Daniel Strickland, M.A. ‘09 Ph.D. ’10, died last Friday from injuries sustained in a car crash on Interstate Highway 280. He was 27.

According to a California Highway Patrol report, Strickland hit a deer in his gray Volkswagen near Alpine Road at 8:10 p.m. on Thursday. Shortly after, a red Audi driven by a Mountain View resident collided with the rear of Strickland’s vehicle.

Strickland suffered major head trauma and was transported to Stanford Hospital, where he passed away the next day. According to a police report, Strickland was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the second collision.

After graduating from Stanford, Strickland became a junior professor at Santa Clara University, where he focused on researching affordable energy conversion.

— Kurt Chirbas