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MIT student identified as victim in Cambridge bicycle crash, advocates plan vigil

Minh-Thi Nguyen, known to friends as Mint, was killed after a box truck collided with her at the intersection of Hampshire and Portland streets in Cambridge.

By Molly Farrar

June 23, 2024

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The 24-year-old bicyclist killed in a crash in Cambridge Friday morning was identified as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral student, according to an online fundraiser.

Minh-Thi Nguyen, known to friends as Mint, was killed after a box truck collided with her at the intersection of Hampshire and Portland streets. Nguyen was transported to the hospital, where she later died.

Nguyen researched atomic, molecular, and optical physics at MIT, according to her LinkedIn profile. She graduated from Princeton University in 2021 and went to high school in California.

“Mint was brilliant, humble and kind,” a GoFundMe to support the Nguyen family said. As of Sunday night, more than $45,000 were raised, doubling the fundraiser’s initial goal.

Another bicyclist died this month in Cambridge after an accident that also involved a box truck. A 55-year-old Florida woman was traveling the same direction as the truck when it turned right and collided with the cyclist.

Cambridge Bicycle Safety, an advocacy group, is hosting a vigil for the two victims at Cambridge City Hall Monday afternoon. 

“Two people on bikes have been killed in crashes with trucks over the past two weeks,” the group wrote. “These crashes are not accidents; they are preventable tragedies that we must ensure don’t happen again.”