Woman killed in downtown train accident was Rice student

Vivian Ziwei Guan, 20, was a Rice University architectural student. Vivian Ziwei Guan, 20, was a Rice University architectural student. Photo: Rice University Photo: Rice University Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Woman killed in downtown train accident was Rice student 1 / 14 Back to Gallery

A woman who died Monday after apparently being struck by a Metro train downtown has been identified as a Rice University architecture student.

Vivian Ziwei Guan, 20, was hit about 8 a.m. when she crossed the Metro tracks on her bicycle at Main and Walker, Rice officials said in a letter to the university community.

"She had just gotten off a northbound train with her bike and was struck by a southbound train as she crossed the intersection," the letter said.

An architecture major, Guan would have been a junior this fall.

She was an intern this summer at Ziegler Cooper Architects, where she worked with Rice alumnus Scott Ziegler.

"Whenever we placed Vivian on a new assignment, she mastered it with a quick study and was always ready to take on something new," the letter quoted Ziegler as saying. "Her enthusiasm was infectious, as was her curiosity about architecture and the world about her. The entire office at Ziegler Cooper Architects has Vivian and her family in our prayers."

Dean of Architecture Sarah Whiting remembered Guan as "very special in the way that she combined such enthusiasm and intelligence in her work and also for the energy that she brought to the school. We will greatly miss her."

In a statement Monday, Metro said preliminary information showed that a woman onboard a northbound train exited the train at the Main Street Square station with her bike. She reportedly proceeded to the intersection, got on her bike on Walker and started crossing the intersection when she was hit by a southbound train.

Metro spokesman Jerome Gray said he did not know whether Guan was wearing earphones.

Guan was a member of Sid Richardson College and had been looking forward to returning home to New Zealand to be with her family before the fall semester, the letter said.