Student loses life in plane crash

  Photo courtesy of the the Department of Organismic
Biology, Ecology and Evolution Graduate student Ladan
Mohajerani died on Oct. 31.

By Hemesh Patel
Daily Bruin Reporter

UCLA graduate student Ladan Mohajerani was one of 81 passengers
killed in Singapore Airline’s Flight SQ006 at the end of last
month.

“Ladan was an extremely motivated person and she brought
that to her teaching,” said Tammy Johnson, student affairs
officer of the Life Sciences Core Curriculum. “She was an
inspirational teaching assistant who had a passion for the
sciences.”

The 27-year-old graduate student was a teaching assistant for
classes in the Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution
department, including OBEE 166 and Life Sciences 1. Prior to her
graduate work, she received her bachelor’s degree in biology
at UCLA.

Mohajerani was on her way back from the 9th International Coral
Reef Symposium in the Indonesian island of Bali.

Professor of marine biology, Peggy Fong, who attended the
conference with Mohajerani, said a total of five representatives
from UCLA were present in Bali.

Fong, who flew back home three days prior to the crash, said
Gregor Hodgson, a professor in the Institute of the Environment was
supposed to be on the same flight as Mohajerani.

“His wife got sick and he flew standby the day
before,” she said.

Another professor, Yang Yang, was also on the ill-fated flight,
but, along with his wife and son, suffered only minor injuries.

Fong recalled that her fondest memories of Mohajerani were spent
scuba diving in the Santa Monica Bay, conducting research.

Their project aimed at finding out if human intervention or
natural causes were responsible for the northern half of the kelp
forest being lower than the southern portion.

“She was extremely passionate about conservation biology
and the preservation of the marine habitat,” Johnson
said.

Christian DellaCorte, academic coordinator of OBEE 166,
described Mohajerani as “very sunny and bright.”

“She was different from the typical graduate student
because of her movie background,” DellaCorte said.
“Ladan and her twin sister would participate as stand-ins and
extras for television shows and movies.”

She said Mohajerani stood out from other graduate students who
were more consumed with their academics, because of her interest in
film and television.

DellaCorte recalled one night when she and Mohajerani gathered
around the television waiting for her one moment of
“passing-by” in a particular scene of a television
show.

She described Mohajerani as being able to relate with students
extremely well.

“She will be missed a lot,” she said.

A memorial service was held Saturday at the UCLA Ocean Discovery
Center where Mohajerani volunteered.

Fong said the service attracted 200 people, two-thirds of whom
were from UCLA.

“Anyone who knew her was just devastated,” she
said.

Friends and family were encouraged to wear Mohajerani’s
favorite color, blue, and avoid black, at the service.

Mohajerani is survived by two sisters, her mother and her
father.