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3rd Fatal Victim In Boston Bombing Was Former UC Riverside Student

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — The third person killed in the Monday bombings at the Boston Marathon was a former UC Riverside Extension student, according to the university.

Lingzi Lu, a 23-year-old graduate student who was attending Boston University, graduated from the Beijing Institute of Technology in 2010 and came to Riverside for three months starting in September as a visiting student undertaking her study abroad semester.

The school said she studied business and math in the UCR Extension "University Credit Program" before going on to BU.

"The loss of a young person is a terrible tragedy," said UCR's Interim Chancellor Jane Close Conoley. "My understanding from those at Extension is that she was a talented and bright young woman who was going on to great accomplishments. We are sending our condolences to her family."

The University Credit Program at UC Riverside Extension is a three month program with classes at Extension and on the main campus.

"She was among a group of top students from China, and they got into top graduate schools," said Bronwyn Jenkins-Deas, director of International Education Programs at UCR Extension.

Among Lu's classmates from that quarter, one student went to Cornell, one to Harvard and several to Boston University. A study abroad experience is a competitive advantage for young people from China wanting to go to graduate school in the U.S., said Jenkins-Deas.

UCR Interim Chancellor Conoley said: "We share a kinship in our hearts with every victim whom we'll never have the chance to meet, and with the innocents whose lives have now been riven by tragedy," she said. "I know you all join me in sending our thoughts and prayers to Boston."

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