As a senior student preparing to graduate from the prestigious Cambridge University, Nguyen Anh received a full doctoral scholarship at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Phung Phuoc Nguyen Anh – Photo: NVCC
At the age of 21, Phung Phuoc Nguyen Anh has just received a full doctoral scholarship of nearly 3 billion VND/year at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) - one of the world's leading STEM higher education institutions, ranked 6th. in the list of the best universities globally (QS 2023).
Currently, Nguyen Anh is a final year student preparing to graduate at the prestigious Cambridge University (top 2 in the world according to QS). In high school, you were the valedictorian of the specialized student class at High School for the Gifted (Ho Chi Minh City National University).
From the love of dinosaurs
* Can Nguyen Anh share more about his upcoming research direction at Caltech?
– The field I will research is biological engineering. During the first year, I was allowed to move between a number of labs, each lab for about 3-4 months, to see which research direction was suitable for me before embarking on research for about 4-5 years.
My general direction is to use today's advanced biological techniques to change the structure of DNA and proteins. These technologies have recently developed very well, serving medicine and manufacturing. In the summer of 2023, when I had the opportunity to intern at Caltech, I participated in research related to protein techniques to improve ultrasound technology for medical use.
* Why is Nguyen Anh attracted to these extremely new biological techniques related to DNA and proteins?
– Since I was a child, I have been passionate about things related to the natural world. I like dinosaurs and am impressed when watching movies Dinosaur park. In the movie, many scientists used DNA technology to recreate extinct dinosaurs. Fantasy scenes have a great obsession with me.
When I went to school and was exposed to biology, I began to learn more about molecular structure. I learned about research that utilizes DNA and proteins - the ingredients of life - to challenge the very boundaries of life.
However, unlike other engineering fields, research on biological systems cannot be clearly predicted and there are many mysteries that even leading scientists do not fully understand.
The rate of failed studies also exceeds that of successes. Sometimes there are DNA or protein assembly steps, and despite many failures, some research groups still cannot explain where they went wrong.
Unexpected turn at Cambridge
* Referring to Cambridge University, perhaps everyone has heard of it. Many readers are quite curious what the learning environment is like at the world's most famous university like Cambridge?
– Surely everyone can imagine that it is not easy. Each year the school has three semesters: fall - winter - summer, each semester is very heavy.
The pressure came to me right from the first year of school when I had to complete semesters 1 and 2 in only 8 weeks/semester, and semester 3 in only 4 weeks. The amount of knowledge is huge. However, professors are often divided to support small groups of students, so it is also convenient for academic exchange.
My field of study at Cambridge was natural science, initially studied widely, then later I delved deeper into a specialized field. Initially, I chose to major in biology, but at the end of the first year I started to change direction.
I think if you want to become a good biologist, you will need to challenge yourself with a more qualitative perspective. So I switched to majoring in math and chemistry.
To this day, it is still one of my milestones. The direction in math and chemistry gives me the ability to calculate and confidence when facing numbers and difficult problems in biology.
The challenge for me is to study with friends who are very good at math and chemistry. But on the other hand, I am motivated by that "healthy competition".
* What is "healthy competition"?
– It's lucky for me that from elementary school until now, I've always had friends who can "healthy competition" with me.
They are extremely close friends, they study together, share knowledge, and discuss good working methods, but during exams and tests, they become opponents so that each person can have their own. can strive.
And another piece of luck is that these opponents are all better than me, from exams for excellent students at all levels, national excellent students to studying at Cambridge.
At Cambridge, my close friends and "healthy competition" were a Chinese student and an English student. You are all very talented and I also admire you. Therefore, I always have the motivation to try harder to catch up with the friends around me.
* It is known that Nguyen Anh also participates in managing many clubs at Cambridge University. How does Nguyen Anh balance her time?
– I am co-leader of a natural science club, vice president of a bioengineering club, and in charge of the fundraising department of a chemistry club. These clubs often organize knowledge sharing activities, often inviting speakers from major universities and businesses around the world to talk to students.
Club activities are a challenge for what you are lacking. When I was in high school, I only knew how to study, so I was more suited to an academic-heavy school like Cambridge than schools that wanted more well-rounded candidates like in the US.
Once I entered Cambridge, I wanted to take advantage of my time here for personal development challenges outside of academics.
Therefore, time management is always a pressure not only for me but probably for most other students. Most importantly, you need to know which tasks you will prioritize at any given time. I think this skill should be practiced early, maybe right from high school.
“King” award
During the period 2021-2024 at Cambridge University, Nguyen Anh won the Scholar Prize twice for excellent year-end exam results (2022 and 2023). In 2022, Nguyen Anh won a gold medal when participating in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) 2022 international research competition on synthetic biology.
In 2023, Nguyen Anh won the Ray Driver Prize from Cambridge University - for the second-year student with the best physical chemistry and theoretical chemistry achievements. Also this year, Nguyen Anh received the school's Haller Prize - awarded to 2 students with the best research and academic achievements to participate in a 2 summer exchange with Caltech.
“One of the best students”
Commenting on Nguyen Anh, Professor James Keeler - head of the Department of Chemistry, Cambridge University - said that Nguyen Anh always maintains high standards in the learning process. And Dr. Sergei Taraskin, mathematics lecturer at Cambridge University, commented that Nguyen Anh was one of the best students he taught during the school year. “Nguyen Anh has good motivation to learn with a clear attitude and deep understanding of what he learns. I am very punctual and disciplined. I am a very fast and deep learner and can easily absorb new concepts" - Dr. Sergei Taraskin said.
Sitting at a coffee shop talking about... science
* Can Nguyen Anh share more of his orientations in the near future?
– In the immediate future, research at Caltech. To me, this is an ideal research environment, a place very famous for new science and technology. The scale here is much smaller than MIT or Harvard, the whole institute only has about 2.000 students, but they all focus on science and technology.
Sitting in cafes on campus, you will hear people talking about research.
Nguyen Anh (sitting on the left) in a group discussion at Cambridge University - Photo: NVCC
My long-term orientation is to research biological techniques applied to life.
I think the task of a natural scientist in general is to understand how the world, such as the world of chemistry and physics, works. But a bioengineer will have one more urge, not just to "understand", but to be able to "master" and "apply" into practice.
After graduating, I will do post-doctoral research and eventually open a separate research laboratory to bring the latest biological techniques to life.
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