There are several updates in the case of Mengyao “May” Zhou, 23, the second year doctoral candidate in electrical engineering who has been missing since Saturday.

Zhou was last seen by her roommate leaving their room in Rains Houses on Saturday morning, and the Stanford police department has yet to uncover any trace of credit card, email or phone use since her disappearance.

According to Stanford police deputy Ken Bates, a police dog followed Zhou’s scent to a parking spot, but the trail ended abruptly at the street outside the parking lot.

“It’s a mystery,” Bates said in a recent article by the San Jose Mercury-News. “We’re baffled.”

Chris Griffith, associate dean and director of the Graduate Life Office, issued an official statement to members of the Stanford community addressing Zhou’s sudden disappearance.

“The news that May Zhou is missing is distressing, especially for her family and her colleagues here at Stanford,” she said in the statement. “I am confident that University officials, led by the Department of Public Safety, are doing everything that can be done to find her.

“If there had been any indication that May’s disappearance represented a concern for the safety of our students, we would have taken immediate steps to notify and protect the community,” she added.

Griffith encouraged students to take advantage of all possible resources in the community — the Graduate Community Center, Counseling and Psychological Services, the Office for Religious Life and residence deans — for support during the crisis.

Zhou — an academically driven and outgoing young woman — earned her bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she was also a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

Within a year of her arrival at Stanford in the fall of 2005, Zhou was awarded the Gabilan Fellowship for her research; the fellowship funds the top doctoral projects in the fields of engineering, physical and biomedical sciences as well as quantitative social sciences.

According to Yuki Konda, a graduate student and Zhou’s partner for a computer vision project, the missing woman is “hardworking” and “organized.”

“She always tried to move the project forward, which helped us a lot,” Konda said. “She was a great project partner.”

Konda also said Zhou was one of the few Chinese female students who passed the electrical engineering qualifications exam on her first try last year.

“She is definitely in the top part of the class,” Konda said.

And while Konda admittedly did not know Zhou outside of the classroom, he said that she “did not seem particularly the quiet type.”

Zhou is the daughter of an optical engineer in San Diego. Her father is setting up a fund offering a reward for tips that lead to her speedy and safe return.

The Stanford police are reaching out for help in their search for Zhou, who is approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighs around 120 pounds. Ethnically Asian, she has brown eyes, black hair and a medium complexion.

Zhou’s car is a 2006 silver four-door Toyota Corolla with the California license plate 5VFG430.

Anyone with information regarding Zhou’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Department of Public Safety at (650) 723-9633 during the day or (650) 329-2413 after business hours.