The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has granted Phung Phuoc Nguyen Anh, a 21-year-old Vietnamese student studying in the United Kingdom, a fully financed Ph.D. scholarship in bioengineering, worth $116,000 annually.
Caltech accepted Anh, who was born in 2003 and hails from Ho Chi Minh City, in late February, shortly before his 21st birthday. Caltech, which is well-known throughout the world for its superior scientific and engineering programs and high concentration of Nobel laureates, accepted Anh into its prestigious six-year Ph.D. program, which includes full tuition and living expenses.
Anh, who previously attended the High School for the Gifted in Vietnam, came to the United Kingdom in the eleventh grade to attend Westbourne School, where he achieved a school record by graduating with four A-Level grades and a perfect score of 45 in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. He received offers from prestigious UK universities, including Cambridge, where he is now studying natural sciences, as a result of his exceptional academic achievement.
After finishing a research internship at Caltech in the summer of 2023, Anh decided to apply straight to the university without pursuing a master’s degree. With a great admission essay and recommendations from both Caltech and Cambridge professors, he was able to get accepted into the Ph.D. program.
Since his first year at Cambridge, Anh has been involved in several noteworthy initiatives as a researcher. He competed on behalf of Cambridge in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition in France, where his team’s synthetic biology work earned them a Gold Medal and a Top 5 Engineering honour.
Anh has received many honours during his academic career, such as the Ray Driver Prize in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, a Gold Medal in the British Biology Olympiad, and first place in other Vietnamese national contests. Looking back on his path, Anh explained how his interest in biology changed to encompass chemistry and mathematics, which he studied to improve his capacity to tackle challenging biological issues.
He now plans to concentrate on molecular engineering as he gets ready to start his Ph.D. at Caltech in September, hoping to use his research in practical technologies and medicine.
“My goal is to develop projects that not only advance science but also have real-world applications,” Anh said. “This is just the beginning.”
CREDIT: ALLSCHOOL, Allschoolabs
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