There was no doubting Georgia Tech doctorate student Ashish Dembla's brilliance.
The 26-year-old, killed in an automobile accident that also took his parents' lives early Sunday morning in Tennessee, was studying radical 3D interconnect technologies for high-performance computing systems. According to one of his professors at Tech, Muhannad Bakir, Ashish had already published six papers on the topic.
"He was an extremely intelligent person," said friend Pritham Raja. "All of his peers went to him for help."
But despite the demands of work, Ashish made time for a life outside the academic bubble.
"Every few days, I like to explore something different, something that takes me on the edge of where I am," the Dehli-born student wrote on his website just four months ago. "I like to expand the boundaries to my life."
His snapshots reveal a life well-explored — everything from flower arranging to parasailing to salsa lessons. He loved to cook, writing on his site that it "kept me in high spirits."
"He just got a new camera," said fellow doctorate candidate Li Zheng. "He was so excited about it when he talked to me. He liked adventurous hiking, taking amazing photos of great views, doing fabulous paintings."
Ashish's final days were spent doing what he loved. He rented a condo in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., with his parents and younger sister, who were visiting from India. The family had just checked out and was headed home when their Honda Civic, driven by Ashish, was hit head-on by another driver. That motorist, Shawn Dunlap, told police he may have fallen asleep, authorities said.
Dunlap, 27, survived the accident, which left the Civic twisted beyond recognition. Ashish and his parents, Satpal and Anjali Dembla, both doctors, died at the scene, in the bucolic Smoky Mountain town of Seiverville. Ashish's 20-year-old sister, Kanika Dembla, suffered major head trauma and remains in critical condition at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville.
"I'm in still in shock, and I'm just angry that things like this can happen to people like Ashish," said friend James Yang. "Ashish was the best at what he did. What he had achieved in the research was far ahead of anyone in the world and is so important for the entire computer industry."
But those achievements didn't define Ashish, who came to the U.S. in 2009, determined not to be a bystander.
"He went to football games because he wanted to learn the game," Raja said. "I've hardly seen anyone as passionate as him."
Bakir, Ashish's academic mentor, remembered him as much more than a pupil.
"I can attest to the extraordinary kindness, willingness to help others in need, and joy he brought to everyone around him," Bakir told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "This is a tragedy that will have an everlasting impact on all who knew him."
Friend Yue Zhang said Ashish wanted to teach after graduating. Sharing knowledge was as important to him as attaining it.
"He told me that he would love to use his own way to convey the knowledge to students and to influence them," Zhang said.
His passion was apparently inherited.
"To do what you love is freedom, but to love what you do is pleasure," wrote Ashish on his website, quoting "My Dad."
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