A Penn State mechanical engineering professor died Wednesday night when his bike was hit from behind by a van.

Bohdan Kulakowski, 63, was riding his bike along the 1400 block of Boalsburg Road around 6 p.m. when a van driven by Thomas Fry, 51, of Boalsburg, struck him.

Kulakowski, of Brush Valley Road in Boalsburg, was taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead around 6:45 p.m.

According to the State College Police Department report, Fry was traveling eastbound when he likely drifted into the shoulder of the road and hit Kulakowski.

Fry told police he believes he may have taken his eyes off the road for a second. Fry said he never saw the bike and only felt the impact.

Centre County Coroner Scott Sayers said Kulakowski died from internal chest trauma; the manner of death was accidental.

Kulakowski also sustained severe facial injuries and an open compound fracture to the right ankle.

David Burrows, of Boalsburg, told police he lives across the street from Kulakowski and had often witnessed him riding his bike home from Penn State's campus.

Kulakowski was wearing a helmet and had rear reflectors on his bike. According to the police report, alcohol was not a factor in the incident.

The speed limit for Boalsburg Road is 45 miles per hour. Police do not believe Fry was speeding, according to the police report.

Police said the accident is currently being reconstructed, and no charges have been filed.

Burrows said Kulakowski rode his bike almost every day on the roads and around campus.

"He rode even under weather conditions I would never go personally ride in," he said. "He was very dedicated."

The two lived across from each other for four years, and Kulakoswki always greeted Burrows when they met at the mailbox, he added.

John Mason, associate dean of graduate studies, research and outreach in the College of Engineering, said he had known Kulakowski for 18 years.

Kulakowski came to Penn State in 1979 from Warsaw, Poland, and became a faculty member in 1982, Mason said.

He said Kulakowski always had his students' best interest at heart.

"For our university, when we talk about student-centeredness, I definitely think of Bohdan," he said.

Mason is the director of the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, where Kulakowski served as director of administration from 1992 to 2003 and as a researcher.

According to the mechanical engineering department's Web site, Kulakowski's expertise was in automatic control systems, computer simulations and control of industrial processes, systems dynamics, vehicle and road dynamic interactions, and transportation systems.

"The department of mechanical and nuclear engineering has suffered a tragic loss due to the loss of Professor Bohdan Kulakowski," according to the Web site.

Funeral arrangements are being made.