Thuy Trang (born in 1999) grew up in an agricultural area in Da Nang. Most of her teenage years were spent working as a farmer to support her parents. When she became a university student, Trang enrolled in Biotechnology at Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry. This decision stemmed from her family's farming background, so Trang wanted to study "applying solutions to agriculture".
The first two years of university were a difficult time for Trang because of the lack of direction and uncertainty about whether she would be able to find a job in her field of study after graduation. Doubting that she had chosen the wrong major, Trang even thought about suspending her studies.
“When I was uncertain about the future, I decided to stick with my current choice, while spending time trying to broaden my experience in the industry to dig deeper and see if it was right for me,” Trang recounted.
In 2019, Trang received an Erasmus+ exchange scholarship worth about 750 EUR (about 143 million VND), majoring in Food Science at the University of Agriculture and Life Sciences in Hungary for 5 months. This is where she first learned about scientific research topics in the field of food and planted the seeds for her about the specific definition of science.
The turning point came in her third year of university when Trang participated in scientific research activities. This was the first time the Vietnamese girl applied her professional knowledge into research practice.
Working directly in the laboratory, researching documents and discussing with experts in the industry helped her realize her suitability for research work. This was also the time when Trang clearly defined her passion and long-term development direction in the field of biotechnology - food.
“I feel that science has answered my childhood questions about the natural world . The more I research, the more I discover new knowledge that I couldn't explain before,” Trang shared.
Trang is a research assistant at the University of Pennsylvania, 2023-2025.
Since then, Trang has persistently pursued her research direction, participated in many topics at school, won first prize in the school's Scientific Research Ideas Competition, completed her graduation thesis and contributed to a number of scientific publications. This journey also opened up many academic opportunities abroad for her.
In 2020, Trang continued to participate in the METI short-term internship program of the Japanese Government. However, at this time, COVID-19 was complicated, so the entire internship program had to be transferred online.
The COVID-19 pandemic also disrupted Trang's process of completing her thesis and preparing documents to apply for a graduate scholarship in the US.
After completing her studies at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry, she took part in an internship at the Laboratory of National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan (China) and completed her application for a PhD scholarship in the US. Trang confessed that this was the most difficult time in her journey to pursue her passion for research because she realized that not coming from a top university put her at a disadvantage when building her profile.
For months, Trang worked nearly 16 hours a day in the lab, then continued to learn foreign languages, accepting to trade off rest and entertainment time to achieve her goal of studying abroad.
“My parents saw that I was studying too hard, so they offered to support me with money to study abroad, but I didn't dare accept because my family wasn't well off enough to be able to invest a large amount of money,” Trang said.
Trang's efforts were recognized, she won a full master's scholarship at National Changhua Normal University, Taiwan, worth 15,000 yuan per month (75 million VND) in addition to tuition and dormitory fees.
Trang continued to receive a doctoral scholarship worth 52,000 USD (nearly 1.4 billion VND) per year at Pennsylvania State University (Upenn), USA. Trang chose to pursue Upenn, a school in the elite Ivy League group of universities in the US.
After a period of study (August 2023 - January 2025), Trang switched to studying for a Master's degree in Food Science at Upenn University to conduct in-depth research on agricultural by-products, molecular biology in food and have research published in international journals, presented at scientific conferences. She was kept on the scholarship when she transferred, meeting the criteria to write her thesis in June 2025.
Thuy Trang works at the research lab of Upenn University, February 2025.
In August 2025, Trang completed her studies. The female master decided to spend another year building her career foundation, expanding her relationships and learning more foreign languages. Trang worked in parallel between Vietnam and Taiwan, continuing her professional activities in the field of food technology and agricultural by-products.
In addition, she built a personal blog to share knowledge, academic experience and career orientation for students pursuing biotechnology - food. After three years of operation, Trang's blog has reached more than 15,000 views, becoming a reference information channel for many young people.
She is proud of her starting point, from a student lacking direction in her first years of university, Thuy Trang has become an enthusiastic young researcher.
" If my parents weren't farmers, I probably wouldn't have chosen to go to the University of Agriculture and Forestry and gradually found my way out into the world to study and gain enough expertise to open the door to a career that suits my abilities and passion," Trang said.
Trang's outstanding achievements:
- Third Prize, Penn State Biorenewables Symposium Poster Competition (USA), 2025.
- Robert D. & Jeanne L. Mccarthy Graduate Teaching Award & Graduate Fellowship, 2024.
- Honored as Outstanding Female Scientist - Microbiology Session, 2022 at the 5th Rencontres de Quy Nhon event - International Biology Conference.
- First Prize of Scientific Research Ideas Competition, 2020 - Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry.
- Academic content creator - Science for The Future (SFF), 2020 - 2021.
- President of Bio English Club (BEC), 2020 - 2022.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/9x-da-nang-nhan-hoc-bong-tien-si-1-4-ty-dong-nam-tu-dai-hoc-my-ar989830.html
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