Boston Marathon bombing victim attended UC Riverside

The 23-year-old Chinese woman who was a graduate student at Boston University and the third victim killed in the Boston Marathon bombings was also a former UC Riverside Extension student, according to school officials.

Jane Close Conoley, the interim chancellor for the university, said in a statement Wednesday that Lu Lingzi was a visiting student from China’s Beijing Institute of Technology.

Lu had studied business and math through UCR Extension -- a for-credit program -- as part of her 2010 study abroad semester before moving to Boston, Conoley said.

“The loss of a young person is a terrible tragedy, and my understanding from those at Extension is that she was a talented and bright young woman who was going on to great accomplishments,� Conoley said. “We are sending our condolences to her family.�

A political science professor at the university was running the Boston Marathon but had finished and was at the airport when the explosions occurred, Conoley said.

Lu was one of three friends who watched the race from the finish line, according to Boston University school officials. Another of the friends, Zhou Danling, was injured and is in stable condition at Boston Medical Center.

Originally from Shenyang in northeastern China, Lu was a top student at her high school and did well enough to attend the Beijing Institute of Technology.

“The girl is very smart,� Yang Yongkun, a high school teacher, was quoted as saying in Chinese media. “Although she graduated some years ago, I still remember her.�

Lu moved to Boston in August to get a master’s degree in actuarial science, the study of risk. Her comments about her life on the microblogging website Weibo were cheerful and positive, focusing on the best aspects of her new life in the United States.

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Times staff writer Andrew Tangel in Boston contributed to this report.

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