MIT on Tuesday was mourning the loss of a third-year graduate student who “died suddenly” Sunday morning, the president of the college said.
President L. Rafael Reif informed students via e-mail Monday of the death of Cara Anne Nickolaus, calling her a “promising economic theorist.”
Reif wrote that Nickolaus, of Lincoln, Neb., was treasurer of her dorm, “The Warehouse,” and a second-year resident adviser, “where she helped students feel connected to the dorm community.”
“We turn our thoughts to Cara’s family and friends as they absorb this extremely painful loss. In such moments, comfort can come from reaching out to those around us. Please do so,” Reif wrote.
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The university would not confirm the cause of Nickolaus’s death. The MIT student newspaper, The Tech, cited a separate e-mail from the chairman of the Economics Department saying the death was an apparent suicide.
The death came during a troubling period for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after four student suicides in the span of a year. Administrators and students have been working to combat mental health issues and the university this month announced plans to beef up counseling services.
MIT took those steps after reviewing the results of a campuswide survey administered this spring that revealed that 24 percent of undergraduate respondents have been diagnosed with one or more mental health disorders by a health professional.
In interviews with the Globe earlier this year following the suicides, including two in one month, MIT students reflected on the immense pressure they often face. Much of it, they said, is self-imposed.
Meanwhile, the state medical examiner Tuesday announced that the death of Harvard University sophomore Luke Z. Tang on Sept. 12 was a suicide.
Harvard has also offered counseling to students.
“News like this affects every member of this community,’’ Dean Rakesh Khurana wrote in an e-mail to students following Tang’s death. “We know each of you will seek comfort in different ways. Please seek out a family member, a friend, or someone you can talk to, such as a mentor or coach.’’
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Laura Krantz can be reached at laura.krantz@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurakrantz.