From the pain of loss at the age of 18 to the title of Outstanding Young Citizen of Ho Chi Minh City.

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - From a family tragedy at the age of 18 to weekly failed AI models, Vo Ngoc Minh Anh did not give up. The "Vietnamese Science and Technology Student" chose to believe in science, moving forward with discipline and determination.

Vo Ngoc Minh Anh (born in 2004, Ho Chi Minh City) was recently honored by the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union as one of the 12 Outstanding Young Citizens of Ho Chi Minh City in 2025. In the same year, she was one of 20 female students to receive the "Vietnamese Female Science and Technology Student 2025" award presented by the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union.

At 21 years old, this young woman is getting acquainted with her role as an artificial intelligence (AI) engineer and a member of the AIoT Lab Vietnam, while also being a fourth-year student majoring in Information Technology, Data Science, at the Faculty of Science, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City.

Turning 18 and those days of suffocating pressure.

Looking at Vo Ngoc Minh Anh's impressive academic record, few would know that this Gen Z girl once experienced a turbulent beginning. Behind her academic achievements lies a precarious period that she describes as "suffocating pressure, but with no room to stop."

Born into a struggling working-class family, this female student still excelled and enrolled in a "hot" major at the University of Natural Sciences.

However, just as she started university, her father passed away from cancer, her mother became seriously ill, and Minh Anh had to struggle to balance her studies with the worries of making ends meet.

To stay in control of her dream, she worked as a tutor while also taking on small tech projects.

"There were days when I was exhausted and confused about the future," she recalled. However, it was the pain of that loss that forged Minh Anh into a resilient young woman.

Vo Ngoc Minh Anh is passionate about scientific research, eager to prove herself and overcome the invisible prejudices against women in the field of science and technology (Photo: Provided by the interviewee).

The female student silently told herself, "I won't allow myself to give up, because if I stop, all the efforts and sacrifices of my family and those who have believed in me will become meaningless."

The girl also said she was lucky to receive the VietSeeds scholarship, which not only provided financial support throughout her four years of university but also helped her develop skills and receive guidance from a mentor.

However, for Vo Ngoc Minh Anh, the scholarship is not the end point, but a stepping stone to continue her journey, through discipline, hard work, and responsibility towards the path she has chosen.

"Standing still" AI models and the lesson of never giving up.

Despite starting with determination, the path was not easy. In her Data Science major, Minh Anh soon faced the harsh reality that female students were always in the "minority" among their male classmates.

Courses in algorithms, programming, and artificial intelligence, already demanding, are now even more stressful due to the persistence of prejudices against women in engineering.

Minh Anh recalled that, right from the final days of high school when choosing her college preferences, many discouraging comments appeared: "It's hard for girls to have a sustainable career in technology," "this field is only suitable for men"...

She started from scratch, struggling with her first lines of code and grappling with complex algorithms. Throughout her research journey, there were times when she doubted herself.

Minh Anh (in the blue shirt, in the middle) at the AI ​​Hackathon 2025 competition; the female student won second prize in this competition (Photo: Provided by the subject).

There were models that Minh Anh built and trained for weeks on end, but the results were not as expected, or even showed no positive signs at all.

The difficulties lay not only in the algorithm, but also in the lack of data, limited computing resources, and the extended timeframe. The female student had to run the same model repeatedly, adjusting every small parameter, but the results remained unchanged.

"The biggest pressure at that time wasn't the technical failure, but the feeling that all the effort seemed to go unrewarded," the young girl lamented.

She used to wonder if she had the ability to pursue a research career seriously and long-term.

However, instead of giving up, the young woman from Ho Chi Minh City learned to approach the problem slowly and systematically. She broke down the problem, going back to check everything from the data, preprocessing, initial assumptions, to how to evaluate the results.

Through her initial failures, the female student understood that in scientific research, effort doesn't always yield immediate results. Failure is not the end, but an inevitable part of the process of discovering knowledge.

Difficulties in terms of conditions or resources forced her to learn more, be more disciplined, and cultivate patience, critical thinking, and the belief that, as long as she didn't give up, each slow step was bringing her closer to the right solution.

Despite not having graduated from university yet, Minh Anh already has a full-time job and her life has improved thanks to her passion for science (Photo: Provided by the interviewee).

Furthermore, Minh Anh received support from her teachers and mentors, proactively exchanged ideas with friends in her research group, and sought out open-source materials and code from the international community to learn how those who came before her had overcome similar problems. Some errors were very small, but when corrected, they opened up entirely new approaches.

Vo Ngoc Minh Anh has conducted numerous research projects, published internationally, and achieved many outstanding accomplishments, including: The Best Research Award at The 8th International Student Science Forum 2024 (ISSF 2024), first prize at the UIT Data Science Challenge 2023, and second prize at the AI ​​Hackathon 2025.

The female student is also the author and co-author of 8 scientific papers on chatbots and intelligent recommendation systems for Vietnamese people…

Women in AI: A minority, but not insignificant.

She was once told: "Opportunity is at your door, but if you keep closing it because of fear or self-doubt, no one else will be able to step in for you."

That statement made the girl born in 2004 realize that other people's trust only truly matters when she dares to open the door and receive it.

Minh Anh realized that her efforts weren't about proving she was better than anyone else, but about affirming a truth: Science is a fair playing field. There, results are judged by ability and practical value, not by gender.

This fueled her desire to become stronger, to assert herself, and to overcome the invisible prejudices against women in the field of science and technology.

By choosing this path, she understood that she was not only learning for herself, but also walking in a space where women are often doubted regarding their abilities, perseverance, and long-term suitability.

Therefore, upon receiving the honor, Minh Anh emotionally shared: “I am truly moved and grateful. This is not just a title, but an affirmation for young people, especially women, who are venturing into science and technology – a field that requires much perseverance and courage.”

Minh Anh has won many prestigious awards for students (Photo: Provided by the interviewee).

For her, it was a milestone that reinforced her belief that women can absolutely pursue, master, and create sustainable value in science and technology, if given the opportunity and trust.

At the same time, this also motivates female students to continue studying, researching, and contributing even more, not only to their own expertise but also to spreading a positive image of women in the fields of science, technology, and innovation in Vietnam.

Minh Anh calls these accolades spiritual milestones, helping her dare to open doors to opportunities, participate in real projects, academic competitions, and AI research papers – where abilities are evaluated fairly, regardless of background or gender.

It was the support of those around me, along with the belief that women can absolutely excel and have long-term careers in science, that helped me gradually reach milestones such as the "Vietnamese Female Student in Science and Technology Award" and the "Outstanding Young Citizen of Ho Chi Minh City" award today.

Vo Ngoc Minh Anh, Student at the Faculty of Science, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City

A humane AI dream for the Vietnamese people.

Guided by mentor Le Anh Tien (Golden Globe Award 2015), Minh Anh understands that "the value of technology cannot be separated from practice and people."

In addition, she was also instilled with a spirit of discipline and seriousness in her chosen path, as she was told: "To become an expert in a field, you need at least 10,000 hours of serious work. When you slack off, the world continues to move forward."

It was these frank and realistic insights that helped her become more aware of the importance of valuing time, persevering in her studies, and steadfastly pursuing science and technology in a long-term, responsible, and people-centered manner.

Looking ahead to the next five years, Minh Anh hopes to develop interdisciplinary AI, where AI can deeply understand human behavior, context, and emotions, rather than just optimizing algorithms.

"The value of AI lies not in replacing humans, but in supporting humans to make better decisions and be more understood," shared a distinguished female citizen of Ho Chi Minh City.

Her big dream is to build a humane AI system using Vietnamese data and context, so that technology becomes approachable and trustworthy, a companion instead of a cold, emotionless machine.

In the long term, she hopes to contribute to the sustainable development of Vietnamese science and technology in the new era, where research is inseparable from practice, technology is closely linked to people, and young people are given the opportunity to venture, experiment, and pursue their chosen path to the end.

Dr. Le Duy Tan, who works alongside her at AIoT Lab VN, shared: "Minh Anh doesn't have the advantage of resources, but she has a strong learning spirit. She works with AI not just for herself, but to create value for the community."

Student Vo Ngoc Minh Anh and Dr. Le Duy Tan, lecturer at the Faculty of Information Technology, International University - Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Huyen Anh).

According to Dr. Le Duy Tan, Minh Anh being honored as one of the 20 outstanding female science and technology students in Vietnam and an outstanding young citizen of Ho Chi Minh City at the age of 21 is a well-deserved recognition of both her research capabilities and her humanitarian spirit in her scientific journey.

In a message to young people, Minh Anh shared: “Don’t wait until you’re ready to start, because no one is truly ready for their own great journey. Dare to try, dare to make mistakes, and do it genuinely, starting with small projects. Spread kindness and share knowledge, because technology only has meaning when it creates good things for the community.”

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/tu-noi-dau-mat-mat-nam-18-tuoi-den-danh-hieu-cong-dan-tre-tieu-bieu-tphcm-20260121004724444.htm