Prestigious schools call out names
Nguyen Vu Thien Trang (born in 2001, Hanoi) received not one but two doctoral scholarships from two different departments of Carnegie Mellon University: the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
In addition, Trang also received admission letters with scholarships to study Computer Science from the University of California - Los Angeles, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Swiss Federal Polytechnic University EPFL (Switzerland).
Nguyen Vu Thien Trang and her parents on graduation day at Hanoi University of Science and Technology, October 2024.
Thien Trang spent a lot of time talking to seniors from different schools, because every school is strong and gathers talented people. Finally, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is the place Trang feels is most suitable to pursue her passion.
According to US News & World Report, CMU holds the second position (tied with Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT) in the 2025 Ranking of the best universities for computer science in the US, after Stanford University. The average salary of a CMU computer science graduate is $251,632/year.
In August 2025, Thien Trang will go to the US to do a PhD in Computer Science with a full scholarship worth 400,000 USD (more than 10 billion VND) for 5 years.
As soon as she received her acceptance letter on the evening of February 7, Thien Trang immediately showed it off to her parents. Her parents had supported her since the very first days of her decision to pursue this path. Besides joy and gratitude, the Vietnamese girl was also filled with excitement and nervousness.
“ Wow, this is a tough match, but I really like it! Going to a completely new country and studying for a PhD at CMU - a prestigious school, where many talents gather - will be a difficult but interesting challenge,” Trang confided. Carnegie Mellon University is also located in Pennsylvania, home to Trang’s favorite basketball team, the Philadelphia 76ers.
A former student of the Foreign Language High School, Hanoi National University with an average score of 9.3/10, Trang was equipped with a solid English foundation when she switched to pursuing Data Science and AI at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Thanks to her foreign language ability, Trang easily accessed and learned international research projects.
Thien Trang started doing research in her second year of university and her dream of going to higher education was born from there. With her passion and impressive scientific research ability, Trang became the main author of many research works published at conferences and leading journals.
In 2023 and 2024, Trang published 8 papers at prestigious research conferences such as NeurIPS, AAAI and ICLR. These studies focus on solving the problem: How can AI learn and adapt like humans; while ensuring privacy, security, safety and trust for users.
Thien Trang in Vinhomes Ocean Park 2 campus, September 2024.
Choose reverse thinking
When applying for a PhD, Thien Trang did not think in the direction of "Why should people choose me?", but rather "Is there any reason why people would not want to choose me?" It was this reverse way of thinking that helped Thien Trang overcome all the weaknesses in her application, easily conquering the admissions boards of the world's top universities.
Trang's motto is to do well in research, keep her grades stable, ensure good English and well-written essays.
In her essay, the Vietnamese girl convinced the admissions committee by sharing her future research orientation, aiming for an AI that is not only intelligent but also reliable, ensuring safety, security, high efficiency and the ability to continuously learn.
"Jokingly, I built a house, worked as a security guard, researched ways to make AI stronger, and made sure it wasn't... trapped," Trang shared.
Ms. Vu Thi Lan, Thien Trang's mother, said that from the moment her daughter chose Hanoi University of Science and Technology and the Information Technology major, she and her husband were hesitant and worried.
“Such a big school and such a difficult major, with such a small body, the distance from home to school is 10 km, I am afraid Trang will have a hard time overcoming. But with her confidence and determination, her parents must respect and trust her decision,” she said. After entering school, she realized the pressure of studying was great, often staying up late, hair loss a lot but Trang is always optimistic to overcome difficulties with her love of science.
Trang's parents love her and can only silently encourage her, taking care of her every meal and sleep. And now, not only has Trang graduated with honors from Hanoi University of Science and Technology, she has also won a scholarship to pursue a PhD at her dream school.
"When we received the first results from our child, we were surprised, happy, and proud of her," said Trang's father, Nguyen Khac Thuy, emotionally.
In the future, Thien Trang affirms to continue developing research in the field of AI and become an expert in this field.
Mr. Ho Pham Minh Nhat, a first-level professor in Data Science, Statistics and Machine Learning at the University of Texas - Austin, USA, who has been Thien Trang's mentor since she started her internship at VinAI Research, commented that Trang has increasingly transformed herself in terms of independence and initiative in her work.
“One of the areas I am currently guiding her in is the mixed expert model, which is also one of the topics she will continue to work on when she goes to CMU for her PhD. This model is also a key model in the Deepseek language model - a large open-source language model with almost the best results currently. Thanks to her diligence and perseverance, Trang's articles in this direction have been accepted at leading conferences on machine learning and artificial intelligence, receiving many positive reviews from the community,” Nhat shared.
Dr. Ngo Van Linh, lecturer at the School of Information and Communication Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, talked about Trang's passion for research and her fearlessness. Many times, he received messages from her at 2-3 am, because Trang was struggling to find the optimal solution to the problem she was researching.
“Not only is Trang intelligent and creative, she also has remarkable perseverance. She does not accept superficial answers but always wants to thoroughly understand the nature of the problem. Her achievements today do not come from luck but are the result of a process of perseverance, serious learning and dedication,” said Mr. Linh.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/nu-sinh-gianh-hoc-bong-tien-si-toan-phan-10-ty-vao-dh-top-1-my-quyet-lam-chu-ai-ar929605.html
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