So I've spent the last three days just taking in the news about Virginia Tech and trying to make sense of it all. Our lab lost a colleague through this whole tragedy. You might have read about him on CNN.com or any other news website. Kevin Granata was a really well-respected researcher in Biomechanics. I met him early on in my grad schooling. Every year our lab goes to a few conferences all around the world, and Dr. Granata was always there. I met him in Michigan, Munich, and of course the biomechanics conference at Virginia Tech back in August. I have to say, the guy knew his stuff. There are only a small group of people at these conferences that understand the nonlinear dynamics theory that our lab dabbles in. Dr. Granata knew it all. As brainy as he was, he was always very encouraging about my presentations. He always had a kind word to say about what I presented, even if it was waaay easy to him. I remember that he carried a down to earth attitude about him.

When the shootings happened on Monday, my prof brought up the fact that Kevin Granata had his office in Norris Hall. You never think that it could happen to someone you know, but it does and I think that's what bowled me over Tuesday morning when Dr. Granata was one of the first names released on the victims list. Since he did biomechanics research, the biomechanics community has been abuzz. One of the main announcement email listservers, Biomech-L, has been off the hook with people posting stories about him.