Cheng, a chemical engineering junior, was participating in the Engineering Cooperative Program with the SciTech firm in New Jersey for the fall semester. He was driving to Cornell on Friday to spend the weekend on campus.

Cheng lost control of his car on Friday afternoon on Route 81 in Pennsylvania, said Linda Grace-Kobas, director of the Cornell News Service.

Kobas said the Pennsylvania State Police reported that Cheng's car was hit by a tractor-trailer truck after he skidded and that Cheng was fatally injured.

Randy S. Stevens, associate dean of students, said Cheng was alone and had no passengers in his car. Cheng was an active student at Cornell and the cultural chair of the Hong Kong Students Association, said junior Meng Wu, Cheng's housemate.

"(Cheng) was a very nice guy," sophomore Ivy Cheung said. "He was a very ambitious student and very social and involved in HKSA events."

Cheung said Cheng had been working on the association's annual cultural show at the time of his death.

"He was very devoted and came up with a lot of good ideas," she said. "We are going to try and fulfill all his goals."

"It is always very tragic when something like this happens to such a promising student," said John E. Hopcroft, dean of the College of Engineering.