The unique way to build up a pool of talent for a HUST lecturer

  Having lived and studied for nearly a decade in a European country, the value makes Assoc. Prof. Pham Nguyen Thanh Loan, Director of Smart Embedded Systems and IoT and lecturer of Hanoi School of Electrical and Electronics, impressed the most about HUST, which can be encapsulated in one word: Tradition. For her, the HUST’s tradition is cohesion in building and preserving the best.
 
Affection for HUST

After completing her Ph.D. degree in France, Mrs. Loan changed her mind about staying abroad and returned to Vietnam with her husband, a HUST alumnus. "His love for HUST inspired me," Assoc. Prof. Loan recounted his attachment to the university.
 
As the daughter of a lecturer at Da Nang University of Technology, her father's love of research and teaching comes to her not as a momentary emotion but as a long-cherished desire.
 
In the early days of living in Hanoi, with no friends or relatives outside her husband's family, she faced many difficulties due to differences in culture and lifestyle. "But teaching and research are my choices. Luckily, I got to know good colleagues," she said of her memories of being thoroughly guided from teaching methods to classroom management and the opportunity to participate in curriculum design and accreditation.
 
 After two years, her love for HUST has grown even more vital because it has valuable colleagues and students. The university kept her staying and sticking with this place for over ten years. Assoc. Prof. Loan was "relieved" when completing the "1st 10-year plan".
 
For her, the destination is different from the title of Associate Professor. Loan's goal when she first entered HUST in the early days was after 10 years of receiving recognition from the regional scientific community and building quality relationships. And now, Loan has started her plans for the next ten years!

Extremely strict, extremely loving

"HUST has a tradition as natural as breathing: Cohesion to build what is best," said Assoc. Prof. Loan. Students must be the best students and, through the training process, must become the best engineers. Policies, mechanisms, and training programs are always updated to improve.
 
HUST students have studiousness, a rising spirit, and a great desire to learn. "I always want to promote students' dreams to be more breakthrough and stronger," she said, adding that if approaching foreign cultures, becoming proactive and confident, HUST students are not inferior to peers from other countries.
 
 "It's good to go to school or work." 80% of students are admitted to the lab by Assoc. Prof. Loan because they wanted to continue their higher education abroad. Only by rising out of the bamboo groves can the lessons of Singapore being small but selling products globally, or Japan and South Korea both suffering from the effects of war but becoming developed and prosperous nations.
 
After 10-20 years, HUST alumni successfully grow themselves to become colleagues, Ph.D. students, or recruit fresh graduates into large corporations. That is when the tradition of HUST continues to be inherited.
  Assoc. Prof. Loan considers herself a strict and conscientious teacher.
 
She conceives that discipline within the framework is freedom, not constraint. Students can freely exchange ideas and speeches without standing up but must be respectful towards lecturers and classmates. Students are free to enter the research lab provided they do not use machines they do not know how to use. Discipline allows for the freedom of the collective, thereby ensuring the individual's freedom.
 
Last semester, she received 3.9/4 ratings from students for dedication. The teacher's secret was "extremely strict, extremely loving." The teaching profession requires good expertise, deep knowledge, pedagogical skills, and continuous efforts to improve the quality of lectures. She tries remembering students' names in each class, especially the “weak” ones. Lectures are built and delivered in various approaches to suit many groups of learners.

Mrs. Loan does not hesitate to teach students about behavior, integrity, and fairness. "First of all, I have to be an example." She thinks the most important thing is the knowledge and skills that students receive from her.
 
Research is listening to the heart

In the early days at the School of Electrical and Electronics, Assoc. Prof Loan decided to pursue a career in IC Design, a field different from the direction of her doctoral research but suitable for the HUST environment.
 
Ten years ago, few people were interested in IC design because they thought it was a "far-fetched" research direction. But from her point of view, Mrs. Loan believes that researchers need to know what they are being moved to.
 
 "Just seeing a topic that is 'hot' and running after it is too sentimental, not me," Mrs. Loan shared with a laugh. Choosing trendy topics may not be sustainable without knowing what you want and need to do to achieve those desires.
 
 A close collaborative network between academics and businesses is vital to succeed in scientific research. Currently, the research team of Assoc. Prof. Loan has four projects collaborating with Korean professors and one with American professors. "This is what motivates me: I have to learn, and my students have to learn." Working with renowned professors is an excellent opportunity to produce quality research papers and results.
 
Thanks to these connections, students in the field of semiconductors have more opportunities to participate in foreign research labs. Credibility and academic integrity are important for relationships to sustain for 10 or 20 years. One wrong step can cause trust to be lost quickly, even if the process of building it is not easy.
 
For Assoc. Prof. Loan, generations of students from Cohort 51- 64 working in semiconductor companies in Hanoi and many parts of the world make her most proud. "I hope the next achievements will be sweeter, juicier, and better!". Loan wishes to continue making qualitative changes in training and research, contributing to building a prestigious academic community in microchips.