Professor Ho Pham Minh Nhat (born 1989), a full-time researcher at the University of Texas at Austin (USA), has just been awarded the COPSS Emerging Leader Award 2026 – a prestigious award from the Council of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS), given to young scientists with outstanding contributions and leadership potential in the fields of statistics, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI).
According to COPSS, a maximum of eight scientists worldwide are honored each year after a rigorous selection process. This is the first time a Vietnamese scientist has received the award since its establishment.
The awards committee highly appreciates Professor Ho Pham Minh Nhat's pioneering contributions to building the statistical foundation for modern AI, especially his research on Mixture-of-Experts, Optimal Transport, and Efficient Parameter Fine-Tune (PEFT) theory for Foundation Models.
In addition, teaching activities, academic mentoring, and networking within the research community in Vietnam were also recognized.
Professor Ho Pham Minh Nhat, the first Vietnamese person to receive the COPSS Emerging Leader Award. (Photo: Provided by the author)
Speaking to a reporter from VTC News, the professor said his first reaction upon receiving the news was "deeply moved and grateful."
“Being named alongside the world’s most outstanding young scientists is a great honor that I never dared to dream of when I first started my research journey. What makes me most proud is seeing the words 'Vietnam' appear in the list of pioneers shaping the future of Statistics, Data Science, and AI globally,” Professor Nhat expressed.
According to the professor, the award is not only a personal milestone but also has strategic significance for the research direction he and his colleagues are pursuing.
Speaking about how he came to receive the award, the professor shared that it was the result of persistent curiosity and the support of outstanding colleagues in an international academic environment. He began his research journey with fundamental questions about the nature of data, then studied and worked at the University of Michigan (where he completed his PhD), the University of California, Berkeley (postdoctoral), and currently at the University of Texas at Austin.
"It was the constant debate, critique, and support from my teachers, colleagues, and students that helped my initial ideas become substantial research works ," Professor Nhat added.
Professor Ho Pham Minh Nhat currently works at the Machine Learning Laboratory and the Institute for Foundations of Machine Learning at the University of Texas at Austin – one of the world's leading academic centers for AI and machine learning. Since 2020, he has focused on modern AI research, making significant contributions to the global wave of innovation in Data Science.
With over 110 scientific papers published in leading conferences and journals such as ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR, CVPR, AAAI, JMLR, Annals of Statistics, an h-index of 35, and over 4,000 citations, Professor Ho Pham Minh Nhat is considered one of the outstanding figures of the younger generation of scientists in the fields of statistics, data science, and machine learning.
Previously, he also received numerous international research awards and was frequently invited to speak at major scientific conferences around the world. Besides his international research activities, Professor Ho Pham Minh Nhat maintains close ties with the domestic scientific community.
COPSS is a leading academic organization in the field of statistics and data science, bringing together major associations such as the American Statistical Association (ASA), the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS), ENAR, WNAR, and SSC.
The Emerging Leader Award is given to scientists within the next 10 years after their doctorate, to honor outstanding contributions in theory, application, and leadership that help shape the future of statistics, data science, and AI globally.
Le Thu
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/giao-su-viet-dau-tien-nhan-giai-thuong-danh-gia-nganh-thong-ke-ai-toan-cau-ar1001867.html
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