"PERSISTING IN PASSION, THE SWEET FRUITS WILL COME"

Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung, among the top 100 leading scientists in Asia, shares that by putting your utmost effort and pursuing your passion relentlessly, sweet rewards will surely come.

PGS.TS Lê Thị Kim Phụng In her heart of hearts, Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung desires to develop towards applied research, creating value to serve the people. She acknowledges that our country still faces many challenges. In the Mekong Delta region, for instance, many people lack access to clean drinking water. Why not create clean water for the people?

Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung (center), among the top 100 leading scientists in Asia

A bold Doctor born in the Year of the Cat

PGS.TS Lê Thị Kim PhụngAssociate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung, Vice Chair of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering at University of Technology (Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City), born in 1975 in Thua Thien - Hue into a farming family.

Reflecting on herself, the female associate professor born in the Year of the Cat considers herself a spirited individual, fond of surprises. This was evident from the outset when she chose to study at VNUHCM-University of Technology - a school that at the time was predominantly for boys. Subsequently, she proved that women can excel in engineering schools with a series of outstanding achievements.

Dr. Phung was awarded the Gold Medal in Chemical Engineering, topping her department with a perfect score of 10/10 for her thesis. With these achievements, Dr. Phung was retained as a faculty member at the university.

However, afterwards, Dr. Phung made another surprising decision for many: leaving the university to work in a company. She shared that at the time, the lecturer's salary was too low to support her family. Additionally, she had two siblings still in school, and her parents were farmers, burdening her with economic responsibilities. For these reasons, Dr. Phung wanted to work outside. Furthermore, she wanted to apply the knowledge she had gained to real-life situations.

However, external work proved monotonous; only when machines broke down did she have the opportunity to test her skills, leading her to feel bored. Unable to bear the dullness, despite being promoted to head of the technical department with opportunities for advancement, she decided to return to VNUHCM-University of Technology to pursue a master's degree. In 2023, she successfully defended her thesis on modeling and simulating chemical engineering processes - an area few pursue.

In 2004, Dr. Phung became a doctoral student at the University of Sheffield - a prestigious university in the UK - and successfully defended her doctoral thesis in 2008.

A scientist for the community

Coming from a farming family and studying at an engineering school, Dr. Phung's anguish and concern have always been about agricultural issues and how to improve the lives of rural farmers.

Immediately upon returning to Vietnam, Dr. Phung chose to research the production of biofuels from agricultural waste - utilizing renewable energy and biomass, converting agricultural waste into energy and usable materials.

In the world, this is not an entirely new direction. However, for Vietnam, few scientists are interested in and pursue this field. Particularly, Vietnam has potential in agricultural waste, so this research direction promises to address environmental, economic, and sustainable development issues.

The work required Dr. Phung to travel extensively, from local areas to factories, to fields, and to work abroad. This reduced her time with her family. Fortunately, she always received support from her family, which also strengthened family bonds.

"I know this is detrimental to my children and family, but it's also a way to create habits for family members to know how to support and love each other more," she said.

Despite the hardships and sacrifices, behind the efforts are achievements, and sweet fruits. Dr. Kim Phung has many research works with high applicability, successfully applied in practice to promote the development of high-tech agriculture in Vietnam, bringing value to the community. She has also been recognized and honored with numerous awards.

In 2016, Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung was selected for the ASEAN-US Science Prize for Women in the field of applied science.

In 2017, Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung was voted one of the top 100 leading scientists in Asia.

In 2019, Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung was listed among the 50 most influential women in Vietnam by Forbes Vietnam, particularly in the fields of science and education.

Most recently, in November, according to the announcement, Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung won the Asia Innovation Award from the Hitachi Global Foundation in 2022 with the work "Advanced Bio-based Aerogels from Agricultural Waste for Water Treatment - Manufacturing advanced Aerogel materials from agricultural waste for water treatment." The prize is worth 3 million yen, equivalent to about 540 million VND.

Aerogels are known as the lightest material in the world, with high functionality and application in many fields. Improved aerogel drying technology saves time and energy in production, improves material properties, can be upgraded to an industrial scale, and does not use chemical solvents like current technologies.

This award honors the research of Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung and her colleagues for developing high-performance cellulose aerogel materials from agricultural waste in an environmentally friendly and economically feasible manner.

Through her long research journey, Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung understands the difficulties and sacrifices of a woman in science. Therefore, she always shows special favor, encouragement, and encouragement to female students. According to Dr. Phung, women in science have many opportunities, so there is no need to worry about anything.

"If you put all your effort into pursuing your passion, sweet rewards will surely come," Dr. Phung shared.

Known as an inspirational figure, Dr. Phung shares that the purpose of her interviews with reporters is also for this reason, not to "glorify" herself or seek fame.

"When I appear in the news and women read it, who knows, I might indirectly inspire and motivate them, providing additional encouragement for them in science and in life," Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung said.

Associate Professor Dr. Le Thi Kim Phung shares that her success comes from the opportunities provided by the university and good facilities. According to her, having good conditions for scientific research is crucial. Even if a scientist is excellent, without a laboratory, they cannot do anything.

Source: Vietnamdaily

Original article: https://vietnamdaily.trithuccuocsong.vn/golf-doanh-nhan/pgsts-le-thi-kim-phung-cu-theo-duoi-tan-cung-dam-me-qua-ngot-se-toi-162427.html