HUST Business Analytics Graduate Secures AI PhD Scholarships in the US

  In the list of top HUST candidates receiving PhD scholarships in Artificial Intelligence in Florida (USA), two young scholars share the spotlight. One is the valedictorian of the School of Information and Communication Technology (SoICT). The other is Nguyen Duc Duy, a graduate of the Advanced Program in Business Analytics (EM-E13) at the School of Economics.

This encounter at the peak of academic achievement opens up a new definition for the Business Analytics major at HUST: Real-world data serves as the foundation empowering Economics students to confidently master the world's most complex smart technologies.

It also marks the beginning of a proud new chapter in the journey of Nguyen Duc Duy. Duy graduated in July 2026 with a GPA of 3.7/4.0 and achieved the highest thesis defense score in his academic council.

Just one month later, in August 2026, Duy continued to make his mark by securing two fully-funded PhD scholarships in Artificial Intelligence in the US from UNC Charlotte and the University of Florida. After carefully evaluating the research directions and opportunities to collaborate with faculty members, Duy selected the University of Florida to continue his academic and research career.
  An Unexpected Turn for the Math-Focused "Ams" Student

In May 2022, Nguyen Duc Duy concluded his high school years in the specialized mathematics class at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, taking home a Fourth Prize in the city-level Mathematics competition. Gifted with logical thinking, Duy was widely expected to apply for computer engineering programs. However, the young man made a distinctive pivot by choosing the Advanced Program in Business Analytics (EM-E13) at the School of Economics, HUST.

Duy shared that his specialized mathematical foundation helped him shape a systematic, logical mindset and the ability to dissect the core of any problem. He always desired to apply those mathematical tools to directly solve practical business problems. Business Analytics is the ideal intersection of Mathematics, Technology, and Economics. Duy wants to deeply understand what lies behind the numbers to make effective management decisions and create practical value for organizations.

The learning environment at the School of Economics provided Duy with the opportunity for comprehensive development through a curriculum that cultivates both a manager's mindset and the robust technical skills of a data engineer. This unique combination laid a solid foundation for his subsequent journey into the field of artificial intelligence.
  The Mathematical Lens and Real-World Business Problems

Many assume that in-depth research into Artificial Intelligence is exclusively the domain of Information Technology students. From the perspective of a Business Analytics graduate and through his own experience, Duy believes that IT students possess a major advantage in algorithmic thinking and optimal system-building skills when designing complex deep learning architectures.
However, modern Artificial Intelligence is inherently a highly applied, multidisciplinary intersection. The Advanced Program in Business Analytics at the HUST School of Economics equipped Duy with a crucial body of knowledge. Core subjects such as Linear Algebra, Probability and Statistics, and Data Science enabled him to view the nature of AI algorithms directly through the lens of mathematics and data distribution, thereby rigorously evaluating model performance.

Recognizing the strict requirements of advanced AI research, Duy resolved to self-study every day. He independently explored data structures, algorithm optimization, and practical programming through specialized literature and corporate projects. This perseverance helped Duy solidify his technological foundation and hone his independent thinking to advance further in the field.
  Working at Pixta Vietnam as an AI Engineer from August 2024 to November 2025, Duy directly tackled the "Cold-Start" problem and position bias within their core search system. The HUST Economics student dissected the data structure and designed an improved ranking algorithm, helping Pixta reduce the average time-to-sale for top product groups by 35%.

Simultaneously, Duy directly built an automated content moderation system. By integrating advanced models such as YOLO-World, Detic, and large vision-language models, he helped optimize the analysis process, automatically filter videos, and significantly reduce manual labeling costs for the enterprise.

This practical experience became the golden material for Duy's graduation thesis, titled "Analysis and Proposed Solutions to Improve the Cold-Start Problem on the PIXTA Inc. E-commerce Platform." The project earned the highest defense score from the council thanks to its seamless combination of a rigorous scientific basis and practical application efficiency. This affirms that the systems analysis mindset cultivated in the EM-E13 program can successfully resolve complex technological problems.

HUST Economics Student Shines in the AI Arena

Duy challenged himself in an international environment by taking on a remote AI Engineer role for WIGIN, LLC from November 2025 to August 2026, focusing on optimizing video compression and super-resolution. This work trained him in professional conduct, autonomy, and confidence when collaborating with global colleagues.
  Duy’s passion for scientific research has yielded brilliant, internationally recognized results. The final-year student at the HUST School of Economics had an outstanding scientific paper published in the prestigious journal Transactions on Machine Learning Research (TMLR) in 2025. In this study, Duy introduced "VirDA," a method that enables the reuse of backbone networks for unsupervised domain adaptation using visual prompt tuning techniques. The solution achieves highly competitive accuracy while requiring the training of only a minimal number of parameters.
  Prior to this, Duy won the Best Paper Award at the 12th International BIGDAS Conference. He also co-authored a study on fine-tuning the BLIP vision model using rich generative data from ChatGPT at MediaEval 2024. Recently, the young researcher published the "PARSE" project on domain generalization through the combination of traditional deep learning and symbolic AI.
  Behind these academic achievements are numerous moments of pressure and being overwhelmed—a common reality for scientific researchers. Duy most vividly remembers the peer-review phase for his first international paper. He had to complete five to six highly complex empirical experiments right in the middle of a stressful mid-term exam period at HUST.

He recounted: "Caught in a situation where my left hand was researching and my right hand was studying, I learned to overcome it by breaking down goals, prioritizing the truly important tasks first, and accepting that things don't always go perfectly. For me, every time an experiment result falls short of expectations, it's not a failure; it's a valuable opportunity that helps me reflect on my own working methods and problem-solving approach."

The secret to Duy’s international scientific success is proactivity. Whenever a new idea strikes, he drafts a proposal and boldly reaches out to discuss it with leading experts. Throughout this journey, Duy received the absolute support and trust of his professors at the School of Economics—an institution that fosters an open academic space, encouraging students to freely pursue interdisciplinary research.
  HUST Resilience and the Aspiration for the Global Stage

Graduating with Excellence and set to receive his degree at the end of this September, Duy is currently serving as a Research Assistant at the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR) at VinUniversity, focusing on developing adaptive Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models for robots. This highly empirical work requires Duy to apply the "data storytelling" mindset of Business Analytics to evaluate robotic behavior and optimize operating systems.

At CAIR, he directly researches federated learning to discover unified algorithmic representations across various hardware configurations. This project aims to build a flexible VLA system capable of self-adapting to new robots without undergoing costly retraining processes.

The greatest reward for Duy's efforts was a direct-admission offer to a PhD program in Artificial Intelligence at UNC Charlotte (USA) with a full scholarship.
  While Duy awaited PhD scholarship results from a university in Florida, he was accompanied by a friend who achieved the highest thesis defense score at the School of Information and Communication Technology. This parallelism reflects the open academic spirit of HUST. For Duy, the combination of his IT peer's deep algorithmic mindset and the practical analytical approach of Business Analytics creates a perfectly complementary dynamic, fully equipped to solve world-class technological problems.

This diverse partnership further solidifies the dream Duy has always nurtured: to go the distance in academia, striving to become a true researcher and educator in the future. Duy believes that the scientific community is open and requires the intersection of different perspectives to create real-world value.

Looking back on his vibrant journey, Nguyen Duc Duy summarizes the greatest value brought by the EM-E13 Advanced Program in Business Analytics into three core keywords: Foundation - Proactivity - Integration. The EM-E13 major truly acts as a "bridge between data and decisions," creating equal opportunities for all students eager to make their mark in the global tech landscape.

The young researcher is now making his final preparations for his new journey in the US, bringing with him the hallmark HUST resilience and a sharp analytical mindset to continue conquering new heights in artificial intelligence for the betterment of society.

"Don't worry too much about where you start or whether your major perfectly matches your future goals. Build a truly solid foundation, dare to tackle real-world problems, persevere, and don't hesitate to step out of your comfort zone." — Nguyen Duc Duy, newly graduated Bachelor of Business Analytics, School of Economics, Hanoi University of Science and Technology.