It sounds like this young woman had a bright future ahead of her. What a sad and maddening tragedy.

From USA Today.

Indiana University student among 298 dead in crash

An Indiana University student from the Netherlands was on board the Malaysian airliner shot down Thursday in eastern Ukraine, university officials said Friday.

Karlijn Keijzer, 25, of Amsterdam was a doctoral student in chemistry at the university about 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis, spokesman Mark Land said.

She was one of the few women in the chemistry lab, and she studied chemistry to complement her background in biology and biochemistry, said classmate Meghan McCormick, 28.

“She was so good at putting in the effort and the hard work,” McCormick said. “I always looked up to her and her confidence and her strength. She always knew what she wanted.”

Keijzer’s hometown was Almelo, Netherlands, about 90 miles east of Amsterdam and 30 miles from the German border, according to her Facebook page. In Bloomington, she was a member of the women’s rowing team during the 2011 season, getting up for 5 a.m. rowing practices.

“Getting through our Ph.D. program, it was so rough,” McCormick said. “But we always gave each other strength. Especially as women in chemistry, it’s really difficult. We would just help each other out getting through those problems.”

The two friends would cook for each other, Keijzer making Dutch pancakes and delighting in McCormick’s spanakopita recipe. For McCormick’s birthday, Keijzer surprised her with a Dutch apple pie.