Outstanding young Vietnamese scientist in Korea wanted to give up many times

Having thought about giving up many times due to both academic and language pressure, Nguyen Duc Anh, a PhD student at Korea University of Science and Technology, was recently named in the top 3 'Outstanding Young Vietnamese Scientists in Korea'.

Nguyen Duc Anh spoke at the award ceremony "Outstanding Young Vietnamese Scientists in Korea 2025" held recently at Yonsei University, Korea.

PHOTO: NVCC

The moment he stood on stage to give his award speech in front of many leading professors and the young Vietnamese intellectual community at Yonsei University - one of the most prestigious schools in Korea - Duc Anh, 28 years old, said he was "both moved and deeply grateful". Because behind the young scientist's achievements is a long journey full of sleepless nights of simulation, model adjustment, and many times he wanted to "surrender".

Passion from aircraft engine dissection

His 7-year journey of pursuing engineering began when Duc Anh, then a student at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, was able to directly "dissect" an aircraft engine. From the miniature compressor, he saw the similarities between the rotating blades of a fan, a water pump and a ship's propeller.

"When I disassembled and reassembled each part myself, I realized that if I knew in depth about one device, I could decode the principles of many other devices," Duc Anh shared. From that moment, he chose to pursue the turbomachinery industry, specializing in researching compressors, turbines and rotary vane systems.

Due to limited laboratory conditions in the country, after graduating from Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Duc Anh decided to continue his doctoral studies in Korea, with the desire to bring the best techniques from that country to develop in Vietnam.

"But when I first came to Korea, my foreign language skills were not good, and I struggled with everything. There was no Vietnamese person in the lab to ask questions, so I felt very difficult and constantly thought about returning home," Duc Anh recalled.

The difficulties did not stop there. During the research, he had to repeatedly "smash and rebuild" the entire report despite continuous testing, or the numerical simulations were completely different from the experimental results, forcing him and the professor to change the entire blade model just a few hours before the report. "Those times made me lose sleep, but in the end the results were worth it," he said.

Duc Anh first dissected an aircraft combustion engine

PHOTO: NVCC

Associate Professor Dr. Dinh Cong Truong, Duc Anh's instructor during his time at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, commented that his student always knew how to listen, research on his own, and "completed work with almost absolute reliability." Duc Anh was also the first student his instructor had a scientific paper published on cooling jet turbine blades in the SCIE/Q2 journal right before graduation.

The secret can be summed up in three words: try - organize - persevere.

Duc Anh said that the first two years in the land of kimchi were a series of days racing with the steps of experimental simulation verification (validation), because even a small deviation in the results would force him to start over from the beginning. "The first steps are often difficult because errors can appear, leading to having to try many different methods and models over and over again. Therefore, to publish an article in an international scientific journal at this stage, it took me 1 to 2 years," he said.

But once he had built a "validation" data system and gained a deeper understanding of his expertise, his research progress changed significantly. Thanks to the super-large computer system that supports running multiple ideas at the same time, the time to complete an international article was reduced to 3-5 months. Thanks to that, his publications appeared regularly in prestigious international journals.

Among the published studies, Duc Anh most appreciates the work "Overview of methods to increase efficiency and reduce cavitation in hydro turbomachinery (rotary propeller machines in water environment)". The article not only systematizes all existing ideas in the world but also proposes many new directions to increase efficiency for researchers, selected by the editorial board of the international journal as the outstanding group of the week.

In addition, his reports at conferences also attracted much attention from researchers. At a conference in the Czech Republic, his presentation on advanced numerical simulation techniques received many discussion questions, especially around the problem of reducing computational time and costs in complex models. Immediately after the conference, the organizing committee invited Duc Anh to publish articles in international scientific journals.

Duc Anh (center) received the award with two other young Vietnamese scientists.

PHOTO: NVCC

Thanks to his outstanding contributions, along with 6 Q1 articles in the ISI category and 2 Scopus articles in the past year, Duc Anh was nominated for the "Young Vietnamese Scientists in Korea" award hosted by the Vietnamese Student Association in Korea. "At first, I just wanted to know where I stood to try harder. When I knew my name was in the top 3, I was really surprised and happy," he said emotionally.

According to Duc Anh, this award is not only a personal achievement but also a reminder of a larger goal: Bringing the knowledge accumulated in Korea back to contribute to the Vietnamese aviation and maritime industry. In addition, the male expert also aims to conquer the Golden Globe award hosted by the Central Youth Union.

Along with his research achievements, Duc Anh was also recognized as an excellent student at the Korea University of Science and Technology for two consecutive years. To achieve his current achievements, for Duc Anh, the secret is summarized in three words: try - arrange - persevere.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nha-khoa-hoc-tre-viet-nam-xuat-sac-tai-han-quoc-tung-nhieu-lan-muon-bo-cuoc-185251206090321171.htm