VinFuture Prize 2024 winner inspires passion for science in young people

NDO - After the emotional award ceremony, on the morning of December 7, the winners of the VinFuture 2024 Award had a meaningful exchange with hundreds of audiences including students, young scientists, and the startup community at VinUni University.

VinFuture Prize 2024 winning scientists inspire the younger generation

The 2024 VinFuture Prize winners share their research journeys, challenges, and inspirations for their scientific careers. Many paths lead to science . At the beginning, the professors shared about the turning points in their lives that led them to engage in scientific research. Professor Kristi S. Anseth, winner of the 2024 VinFuture Special Prize for Women Scientists, said that she started her career in chemistry, researching water filtration systems, and then switched to biomedical engineering to solve problems related to human health. "I find inspiration in collaborating with colleagues to solve innovation challenges. The important thing is that we always keep learning," she shared.

Professor Kristi S. Anseth interacts with young people.

Giving advice to young students just starting their research career, Professor Kristi S. Anseth said: "Students should always be curious, not be afraid to ask questions and not be afraid of being judged by others." Professor Michel Sadelain, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA, co-winner of the special prize for scientists researching new fields, shared about his path to researching CAR-T cell therapy to effectively treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. "I studied epidemiology at first. At first, I didn't know what was right. But curiosity and a thirst for knowledge led me to switch to the clinical field and innovate myself in the clinical field," Mr. Michel Sadelain shared. Professor Carl H. June, co-winner of the special prize for scientists researching new fields and the "father" of CAR-T cell therapy, had a surprising journey when he left the military to pursue medicine. "I never thought I would pursue this field because no one in my family studied medicine," he said. Professor Carl H. June emphasized the importance of taking risks and perseverance: "Opportunities sometimes appear unexpectedly. The important thing is to be ready to seize them and always be open to challenges." He also shared a touching story about the world's first patient to be successfully treated with CAR-T cell therapy. That was a girl named Emily, who was only 7 years old at the time and had no hope of being cured. "14 years later, she is still healthy and her leukemia is gone. She is now continuing her research at Stanford University," he said. 25 years ago, Professor Carl H. June's idea was considered unrealistic because it involved gene modification, but thanks to his perseverance and caution, "miracles have happened" and many cancer patients have been successfully treated. Professor Yann LeCun, Director of Meta AI Research, shared at the exchange. Before success, AI went through a cold "winter"

Professor Yann LeCun: "AI was once considered dead".

At the exchange, two famous scientists, Professor Yoshua Bengio and Professor Yann LeCun, the winners of the VinFuture 2024 Main Prize, discussed and answered questions about machine learning and artificial intelligence. In the 1990s, the period known as the "AI winter", was a time when the scientific community doubted the potential of artificial intelligence. "30 years ago, many people did not care about AI, even forgot about it, and AI was considered dead. But in fact, many AI methods started in the 1950s," Professor Yann LeCun recalled. He said that interest in AI has always fluctuated like that. In the late 1960s, machine learning was almost dead, but that field continued to be researched. At that time, it was not really called machine learning, let alone AI. Everything was just a change in tradition, at that time it was simply called a filter or a way of recording statistics. Professor Yoshua Bengio said that he and his colleagues at that time were still determined to pursue a long-term vision, despite not being widely supported: "Very few people believed in us, but it was the sharing of a common goal that helped us continue the journey." Both scientists said that during their research, they did not think that AI could go that far. Professor Yoshua Bengio recalled: "I did not think AI could change society. At that time, I focused on promoting learning about neural networks. I did not think that far." "In 1980, I also wrote a research report, but in fact, I did not think that deeply. The idea was simply to find the secret of intelligence. I could not think of creating intelligent AI, at first it was just a learning system," Professor Yann LeCun recalled. When asked about their motivation to become scientists, both professors emphasized the importance of thinking and curiosity. Professor Bengio encourages the younger generation: “Don’t be afraid to venture into different fields. Research is a journey of discovery, it may not bring immediate results, but it is important to diversify ideas and not be afraid of failure.” Professor LeCun suggests a breakthrough approach: “Ask yourself: Is there anything that humanity has not done? Is there anything that AI has not solved to bring humanity to new heights?” Professor LeCun believes that the coming decades will be the era of robots and AI. Students need to take advantage of AI to work smarter, and learn to understand problems deeply instead of just relying on ready-made answers. Regarding ensuring safety when AI becomes smarter, Professor LeCun is optimistic: “AI is just a tool. We need to orient AI to serve humans, just like we did with airplanes - increasingly safer.” Meanwhile, Professor Bengio warned: “If we program AI to protect its own interests, AI can behave in an undesirable way. This is a big challenge that needs to be thoroughly solved.” Professor Bengio shared with students: “Find ways to apply AI to real life. Science needs to serve the community, and you are the ones to do that.”

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