From silver medalist in International Math Olympiad to female PhD with aspirations to develop AI

'In Japan, the things I cannot do, many other people can do. The things I can do for students in Vietnam are probably more meaningful,' Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Phi Le shared the reason for refusing to stay in Japan to teach.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Phi Le - Photo: NVCC

Since 2019, many students of Hanoi University of Science and Technology have become quite familiar with the image of Ms. Phi Le in the research room accompanying students in scientific research. However, in order to be in this position to accompany students, she once refused an invitation to become a lecturer at a university in Japan to return home.

Choose where more people need you

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Phi Le, 42 years old, is currently the director of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence Research and Application (AI4LIFE), a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, School of Information Technology and Communications, Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Previously, in 2000, when she was a student at Lam Son High School for the Gifted (Thanh Hoa), she won a silver medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO 2000), becoming one of 11 Vietnamese female students to win medals in the history of IMO competitions. In college, she chose to study the gifted program in electronics and telecommunications at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. After her first year, she received a scholarship from the Japanese Government and studied information and communication technology at the University of Tokyo, graduating with honors in 2007 and a master's degree in 2010. "I wanted to return because I thought I could do the job anywhere, not necessarily in a place with good conditions. Each place has a different role, the important thing is to do your role well. Therefore, I decided to return to Vietnam," Phi Le shared. In 2010, when she returned to Vietnam, she started working at Viettel's research and development center. However, after a while, she felt that this job was not suitable for her inclination, so she returned to Hanoi University of Science and Technology to pursue research and teaching until now.

Ms. Nguyen Phi Le at the doctoral graduation ceremony - Photo: NVCC

In 2016, she returned to Japan to do PhD research, becoming the best student at the National Institute of Informatics in Japan in 2018; in 2019, she received a PhD in Information Technology from the National Institute of Informatics in Japan. This is also the second time Ms. Phi Le has had to choose between staying or returning. "In Japan, I can be like a grain of sand, if I don't do it, someone else can. The things I can do for my students in Vietnam are probably more meaningful. For those reasons, I turned down this rare opportunity. Up to now, I still think my decision was the right one," Ms. Phi Le said. Welcoming students into the research group from zero Refusing the opportunity to become a lecturer at a university in Japan, in 2019, Ms. Phi Le returned to Vietnam and continued to do research and teaching at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

She said that she rarely sets long-term goals because she doesn't have time to think and there are many things ahead that need to be done right away. At this time, because the research group has no students participating, in the first semester she went to class to "promote" to help students understand what the research group will do to "recruit students". This is also the only semester she does this, in the following semesters students spread the word and apply to join her research group. She said that in the field of artificial intelligence, new models and new techniques are born almost every day, without a guide, it is very difficult for students to keep up, sometimes they can be confused and not know where to start. To support students in conducting effective research, she called on her friends who are Vietnamese professors and researchers working around the world to join in guiding students. Each student entering the research group will work with at least one professor abroad with dedicated and close guidance.

Ms. Phi Le (right) and her research team went on a field trip to the project of applying AI in agriculture - Photo: NVCC

Ms. Phi Le said that for the information technology industry, students who want to do good scientific research must have a good foundation in mathematics, good logical thinking, and especially must love research. Because scientific research is a job that requires perseverance, hard work and hardship and is often difficult to make money immediately; on the contrary, research requires a lot of investment and research products cannot always be sold. There are times when students participate in research but cannot "make money", Ms. Phi Le often has to take money from her salary and personal topics to support students.

Ms. Nguyen Phi Le and her students celebrate her birthday at the lab - Photo: NVCC

She admitted that sometimes she felt sad and sorry for herself when almost no students stayed with the group for a long time. When they came to the research group, they knew nothing, from zero, until they were relatively proficient in research skills, they had to go away to learn new things. "This cycle repeats itself, requiring us to be patient and sometimes to have the ability to endure. In about 4-5 years, hopefully the first batch of students studying abroad will return, if any of them continue to work with me, this would be a very happy thing," said Ms. Phi Le.

Working space at AI4LIFE - Photo: NVCC

Ms. Phi Le is currently leading a research group of more than 30 talented undergraduates, masters and PhD students at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Her research group has had more than 120 publications in many prestigious journals and conferences, including Neurips, ICML, EMNLP, ECML, IPDPS, ComNet, Comcom, JNCA, IEEE Sensors, ACM TOSN. Ms. Phi Le has also won many outstanding paper awards at prestigious conferences, including ISSNIP'14, SoICT'15 and ICT-DM'19, CCGrid 2023 and CANDAR 2023.

Key positions to promote AI development in Vietnam

In March 2021, Ms. Phi Le was appointed as the director of the International Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (BKAI), and in October 2024, she was assigned to run the Institute for Research and Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI4LIFE). The Institute for Research and Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI4LIFE) has the mission of researching AI and applying research results in practice, coordinating with businesses and state agencies to solve practical problems. In addition, the institute has the mission of participating in postgraduate training, expanding cooperation with units around the world to promote interdisciplinary AI research and application at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

Nguyen Bao - Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tu-giai-bac-olympic-toan-quoc-te-den-nu-tien-si-mang-khat-vong-phat-trien-ai-20241119230829415.htm