News Archives

UNM Civil Engineering Graduate Students Killed in Car Crash

June 8, 2010

The UNM School of Engineering experienced a tragic loss when two Civil Engineering graduate students died in a one car rollover accident late Sunday evening, June 6, in Sandoval County. A third student and two other people in the car were injured.  They were returning to Albuquerque after a hiking trip to Tent Rocks, according to Sandoval County Sheriff’s officers.

huangYi Huang, a 24-year old master’s student, had been scheduled to complete her degree this summer.  She began her graduate work at UNM in the fall of 2008 and she was studying pavement design and engineering.

Mohammad Minhaz Mahdi began his master’s degree at UNM in the fall of 2009. He was from Bangladesh and was studying computational mechanics. Mahdi’s friends have arranged a viewing for him at 3 p.m. on Thursday at French Mortuary.mahdi

Nasrin Sumee, also a master’s degree student from Bangladesh, was injured and remains in stable condition at UNM Hospital.

UNM Provost Suzanne Ortega said, “This is such tragic news for the university community and especially difficult for the three students’ friends and colleagues in Civil Engineering. On behalf of President Schmidly and the UNM community, we offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of Yi Huang and Mohammad Minhaz Mahdi and our prayers for the speedy recovery of Nasrin Sumee.  The university is in contact with the families and has offered whatever assistance they will need during this difficult time.”

A life tribute/memorial service for Minhaz and Yi will be held on Thursday, June 10 at the Alumni Chapel on campus. Individual who knew Minhaz or Yi will be given the opportunity to share some thoughts and celebrate their lives.

To help those who are struggling with their feelings and reactions to this loss, Counseling Services at UNM Student Health and Counseling (SHAC) will be holding a group debriefing session on Friday, June 11 at 1:00 pm. This session will be held in the Santa Ana room on the 
upper level of the Student Union Building (SUB).

Anyone who wants more information, or who needs to schedule an individual session can call Counseling Services at 277-4537. Individual screenings for services are available Monday through Friday between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm.

Media contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627; kwent2@unm.edu

Prospective Students

Alumni and Supporters

Current Students

Faculty and Staff

Academic Advising & Support

SOE on social media