PROVIDENCE — Michael V. Bhatia was no armchair intellectual.

During the first 30 years of his life, the 1999 Brown University graduate had written, coauthored and edited three books, was working on a doctorate degree from Oxford University and had been a visiting fellow last year at The Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown.

Still, his friends say, Bhatia refused to rest on his laurels and settle into a comfortable life as an academic. His true passion was traveling abroad and doing research and humanitarian work in war zones such as East Timor, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed Bhatia and two American soldiers in war-torn Afghanistan.

“He thought the best way to make a difference was to go to the field and work with the military,” said Sarah Havens, a 1999 Brown graduate who had remained friends with Bhatia. “He felt it was the only honest way to find out what was happening.”

Bhatia’s family and friends gathered at their home in Medway, Mass., yesterday to grieve and make funeral arrangements. His mother, Linda, said his remains have been shipped to Dover, Del.

“He was my life,” she said. “He was my son. He was a brilliant man. He wanted to do so much good. That’s what he worked for.”

Last September, after completing his fellowship at the Watson Institute, Bhatia left Providence for Afghanistan. There, he was a field social scientist who worked in consultation with the U.S. Defense Department. He spent most of his time imbedded with the Army’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division in southeast Afghanistan.

Bhatia filed reports and took photographs for The Globalist, a daily online magazine. He also served as an adviser and field researcher on local politics, economics, security and tribal dynamics.

In a three-part photo essay published in The Globalist, he wrote, “Afghanistan will soon reach a desperate milestone — the 30th anniversary of ongoing conflict. … Though I have spent the majority of my time researching the war and those involved in it, conflict is not my primary memory and way of knowing it. I am compelled to write about experiences and ideas that cannot be placed into analytical paradigms, which do not speak to theories of war or peace, to destruction or to reconstruction, but instead to daily interactions that occurred in the course of research.”

Those close to Bhatia remembered him as a “brilliant” young man who enjoyed a good time and never exuded a whiff of self-absorbed pretension.

“Not even a little bit,” said Yousra Fazili, another 1999 Brown graduate who majored in international relations. “He was so down to earth. He was really fun.”

Apart from Bhatia’s keen intellect, Fazili, a fellow in Islamic law and gender at Harvard University, has fond memories of Bhatia’s talents as a salsa dancer and having beers with him on College Hill. She described herself as a “cynic,” who frequently debated the “idealistic” Bhatia on foreign affairs.

She remembered that he had a flag of the United Nations posted on the wall of his dormitory room.

“He was just so optimistic about world peace,” she said. “He was just a wonderful person.”

Frederick Melo, another 1999 Brown graduate, had been close friends with Bhatia in college, but they had only occasional contact in recent years.

Melo, a crime reporter at The St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota, had fond memories of his former college roommate.

“Brilliant people often have exceedingly sharp edges,” Melo said. “Michael Bhatia was the rare exception. He had heart. He was rarely not smiling, not laughing, not recognizing the beauty in people in the world. I love him and I miss him and I can’t stop crying. The world is such a colder place without him.”

Havens, the former Brown classmate, now works as a lawyer in New York City. Last summer, she traveled to Providence to visit Bhatia. She was impressed to see that he had an office with his nameplate on the door on the same campus where they had been students just eight years earlier.

“We had a lovely time together,” she said. “I was so glad that I made the trip.”

Two months ago, Bhatia sent Havens a package with jewelry and other gifts from Afghanistan. He had planned to return to New England in July to visit family and friends.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Ginley-Crowley Funeral Home in Medway. Bob Irving, the funeral home’s executive director, said that services will be delayed until late next week. For more information, call the funeral home at (508) 533-8252.

bmalinow@projo.com