Thuc-Quyen Nguyen

Thuc-Quyen Nguyen is Director and Professor at the Center for Polymers and Organic Solids
(CPOS),[1] and a professor of the Chemistry & Biochemistry department at the University of California
Santa Barbara.[2] Her research focuses on organic electronic devices, using optical, electrical, and
structural techniques to understand materials and devices such as photovoltaics, LEDs, photodiodes, and
field-effect transistors.

Early life and education

Professor Nguyen was born in Ban Me thuot Vietnam.[3][4] She
was curious from an early age, always trying to understand how
things work. Her mother was a math teacher so she was inspired
from an early age to become a teacher. There are four generations
of teachers in her family, and as a young child, she went along to
her mother's classes as there was no daycare to attend.[4] These
experiences sparked interest in being an effective teacher.

In 1991, when she was 21, she moved with her family to the
United States, arriving with very little knowledge of English.[3] To
try to improve her language skills and progress through school,
she attended three schools at once, going to morning, afternoon, Professor Nguyen during a visit to
and evening classes.[4] Her first term at Santa Monica College, she the Maxwell Centre at the University
took four ESL courses at the same time, and after a year, was able of Cambridge
to begin normal coursework.

After graduating from Santa Monica College in 1995 with an A.S., she began working toward a
bachelor's degree at UCLA, while also work in the library in evenings to help pay for University.[5] She
also began working in a plant physiology lab, beginning by washing glassware. She asked for a research
internship in the same lab during the summer but the lab manager turned her down. She also asked
several labs at UCLA but they also turned her down. One professor said "research is not for everyone"
and she should focus on learning English.[6]

Research and career

Professor Nguyen completed her masters in 1998, and PhD in 2001, both from UCLA.[5][7] In her PhD,
she processed and studied conducting polymers using ultrafast spectroscopy under the supervision of
Professor Benjamin Schwartz.[8]

After her PhD, Professor Nguyen worked as a research associate at Columbia University, with Professor
Louis Brus.[3] She also worked for some time after her PhD at the IBM Thomas J Watson Research
Center.[9] In 2004, Nguyen joined UCSB Chemistry and Biochemistry department as an assistant
professor, and received appointment to full professor in 2011.[9] She collaborated with Guillermo Bazan
and Alan Heeger at UCSB for many years [4].

Professor Nguyen's current research focuses on organic electronic devices. She studies how chemical
structure influence performance and function of organic devices like PVs, OLEDs, OFETs, and OPDs.
She is interested in improving organic solar cells as well as developing flexible electronics.

Awards
2005 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award.[5]
2006 NSF CAREER award.[9][5][10]
2007 Harold Plous Award.[11]
2008 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award.[12]
2009 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow.[13]
2010 Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Award.[5]
2010 American Competitiveness and Innovation Fellowship (ACI).[14][15]
2015 Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for Senior Scientists
2015-2019 World's most influential scientific minds.[16][17][18][19]
2016 Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
2019 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2019 Beaufort Visiting Scholar, St John’s College, Cambridge University
2019 Hall of Fame, Advanced Materials
2020 UCSB Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor Award
2023 Wilhelm Exner Medal
2023 Elected to the US National Academy of Engineering
2023 De Gennes Prize for Materials Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry)
2023 Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors

See also
VinFuture

References
1. "Members | Center for Polymers and Organic Solids | UC Santa Barbara" (https://www.cpos.
ucsb.edu/members). www.cpos.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
2. "Thuc-Quyen Nguyen | Department of Chemistry - UC Santa Barbara" (https://www.chem.uc
sb.edu/people/thuc-quyen-nguyen). www.chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
3. Shi, Lu (2019-06-12). "Hall of Fame Highlight: Thuc-Quyen Nguyen" (https://www.advanced
sciencenews.com/hall-of-fame-highlight-thuc-quyen-nguyen/). Advanced Science News.
Retrieved 2019-11-27.
4. "Nguyễn Thục Quyên: Khoa học gia trong top quyền lực của thế giới" (https://nguoidothi.ne
t.vn/nguyen-thuc-quyen-khoa-hoc-gia-trong-top-quyen-luc-cua-the-gioi-17089.html). Người
Đô Thị (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2019-11-27.
 5. "Here Comes the Sun" (https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2016/016593/here-comes-sun). The
UCSB Current. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
6. "Đóa Thục Quyên Việt 'nở' trên đất Mỹ" (https://www.tienphong.vn/content/MTA4ODY1.tpo).
Báo điện tử Tiền Phong. 2008-01-20. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
7. "Thuc-Quyen Nguyen | Nguyen Research Group - UC Santa Barbara" (https://nguyen.chem.
ucsb.edu/thuc-quyen-nguyen). nguyen.chem.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
8. "Thuc-Quyen Nguyen" (https://www.techconnectworld.com/World2018/bio.php?i=445).
www.techconnectworld.com. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
9. "Introducing Materials Horizons Scientific Editor Thuc Quyen Nguyen – Materials Horizons
Blog" (https://blogs.rsc.org/mh/2014/01/15/introducing-materials-horizons-scientific-editor-th
uc-quyen-nguyen/). Retrieved 2019-11-27.
10. "NSF Award Search: Award#0547639 - CAREER: Structure-Function-Property Relationships
in Charged Conjugated Polymers" (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=
0547639). www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
11. "93106: Biochemist Nguyen Takes Home the Plous Award" (http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/93106_a
rchived/2008/January7/bio.html). www.ia.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
12. "Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program" (https://www.dreyfus.org/wp-content/upl
oads/2019/05/TC.all_.2019.pdf) (PDF). Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Retrieved
27 November 2019.
13. "Past Fellows" (https://sloan.org/past-fellows). sloan.org. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
14. "Thuc-Quyen Nguyen receives 2010 American Competitiveness and Innovation Fellowship
award | Division of Mathematical Life and Physical Sciences - UC Santa Barbara" (https://w
ww.science.ucsb.edu/news/announcement/573). www.science.ucsb.edu. Retrieved
2019-11-27.
15. "DMR 2010 ACI Fellows" (https://www.nsf.gov/mps/dmr/awards/ACI_Fellows_2010_Cohort.
pdf) (PDF). NSF. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
16. "The World's Most Influential Scientific Minds 2015" (https://www.ludwigcancerresearch.org/
wp-content/uploads/2018/09/37a987a9-e378-4888-8baa-d4ba20efdbfd_tr_scientific_minds_
online_final.pdf) (PDF). Thomson Reuters. December 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
17. "5 Vietnamese scientists honored among world's most influential" (https://english.vov.vn/cont
ent/MTg5Njg3.vov). VOV - VOV Online Newspaper. 2016-11-24. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
18. "Materials Professors Rank Among World's Most Influential Scientific Minds" (https://enginee
ring.ucsb.edu/news/materials-professors-rank-among-worlds-most-influential-scientific-mind
s). UCSB College of Engineering. 2018-11-27. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
19. "Clarivate Analytics names 4 Materials Department Scientists to its 2019 list of highly cited
researchers" (https://www.materials.ucsb.edu/news/clarivate-analytics-names-4-materials-d
epartment-scientists-its-2019-list-highly-cited). www.materials.ucsb.edu. 2019-11-21.
Retrieved 2019-11-27.

External links
Thuc-Quyen Nguyen (https://www.Linkedin.com/in/thuc-quyen-nguyen-1898b555) on
LinkedIn

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