A story about Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, the 'professor of two countries'.

TP - With his distinctive Quang Binh (old) accent, coupled with his unpretentious, sincere, and simple demeanor, it would be difficult to recognize him as a world-leading data scientist; the first Vietnamese person to be awarded the title of State Professor in both Poland and Vietnam without an introduction.

The will to overcome difficulties

Born in 1963, and raised in a family where both parents were teachers in Quang Hung commune, Quang Trach district, Quang Binh province (formerly) and now Quang Trach commune, Quang Tri province, young Nguyen Ngoc Thanh inherited his father's talent for mathematics. In 1976, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh passed the entrance exam to the 8th grade specialized mathematics class in Quang Binh, studying in Dong Hoi. After nearly a year, the province of Binh-Tri-Thien was incorporated, and out of 23 students in the specialized mathematics class in Quang Binh, only 7 were selected to continue their studies in specialized mathematics at Quoc Hoc Hue High School, including Nguyen Ngoc Thanh.

Although he consistently excelled academically in Quang Binh, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh realized his shortcomings compared to his peers upon entering Hue National High School. This period was quite challenging for the village schoolboy, as he strived to catch up and surpass his classmates. Following his family's tradition, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh took the entrance exam for Hanoi Pedagogical University 1, scoring 27 points, and was selected by the government to study Mathematics and Computer Science in Poland in 1980.

“My academic career was once again challenging, as at that time, the concept of computer science was practically non-existent in Vietnam; I had never even seen what a computer looked like. But luckily, with my inquisitive nature, I was very enthusiastic, quickly topped my class, graduated a year early, and received a scholarship from the Polish government to pursue doctoral studies,” shared Professor, Doctor of Science (Prof. Dr. Sc.) Nguyen Ngoc Thanh.

To become a world-leading data science scientist as he is today, Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh had to make tremendous efforts, not only with sweat but also with tears. Leaving his impoverished rural hometown, life in a foreign land brought with it all sorts of worries, and there were times when he was forced to choose between pursuing his passion for scientific research or making a living.

“In the 1990s, Polish politics were very unstable, the economy was very difficult, and university lecturers' salaries were very low. Therefore, to earn enough to cover basic living expenses, one had to take on extra work outside of teaching. At that time, teaching and working outside of teaching meant I couldn't focus on one job, so I felt like I wasn't doing anything well and was truly stuck. After many nights of thinking, I decided to give up science to pursue a livelihood, but luckily, a comment from my wife changed my mind. She said that the best job I could do was scientific research, and that if I persevered through the difficulties, I would surely succeed,” – Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh recalled.

Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh chatting with his colleagues.

Thanks to the encouragement and understanding of his spouse, he set aside everything to focus on scientific research and became a world-leading data science scientist. Professor Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh was the first Vietnamese person to be awarded the title of State Professor by the President of Poland in 2009, and was also granted the title of Professor by Vietnam in 2011. He currently teaches at the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology (Poland) and many other prestigious universities worldwide, and is also the Editor-in-Chief of four scientific journals.

According to Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, Data Science is the field of analyzing data from social networks, extracting data knowledge and group intelligence.

With nearly 500 outstanding research papers, he was awarded the title of "Outstanding Scientist" by the ACM Association (USA). Recently, Professor Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh was awarded the Order of Merit, First Class, by the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda.

Deeply attached to my homeland.

This time, Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh visited his hometown during his trip to Vietnam to sponsor four international conferences for four universities in the country. He said that universities wanting to establish their reputation or cooperate internationally all need international conferences. However, organizing international conferences requires many factors, among which the scientific prestige of the sponsor is very important in order to invite leading scientists from around the world to participate.

“My philosophy of life, and what I teach my children, is to always be ready to give without expecting anything in return. Especially in science, I am willing to give away all the knowledge I have. That's why many places ask me to sponsor conferences, but I really can't accept all of them because I don't have enough time. My top priority is still my homeland and country first,” Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh confided.

Having been away from his homeland for nearly 50 years, and with his parents having passed away, Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh still holds a special place in his heart. Every time he returns to Vietnam for work, he always makes time to visit his hometown. Furthermore, every two or three years, he organizes a family trip back to his hometown to stay in the small house his parents left him. He says that, along with his parents, the vegetables, rice, water, and breezes of his homeland have given him his physical form, his morals, his willpower, and his intellect to excel in scientific research and in life.

Professor Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh converses with the author.

Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh's wife is from Hung Yen province, studied psychology, and currently works for an auditing firm in Poland. They have two sons, born in 1990 and 1995 respectively. “Our family has an unwritten rule: whenever we're home, we communicate in Vietnamese. Thanks to this, even though our two sons were born and studied in Poland, they speak Vietnamese as fluently as native speakers. They even know the dialect of their hometown, Quang Binh. Our eldest son is an IT engineer, married to a Vietnamese woman from Thai Binh (formerly), and they have two children; our younger son has a Vietnamese girlfriend. For me, family traditions and the traditions of our homeland are the foundation upon which we can steadily move forward, so we cannot break them or forget them,” shared Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh.

“I always tell my students that when you achieve your doctorate, don't be complacent; it's just the beginning of your scientific research journey. On that journey, willpower, determination, and ability alone are not enough; perseverance is also essential. Don't give up easily when faced with difficulties.” – Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh

To give back to his homeland, Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh not only sought scholarships for outstanding students and mobilized the community during times of natural disasters, but also twice, in 2009 and 2018, he proactively brought the Asian Conference on Intelligent Information Systems and Databases (ACIIDS), which he founded, to Quang Binh University. “I think it was a great opportunity to promote the only university in the province. For both conferences in Quang Binh, I organized tours of famous tourist destinations in my hometown for scientists from around the world. Hopefully, through them, Quang Binh and Quang Binh tourism will become more widely known and appreciated,” shared Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh.

According to Professor Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, tourism in Quang Binh (formerly) and now Quang Tri needs a shared database to make it more convenient for tourists to access and use tourism products. At the same time, investment in digital transformation is crucial for socio-economic development. He expressed his willingness to provide full support, drawing on his experience and expertise in this field, if the province needs it.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/chuyen-cung-luong-quoc-giao-su-nguyen-ngoc-thanh-post1773387.tpo