Apr
29

VISHC FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES – COHORT 2025

Author: Tran Le Hai

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE VISHC FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES – COHORT 2025!

VISHC is delighted to congratulate the 10 outstanding students and researchers who have been awarded scholarships of up to USD 25,000 per year for PhD programs and USD 20,000 per year for Master’s programs (including a USD 13,000 cost of education allowance) under the VISHC Fellowship – Cohort 2025.

For more information about the VISHC Fellowship, please read here.

These fellowships mark a significant academic milestone as the recipients prepare to pursue their PhD and master’s programs at UIUC, one of the world’s leading research universities.

These awards recognize the outstanding academic achievements of VISHC’s students and also affirm VISHC’s enduring mission to support and empower young Vietnamese talents.

At VISHC, we are committed not only to opening new pathways but also to creating and connecting opportunities that help students unlock their full potential and thrive in world-class research environments.

Once again, congratulations to all VISHC Fellowship recipients – Cohort 2025!

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is a public research university in Illinois, U.S., that was founded in 1867. With over 35,000 undergraduate and 20,500 graduate students, UIUC is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the U.S.. The university contains 16 schools and colleges and offers more than 150 undergraduate and over 100 graduate programs of study. The university holds 651 buildings on 2,578 ha and its annual operating budget in 2016 was over $2 billion. The alumni, faculty members, or researchers of the university have been awarded 24 Nobel Prizes, 29 Pulitzer Prizes, and the Fields Medal in Mathematics. According to the U.S News & World Report’s Graduate and Undergraduate Rankings, the Grainger College of Engineering at UIUC is ranked 5th in undergraduate and 11th in graduate overall. The graduate programs in Agricultural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Materials Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering are all ranked in the top 5.

 

VISHC Fellowship – Cohort 2025


 

🎓 MASTER’S FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES

NGUYEN MINH TUAN

Ph.D. Student, Computer Science, VinUniversity
Master’s Student, Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interest

My research focuses on Trustworthy Machine Learning and Machine Learning Systems, with a particular focus on privacy-preserving AI and federated learning. I aim to design secure and efficient algorithms that can be deployed in real-world applications while ensuring data privacy and integrity and minimizing computational costs. Additionally, I work on making machine learning models deployable in resource-constrained environments. My research also explores the intersection of machine learning and security, intending to create systems resilient to adversarial attacks and other potential vulnerabilities.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, University of Engineering and Technology, Vietnam National University (Hanoi)

Achievements

  • 2023: Ph.D. Scholarship, VinUniversity
  • 2019: Second Place, National Mathematics Contest for University Students
  • 2017: Second Place, ICPC Vietnam National Programming Contest
  • First author and co-author of several research publications in Q1 journals and A* conferences

I am profoundly grateful to the Vingroup Scholarship Program for their generous support, which has played a vital role in my pursuit of an M.S. in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign—one of the world’s leading institutions in the field. This opportunity has not only alleviated financial pressures but also strengthened my dedication to developing trustworthy and privacy-preserving AI technologies. Vingroup’s visionary investment in education has inspired me to aim higher, work harder, and ultimately give back to Vietnam’s growing research ecosystem in computer science and beyond.

HOANG KHOI NGUYEN

Master of Science in Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interest

I am interested in Natural Language Processing, Large Lanuage Models, and their applications in healthcare.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, VinUniversity

Achievements

  • 2023: SEED Scholarship for exchange study at the University of Toronto; Government of Canada
  • 2023: Publication in main conference in ACM International Conference on Multimedia (MM23’); Association for Computing Machinery
  • 2022: BME-IDEA International E-Team Grant; VentureWell

I’m incredibly grateful to receive the Vingroup Scholarship as it enables me to fully focus on learning and research at UIUC without financial concerns. With the knowledge and experience I will gain, I’m committed to creating meaningful solutions for my hometown, my country, and the global community

LE MINH HUYEN

Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interest

My research interests lie at the intersection of artificial intelligence and biomedical imaging, with a focus on developing quantitative imaging techniques that integrate computational and biological principles. My goal is to develop models that enhance our understanding of biological systems and advance healthcare solutions.

Education

Bachelor of Engineering in Applied Information Engineering, Yonsei University, South Korea
Bachelor of Art in International Commerce, Yonsei University, South Korea

Achievements

  • 2024: IEEE BIBM 2024 Student Travel Award
  • Spring 2022, Spring 2023: GLC Distinction Award, Yonsei University
  • Spring 2022: President’s Award for achieving a GPA within the top 10% of students, Yonsei University
  • Spring 2019: Yonsei University’s Undergraduate Merit-based Scholarship for 04 years

Receiving the Vingroup Scholarship to pursue my Master’s at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is a distinct honor. This scholarship provides invaluable opportunities to enhance my academic pursuits within a world-class research environment. I will make the most out of this precious opportunity to contribute to my field and the advancement of my country. I am so grateful and excited for the journey ahead.

NGO SY TRUNG

Master’s student, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interest

My research interests focus on Human-Computer Interaction, Wearable Haptic Devices, Soft Sensors, and Actuators. Witnessing my relatives and many others unable to move normally due to the consequences of trauma or stroke, I have the ambition to research and create low-cost devices that can support rehabilitation or even replace movement for patients. These devices will one day be widely available and help reduce the financial burden on patients, while making their lives easier and better.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Robotics Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Vietnam National University.

Achievements

  • 2024: PhD Scholarship Program from VISHC – VinUniversity.
  • 2023: Scholarship from Pony Chung Foundation.
  • 2022: “Students with Five Good Merits” title – Provincial level.
  • 2022: Scholarship for the International course on culture and entrepreneurship from Kyushu University, Japan.
  • 2022: Prospect Award in Microcontroller IoT Challenge Contest.
  • 2021: Academic Incentive Scholarship of University of Engineering and Technology – VNU.

I am deeply honored and sincerely grateful to the Vingroup Scholarship Committee for granting me the opportunity to attend one of the highest-ranking universities in the world. This is both an opportunity and a challenge; however, the VinGroup scholarship serves as a great source of motivation for me to pursue my dreams and supports me on the long journey of research and contributing to Vietnam’s science and technology.

🎓 PHD FELLOWSHIP AWARDEES

TRAN HOAI CHAU

PhD in Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interest

My research focuses on improving the efficiency and explainability of deep learning models, with a particular emphasis on natural language processing (NLP) and multi-modal models. Rather than solely chasing incremental performance gains, I am passionate about developing methods that enable models to perform effectively in low-resource settings. My ultimate goal is to create solutions that facilitate the deployment of large-scale models with billions of parameters on edge devices, making them more cost-efficient and broadly accessible.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Advanced Program in Computer Science (APCS), VNUHCM – University of Science

Achievements

  • Hoai‐Chau Tran, Kim‐Hung Le. “Real‐Time Social Text Classification With Hierarchical State Space Models And Hyperbolic Co‐Attention”. Under submission to Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics (TACL).
  • Hoai‐Chau Tran, Anh‐Duy Tran, Kim‐Hung Le. “DetectVul: A statement‐level code vulnerability detection for Python”, Future Generation Computer Systems (FGCS), 163 (2025) p. 107504.
  • Hoai‐Chau Tran, Duy M. H. Nguyen, Duy M. Nguyen, Trung‐Tin Nguyen, Ngan Le, Pengtao Xie, Daniel Sonntag, James Y. Zou, Binh T. Nguyen, Mathias Niepert. “Accelerating Transformers with Spectrum‐Preserving Token Merging”, NeurIPS 2024.
  • Hoai-Chau Tran, Duy Minh Ho Nguyen, Manh-Duy Nguyen, Ngan Hoang Le, & Binh T. Nguyen. “Energy Minimizing-based token merging for accelerating Transformers”, 5th Workshop on Practical ML for Limited/Low Resource Settings, ICLR 2024 (Oral Presentation).

I am deeply grateful to the Vingroup Scholarship Committee for selecting me as part of the 2025 cohort. This scholarship empowers me to pursue advanced studies in developing efficient AI systems and connects me with an exceptional global network of scholars. With this support, I can follow my dream of creating accessible and efficient AI technologies, helping to democratize AI computing, especially for practitioners in developing countries like mine.”

NGUYEN THAI HUNG

Ph.D. student, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interest

My research focuses on healthcare reliability and security, data visualization and analysis of high-performance computing systems, and improving the resilience of healthcare applications on high-performance computing systems.

Achievements

  • 2024: ALCF Hands-on HPC Workshop; Argonne Leadership Computing Facility – Argonne National Laboratory.
  • 2020–2024: Research Assistant; VinUniversity.
  • 2020–2024: Dean’s List; VinUniversity.
  • 2023: Research Intern; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
  • 2022: 9th Vietnam Summer School of Science; ICISE conference center.
  • 2022: Third prize in Research Poster; CECS Day, VinUniversity.
  • 2021: Runner-up, SmartChoice Mini Hackathon; VinBrain.
  • 2020: Third Prize in ICPC Vietnam Northern and Central Provincial Programming Contest; ICPC Foundation.
  • 2020: 100% merit-based scholarship; VinUniversity.

“I want to express my deepest gratitude to the Vingroup Scholarships Committee for selecting me as one of the winners of Cohort 2025 and offering me the scholarship. The scholarship opens the door to pursuing a Ph.D. and connects me with a remarkable network of Vingroup scholars worldwide. This will establish a strong foundation for me to develop more reliable, secure, and resilient healthcare products, ultimately contributing to societal improvement.”

DOAN TRAN THUY DUNG

Ph.D. student, Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interest

My research interests lie at the intersection of smart health technologies and public healthcare systems. In particular, I hope to develop low-cost and accessible solutions for pressing health problems in Vietnam and the world. My interests span several interconnected domains, including molecular diagnostics, biosensors, nanotechnology, and microfluidics.

Education

VNUHCM – University of Science, BS. Biotechnology

Achievements

  • 2024: Finalist for Ajinomoto Scholarship for ASEAN-ONE International Students
  • 2023: Research presented at the 8th International Workshop on Nanotechnology and Application (IWNA 2023)
  • 2023: Poster presentation at the 3rd University of Tsukuba – University of Science Joint Symposium in Biomedical Science
  • 2023: Taiwan Experience Education Program Scholarship
  • 2023: First author of an international peer-reviewed article
  • 2018-2021: Dean’s List, VNUHCM – University of Science

I am deeply honored and grateful to have been awarded the Vingroup Science and Technology Scholarship to pursue a PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This support empowers me to follow my passion for research and contribute to Vietnam’s scientific and technological development. The COVID-19 pandemic, especially its impact on resource-limited countries like Vietnam, strengthened my commitment to biomedical engineering, particularly in molecular diagnostics and biosensors. I believe advanced education will equip me to help address future health challenges and build a more resilient healthcare system.

DAO PHUONG LINH

Ph.D. student, Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interest

My research focuses on soft and rigid robotics to solve medical, environmental, and everyday challenges.
I am currently working on the project Soft filament sensor for accelerating patient rehabilitation.

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign

Achievements

  • 2024: First place as Most outstanding Exhibit for project R2D2 x Computer vision at the Engineering Open House
  • 2022: Grainger Engineering James Scholar student

Receiving the Vingroup Scholarship has allowed me to become the first woman in my family to pursue a graduate degree in Engineering. This opportunity has not only empowered me to follow my passion but also to help advance the image of women as pioneers in the STEM field. I hope to be one of many who contribute to strengthening the global and national association of femininity with strength, innovation, and engineering excellence.

THAN TRA MY

Ph.D. student, Kinesiology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interest

My experience at Vietnam’s pioneering Motion Analysis Laboratory revealed a critical gap in human movement science research between Vietnam and developed nations. Driven by this challenge, I am dedicating my research career to advancing rehabilitation science through innovative solutions, particularly focusing on exoskeleton robotics development to enhance mobility for patients with stroke and cerebral palsy.

Education

Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Bachelor of Engineering, Biomedical Engineering

Achievements

  • 2025: “Quantitative Gait Analysis from Single RGB Videos Using a Dual-Input Transformer-Based Network”, IEEE ISBI 2025
  • 2024: Presenter at ICITS and ASSB 2024
  • 2023: Oral presentation at ISAKOS Congress 2023, Boston
  • 2022: Presenter at ICISN Conference 2022
  • 2021: Merit Scholarship for Top 5% GPA Students
  • 2019: Bronze Medal, Hanoi University Basketball Championship
  • 2015, 2013: First and Second Prize, Hanoi City Biology Olympiad

The Vingroup Scholarship is more than just an individual opportunity – it’s a bridge to the future. As Vietnam’s pioneer in Kinesiology, I commit to transforming this privilege into a pathway for the next generation of passionate researchers.

HOANG NGUYEN MINH CHAU

Ph.D. student, Bioengineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Research Interest

I am excited to explore the intersection of biosensors, nanomaterials, and biological diagnostics, with a particular interest in cancer detection.

Education

Bachelor’s Degree in Biotechnology, International University, Vietnam National University

Achievements

  • 2024: First author of a scientific research paper in biomaterials (Q1 journal)
  • 2024: Participation in several national and international conferences
  • 2022: Co-author of a review article in cancer research
  • 2022: Women in Engineering Award, IU–VNU HCMC
  • 2018–2019: Scholarship for Excellent Student

The Vingroup Scholarship has opened a new chapter in my academic journey, enabling me to learn from leading experts and advance my research in meaningful ways. I am deeply honored and look forward to making the most of this opportunity.