained that Yu was “very special in his class, young compared to his peers.” During his schoolboy days, Shen said Yu served as class monitor, a leadership position that signified his maturity and ability to assist fellow students.

Yu went on to one of China’s most prestigious colleges, the University of Science and Technology of China , where he was placed in the “Special Class for the Gifted Young.” Upon graduation in 2006, he received the university’s highest honor, the Guo Moruo Award, which is bestowed on the highest achieving students in each USTC school. He arrived in the fall at Columbia in the Ph.D. program for physics, but after a year transferred to the doctorate program in statistics.

Minghui Yu was hit by a car after fleeing an alleged assault Friday night, and subsequently died at St. Luke’s Hospital. Police have since arrested a 14-year-old male in connection with the case, and the suspect has been charged with manslaughter in the second degree.

An SUV struck the 24-year-old statistics Ph.D. candidate on the west side of Broadway between 122nd and 121st streets shortly before 9 p.m. Friday night, according to the New York Police Department. Yu had been running from two unidentified males who “caused the guy alarm and assaulted him” on the northeast corner of 122nd Street and Broadway, police said.

Yu was taken from the scene in critical condition to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he died, surrounded by friends and faculty, from severe head trauma around 11:30 p.m.