A couple of months into her husband's visiting professorship at the University of Pittsburgh, a German citizen was struck and killed by a school bus yesterday after taking her toddler to day care.

Eva Thumshirn-Klimo, 34, was in a crosswalk when the bus struck her at about 8:40 a.m. at Shady Avenue and Monitor Street. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver stopped when witnesses began shouting, then put the bus into reverse, striking Ms. Thumshirn-Klimo again. Uninjured were the 63-year-old driver, whom police declined to identify, and the 34 students on the bus.

The bus, operated by W.L. Roenigk Inc. for the Pittsburgh Public Schools, was making its morning run to Pittsburgh Sterrett 6-8 in Point Breeze.

"The fact that our children had to witness it is terrible. It tears your heart out," school police Chief Robert Fadzen said.

Germany's consul general in New York and honorary Pittsburgh consul David Murdoch were notified of the accident.

The victim's husband, Arpad von Klimo, is on a five-year assignment at Pitt through the German Academic Exchange Service. He had been on campus since about July, said Timothy S. Thompson, associate director of Pitt's European Union Center of Excellence and European Studies Center.

Dr. Thompson said Pitt sent a faculty member to Germany to interview six candidates for the position, and that Dr. von Klimo emerged the favorite.

He holds the rank of assistant professor in the History Department, specializing in central European history and nationalism, according to information Pitt published in a newsletter when he joined the faculty.

Dr. Thompson, a former Peace Corps worker in Afghanistan, said Ms. Thumshirn-Klimo once had worked with a nongovernmental organization in Pakistan or Afghanistan. He recalled an enjoyable conversation with her about their experiences in that part of the world.

Investigators from the Allegheny County medical examiner's office said she died of injuries to the head and body.

"I don't believe the bus driver ever saw the woman or knew she had hit her," said city police Assistant Chief Maurita Bryant.

Police said Ms. Thumshirn-Klimo had just taken her 18-month-old daughter to a day care center near the scene. Officers said she was crossing Shady Avenue when the eastbound bus, turning left from Monitor onto Shady, struck her.

While both Ms. Thumshirn-Klimo and the driver had a green light, the pedestrian always has the right of way, Assistant Chief Bryant said.

The section of Shady between Monitor and Morrowfield Avenue was blocked off for about three hours while accident investigators, a homicide detective and officials from the mobile crime unit reviewed the scene.

The driver, a 22-year veteran, remained on the bus for the better part of an hour, apparently answering investigators' questions, her hands knit together. She occasionally let her forehead sink to her hands.

Assistant Chief Bryant said the woman later was taken to police headquarters for further questioning. No charges had been filed yesterday.

Sterrett Principal Sarah Sumpter went to the scene.

Students initially waited on the bus, then walked along Shady to Burchfield Avenue and boarded a second bus that took them to school. Colleen Anthony said she saw the students walk past her house up the hill, some hugging one another, a few crying.

Counselors from the district's Student Assistance Program were summoned to the school. Parents were notified, and some took their children home, district spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said.

Bill Roenigk, vice president with W.L. Roenigk, expressed sympathy to Ms. Thumshirn-Klimo's family. He said he would consider additional comment after police completed their investigation.