UNC shooting victim remembered as accomplished researcher in cutting-edge field
Zijie Yan, the professor killed Monday in a in a high-profile shooting in a UNC-Chapel Hill lab building, was remembered by colleagues and mentors Tuesday as a prolific researcher and accomplished scientist in a cutting-edge field.
The father of two, who was identified as the victim in Orange County court documents, was an associate professor in UNC’s department of applied physical sciences, where he focused on nanoscience technology and was studying how it can be used to improve drug delivery to human cells.
Early in his career, he had worked to create a new type of material — termed optical matter — that consists of metallic nanoparticles bound together by light, said Norbert F. Scherer, a chemistry professor at the University of Chicago, where Yan did postdoctoral research.
“He was both creative and rigorous in his work, so we had many discussions and debates over these years that helped us to progress rapidly in a new science direction we had discovered,” Scherer said.
Yan joined the faculty at UNC in 2019 after a stint as an assistant professor at Clarkson University. While earning his PhD in materials engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he distinguished himself for publishing 17 research articles.
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"As a university professor, you don't often have someone of his capability, but it's a real pleasure to be able to mentor someone who is borderline genius,” Douglas Chrisey, a Tulane University materials engineering professor who was a mentor to Yan at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “His contributions, in my opinion, were quite extraordinary, and I don't say that lightly."
UNC Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz described Yan as “a beloved colleague, mentor and friend to many on our campus."
Connection to suspect
Yan was the academic adviser of Tailei Qi, a 34-year-old second-year doctoral student who was taken into custody Monday and later charged with his murder. He is being held without bail at the Orange County jail through the investigation, police said. Additional charges could be added as the investigation continues.
Qi had worked closely with Yan’s research group at UNC since early 2022. Police apprehended Qi more than three hours after the initial reports of shots fired came in from Caudill Labs. The window of the lab was boarded up on Tuesday and authorities were still hunting for a definitive motive.
Yan and Qi co-authored research papers in recent years on the effect of light on nanoparticles. Yan’s recent work focused on something called “optical tweezers,” a process using light aimed at developing advanced nanorobots within cells, according to an article on the applied physical sciences department’s website.
In a series of social media posts late last year, Qi said his workload — sometimes ranging from 60 to 80 hours per week — left him feeling tired. He described bullying as a problem in the U.S. and made references to “tattletales” and people who called him lazy and who he says pried into his personal life. He expressed his frustrations to his “PI,” short for principal investigator, a faculty member or research scientist who runs the lab.
Police said Tuesday that the messages could factor into the investigation. "We will look at every ounce of information available about the suspect," UNC Chief of Police Brian James said Tuesday. "That may include social media posts. Certainly looking for any information out there that may have indicated what his intentions were and and why he actually did it."
Ed Samulski, a UNC professor emeritus whose office is near Yan's and was in the building at the time of the incident, said he was still processing his colleague’s death. “I tried to comfort Zijie while he was dying,” he said in an email.
Yan's home in Apex stood quiet early Tuesday. He and his wife were separated, and neighbors say they kept to themselves. They described Yan as a loving, gentle father of two young daughters. The university said it is providing resources and support to Yan's family.
Guskiewicz said the university will ring the Bell Tower at 1:02 p.m. on Wednesday in honor of Yan. That's the time of day when the shooting occurred. On Tuesday, students and colleagues left flowers, cards and a model of a molecule at the base of the tower, where a growing memorial had emerged. A 9 p.m. vigil is planned Wednesday in the Pit.
Meanwhile, colleagues, elected officials, professors at other universities and researchers at institutes across the world mourned Yan’s death and offered condolences to his family. Many of them spoke out against gun violence.
“Yesterday’s events on our campus have left us all shaken,” Alexander V. Kabanov, director of the Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, wrote Tuesday on social media. “As we continue to strive for academic excellence and pursue successful careers, it is crucial to remember that nothing in this world is more valuable than human life, and nothing is more precious than one's health.”
‘Always very quiet’
Qi faces a charge of first-degree murder and a separate charge of having a firearm on campus. Attempts to reach Qi were unsuccessful. Police said they were thankful they had a suspect alive and in custody.
"It gives us an opportunity to either figure out the why and even the how and also helps us to uncover a motive and really just why this happened today," UNC Chief of Police Brian James said Monday.
Qi holds a master's degree from Louisiana State University and a degree from Wuhan University in his native China. Classmates described him as quiet and well meaning but also as someone who occasionally struggled in the classroom.
"When we had our meetings, he was almost never participating, and when he did it was pretty surface level questions that suggested that maybe he did not know much about the topic," Aidan Carter Scott, a UNC graduate student and former classmate of Qi who was working on a project with him, said in a text message. "He asked me some questions about the homework; I never got any sort of impression that he was capable of this kind of thing. I saw him as sorta clueless but nevertheless well-meaning."
Qi had dropped the course around the deadline, Scott said. "That left us on the back foot because we had to submit a project proposal in a week and he disappeared without ever saying anything to us," he said.
Scott added later in an interview: "I would have never guessed that he would be the kind of person who could possibly be capable of this kind of thing. He was always very quiet."
"Every single time he would talk to me, he seemed very nice,” Scott added. “When I saw his face in the reports online, I was beyond shocked,"
Canceled classes, ongoing investigation
UNC canceled classes for the rest of the day Monday and all day Tuesday and Wednesday. Classes were expected to return to normal on Thursday, university officials said. University administrators also sent an email with resources for students, faculty and staff.
Meanwhile, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies continued to investigate the motive and search for evidence. James said authorities were still searching for a firearm in connection to the shooting. They were also trying to determine whether the firearm was legally obtained. The lab building where the shooting occurred was closed as police collected evidence. It is expected to remain closed as the investigation continues.
The investigation was expected to continue for several weeks.
In the meantime, Yan’s current and former colleagues mourn their friend and lament the loss of a star in their field.
"He was a brilliant mind,” said William D. Jemison, dean of the Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering at Clarkson University, who worked with Yan when he was an assistant professor at the university. “He was working in a very cutting edge area of material science. … It's a tremendous loss when we lose people who are that talented and who have that type of intellectual power."
"The advancement of our society hinges so heavily on people like Zijie who push the boundaries of science and knowledge,” he added. “And when we lose them, it's a loss for really the whole community and the whole society in general”
WRAL News reporters Sarah Krueger, Pritchard Strong and Ryan Bisesi contributed to this report.
