BOSTON -- Michael Bhatia, a 1995 graduate of Medway High School, was killed in Afghanistan earlier this week.

Mass. Civilian Killed In Afghanistan

Bhatia, 31, was working as a social scientist when he and two U.S. soldiers were killed in an improvised explosive device attack near Khost, in the eastern part of Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Bhatia was a civilian contractor employed by BAE Systems, assigned to 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division in Afghanistan supporting the U.S. Army's Human Terrain System program.

"He is a hero in every sense of the word," said Steve Fondacaro, HTS project manager.

The program, run by the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, works to improve the military's understanding of the local socio-cultural environment in regions where U.S. troops are deployed. After seven months serving with the Army in the war-torn country, Bhatia became the first civilian in the program to die.

"I can't think of a better example of what being an American was all about. Here was a civilian, a civilian scholar who was very comfortable in his personal situation -- he gave up all of that to volunteer his services to be a participant in what we were involved in, and assumed all the risks every one of those soldiers assumed. He gave his life for exactly what he believed in," Fondacaro said.

"Michael is a hero. The Army didn't go looking for him to ask him for his service -- he came looking for us because he was committed to make things better. Our nation is better, as are the people of Afghanistan, because of his devotion and brilliance. He will not be forgotten," Gen. William S. Wallace, TRADOC's commanding general, said in a statement.

In addition to Afghanistan, Bhatia's humanitarian work and research took him to Sahrawi refugee camps and East Timor, according to the Watson Institute at Brown University's Web site.

"His contributions were directly attributable to the saving of lives of soldiers and the Afghani people out there," Fondacaro said.

Bhatia is survived by his parents and a sister, who said her brother's life was "so beautiful. We are devastated, heart-broken and at a loss."

Bhatia was a PhD student at Oxford University and graduate of Brown University.