MIT assistant professor dies nearly two weeks after Cambridge bicycle collision

An MIT assistant professor who sustained injuries from an Aug. 21 bicycle collision with a motor vehicle died Wednesday following nearly two weeks at Massachusetts General Hospital, the university announced.

Thomas Rose, a 47-year-old assistant professor of archaeometallurgy, was riding his bicycle at the intersection of Memorial Drive East and Massachusetts Avenue when a motor vehicle collided with him around 6 a.m., according to a news release from the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office. 

The driver of the motor vehicle remained on scene, and the Middlesex DA is investigating the crash, according to the release.

Polina Anikeeva, head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, wrote in an email to Boston.com that the loss of Rose was “devastating.”

“Our community is filled with unimaginable, profound sadness,” Anikeeva wrote in the email. “It took our department decades to find a faculty [member] who would be a world-class metallurgist and a world-class archeologist — he was a unicorn.”

Rose’s life and legacy

Rose, 37, joined MIT in January after a research and coordination stint at Germany’s Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum and Goethe University Frankfurt, according to MIT. He received his Ph.D. in archaeology in 2023 through a joint program at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel and Sapienza University of Rome.

The Berlin-born professor’s expertise in ancient metallurgy traces back to a set of books about ancient Egypt he read as child, according to MIT. He joined MIT’s Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and was still putting the finishing touches on his laboratory at the time of his death, according to MIT.  

“Everyone can look at his papers and his past and understand why he was such a good fit here technically,” Senior Lecturer Michael Tarkanian said to MIT News. “It was even more impressive how likable, friendly, and open he was. He was everything you could have asked for as a colleague and a person.”

Rose was set to teach his first set of graduate researchers this fall, but he had already spent time mentoring students. He enjoyed rowing on the Charles River and participated in MIT’s archery club, according to MIT. He even shined in a memorable karaoke performance during a recent recruitment outing.

Anikeeva told Boston.com that MIT was Rose’s “dream-come-true” and remembered his “genuine sense of wonder and excitement” about his research vision.

“Thomas was just so happy to be pursuing his vision and working with his students,” Anikeeva wrote. “He was humble and kind and curious — he was eager to learn and to teach.”

Students from the MIT community were planning a silent vigil to honor Rose at 4 p.m. Friday in Killian Court.

Historic problems at the intersection

Rose is at least the fifth person killed while walking or bicycling on Memorial Drive since 2014, according to local organization Cambridge Bicycle Safety. The organization has been outspoken in its advocacy for a change at this exact location, calling it one of the commonwealth’s “most dangerous intersections.”

“There are very clear safety deficiencies in this intersection that we’ve been calling out for years,” Chris Cassa, a volunteer with Cambridge Bicycle Safety and the Memorial Drive Alliance, said to Boston.com. “It’s clear to me that the state needs to step up and do more to protect people, especially in this very dense, busy environment.”

In a 102-vehicle sample taken at the intersection around 4 p.m. in 2023, only 47 drivers complied with the red turn signal — a 46% compliance rate. Cassa said the intersection’s design, with a misaligned turn signal and poor legibility of the “no turn on red” sign, create a danger. 

Cassa also advocated for a protected intersection, which adds a buffer to the corners of an intersection, slowing down drivers and heightening awareness for pedestrians and bikers. 

According to Cambridge Bicycle Safety, a 50-year-old man named Mark Keiser was fatally struck at the Memorial Drive/Massachusetts Ave. intersection as a pedestrian in August 2014. 

In 2024 alone, three cyclists died from collisions in Cambridge: a 62-year-old named John Corcoran, 24-year-old MIT student named Minh-Thi Nguyen, and a 55-year-old Florida woman named Kim Staley. 

Across the river in July, Louisa Gag, a city transportation planner and prominent bicycle safety advocate, died while cycling in a collision with a box truck in Mission Hill. 

“This is a place where lots of people are walking and biking, and they’re commuting to work and going to school at the universities that are adjacent to the river,” Cassa said. “We’re exposing them all to tons of danger from regional commuters, and we can do better.”