Vietnamese PhD at world's leading xAI research center returns to Vietnam to teach

Ho Chi Minh City National University has just approved 16 international professors and experts to teach and research under the visiting professor program. Among them, many come from the world's leading prestigious universities such as Harvard Medical School (USA), University of Toronto (Canada), Technical University of Munich (Germany), Georgetown University (USA), Institute of Advanced Science and Technology (Japan)... In particular, there is Dr. Pham Hy Hieu who works at the world's leading research center xAI (USA) on teaching and research.

Dr. Viet at xAI is a former student of Gifted High School.

Dr. Pham Hy Hieu, a former student of the Gifted High School (Ho Chi Minh City National University), is currently a technical member at xAI (USA), and is one of the first 16 scientists approved by the advisory board of the visiting professor program at Ho Chi Minh City National University.

Previously, Dr. Hieu graduated with honors in Computer Science from Stanford University 2011–2015 (USA) and was awarded the Ben Wegbreit Prize for the best honorary thesis.

Dr. Hieu is currently a technical member at xAI (from August 2024). Here, he participates in optimizing the attention kernel for the Grok-3 model. Previously, he was a researcher at Augment Computing Company (March 2023–July 2024), making an important contribution to bringing the company from the start-up stage to a valuation of 1 billion USD. He also worked at Google Brain (April 2020–March 2023) as a researcher, and held the position of Associate Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering - National University of Singapore (April 2021–March 2023).

Dr. Hieu said that after 15 years of graduation, he often meets his old teachers and friends. Maintaining these relationships makes him always think about the school he attended and often wonders if he can do something to contribute to the school, the place that gave wings to his youthful dreams, but he still hasn't thought of a truly meaningful way.

In December 2024, when Mr. Hieu had the opportunity to return to Ho Chi Minh City for a vacation, Dr. Tran Nam Dung - Vice Principal of the Gifted High School created an opportunity for him to meet Associate Professor Vu Hai Quan - Director of Ho Chi Minh City National University. After a friendly meal, Associate Professor Vu Hai Quan shared about the goals of the visiting professor program. Mr. Hieu felt that the program would create conditions for him to contribute to the school.

According to Dr. Pham Hy Hieu, visiting professor is an interesting position in academia. This position creates conditions for many people to contribute to universities, without creating difficult constraints such as having to raise research funds or having to participate in teaching.

Dr. Pham Hy Hieu is a visiting professor at Ho Chi Minh City National University. Photo: VNU

The VNU-HCM Visiting Professorship Program also allows them to collaborate while living and working abroad. This flexibility will attract more overseas scientists to participate in the program.

Dr. Pham Hy Hieu wants to share his research and working experience with lecturers and students as well as listen to them about practical issues in Vietnam's AI environment.

Dr. Pham Hy Hieu's goal is to create conditions for students to be exposed to the latest and most practical research directions in AI. Second, he wants to find out what difficulties and challenges AI research at Ho Chi Minh City National University often encounters. Lack of investment capital, lack of output for research, or lack of direction, or a combination of the above problems, or other content. Through studying these problems, combined with his expertise, Dr. Hieu wants to help AI research at Ho Chi Minh City National University develop further. Dr. Pham Hy Hieu will teach and research at the University of Natural Sciences and the University of Information Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University).

Harvard University Associate Professor to Teach and Do Research

Among the 16 approved candidates is Professor Barbara Rose Gottlieb, currently an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.

Barbara has been working with colleagues through the Health Advancement in Vietnam (HAIVN) project since 2017. She initially participated in developing clinical experiences for medical students, modeled after the Harvard Medical School Practice of Medicine course. Her role has expanded to include joining the HAIVN leadership team, contributing to medical education development, faculty training, and strategic planning.

In 2022, Barbara became co-director of a collaborative learning group to promote medical education reform at three medical schools along the Mekong River: Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Vietnam), Puthisastra University (Phnom Penh, Cambodia), and the University of Health Sciences (Vientiane, Laos).

“I am available to conduct monthly remote training sessions on medical education topics, including curriculum design, professional development, assessment methods, teacher training, communication skills, and care of vulnerable patients. In addition, I am available to conduct face-to-face training sessions in Vietnam, including large-scale workshops and individual training sessions for teachers,” Barbara shared.

Ms. Barbara will research and teach at the University of Health Sciences (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City) and wants to accompany the school on topics related to student health, career development, communication skills and care for vulnerable patient groups.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/tien-si-pham-hy-hieu-o-trung-tam-nghien-cuu-hang-dau-the-gioi-xai-ve-nuoc-2393643.html