Posted on 10/06/2016 8:15:47 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A 30-year-old postdoctoral researcher at the University of California's plant biology department was killed in Ethiopia when the vehicle she was riding in was struck by rocks thrown by protesters.
The university said in a statement Wednesday that Sharon Gray was in the East African country for a meeting about her research when she was killed Tuesday while traveling in a car in the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa. Her field of study was looking at the effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on certain tomato roots.
There has been unrest in Ethiopa for months and is increasingly becoming a cause of international concern. But tensions came to a head on Sunday, two days before Gray was killed, when dozens of people were crushed in a stampede after police fired tear gas and rubber pellets to disperse an anti-government protest that grew out of a massive religious festival. The stampede occurred in Oromia, where demonstrators have been actively campaigning for wider freedoms.
During the Olympics, Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia crossed his wrists as he crossed the finish line in Rio to win a silver medal, showing his anti-government stance.
The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Ethiopia on Aug. 19, reminding tourists that "even demonstrations to be peaceful can can turn confrontational and escalate into violence." The university chose to focus on Gray, a young woman pictured with a wide smile and lots of friends.
“Even in tragedy, we hope that we all can find some comfort in the wonderful work Sharon was engaged in that will better the lives of so many around the world,” Ken Burtis, the university’s acting provost, said in a statement posted on the UC Davis Graduate Studies’ Facebook page.
Gray earned her PhD in 2013 from the school's Department of Plant biology, and did her undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She had been doing her postdoctoral work as a researcher at the UC Davis Brady lab.
The university said what happened was unclear but spokesman Andy Fell confirmed to the the Sacramento Bee that Gray was the American the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia confirmed was killed in an area that has seen months of deadly protests UC Davis says another member of the plant biology department who was traveling with Gray was not injured in is headed home.
This is the first foreigner killed in the massive anti-government protests that have claimed the lives of hundreds of protesters since November 2015.
Very sad.
The natives are indeed restless.
Her field of study was looking at the effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on certain tomato roots.
= = =
Carbon Dioxide will kill you, one way or another.
Trump’s fault
I can't imagine why anyone would go to those dangerous places to study something as silly as this. But, RIP anyway.
No doubt that rock throwing is caused by Global Warming. Tragic! Just Tragic!
Really? Tribal unrest in the area “for months,” and she was there studying the effects of high elevation on tomato roots? She couldn’t have waited till the war was over for that? Our academics do not live in the real world with the rest of us. Some times the result is they don’t make it past 30.
Nothing important here to research I guess.
Honor killing. He put his glasses down on a copy of the koran. Justified killing.
But it's not nearly as bad as Dihydrogen Monoxide.
I like a story with a happy ending!
**elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on certain tomato roots**
The more degrees you have the more you know about less.
I did research in Africa. “Real world” is a relative term.
There is no “Elevated Atmospheric carbon dioxide”!
If that were the case, Glo.bull Warming Alarmists would be spewing out the data!
Numbers I have seen show that Atmospheric CO2 levels have gone, at most, from ~ 350 ppm to about 400 ppm over the last 100 years or so. This increase is natural and is not going to get anyone’s panties in a wad!
Do any Freepers have better numbers for Atmospheric CO2 ???
Rocks kill! Get rid of them!!
How about the effects on uncertain tomato roots?
Will this generate another “Roots” mini-series?
Feed them all unsweetened oatmeal three times a day and let the non-muslim prisoners deal with the complainers.
Ah ha! Killed by the effects of climate change.
Thought so.
American lives in Africa have been worth nothing for decades.....no matter why the American is there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Biehl
One would think research on tomato roots would be relatively safe.
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