The 9X who discovers antibiotics-adsorbing material in wastewater is rewarded with a PhD scholarship

Successfully discovered a material that is capable of adsorbing up to 98% of antibiotics in wastewater at his senior year in college, Nguyen Ngoc Trung had his scientific paper published in a Q1 international magazine. He has just received a fully-funded scholarship for PhD study in Australia.

The 9X who discovers antibiotics-adsorbing material in wastewater is rewarded with a PhD scholarship

Nguyen Ngoc Trung, cohort 61 of the Faculty of Chemistry, graduated from VNU - University of Science (Viet Nam National University) in July 2020. His initial research topic was the antibiotics-adsorbingmaterials in water environment, and then his research on application of these materials in removing antibiotics in hospital wastewater was published on Journal of Molecular Liquids in April - 2020.

This is a scientific magazine in the natural science - technology field, which was classified as Q1, those of prestige and high-ranked magazines.

For the first time in the history of the Faculty of Chemistry

“Being published on Journal of Molecular Liquids is a challenge that’s even hard for lecturers, not to mention students. Normally, authors of the chosen articles need five to six months to edit the paper. Yet Trung’s article only took about two months.

For the first time in the history of our Faculty of Chemistry, there has been a student who is the main author of an article published on a Q1 magazine, within a relatively short time.” - Dr Pham Tien Duc, a lecturer of the Faculty of Chemistry and Trung’s head teacher, said.

Prior to that, Nguyen Ngoc Trung had had two papers that he co-wrote with the research team led by Mr. Duc which were published on Q1 & Q2 magazines. The research on antibotics-absorbing materials in hospital’s wastewater was Trung’s third science paper published on a Q1 magazine. Recently, the research team that Trung participated in had another article published on Langmuir magazine, one of the top-tier magazines of The AAAA.

Dr. Pham Tien Duc spoke highly of Trung for his ability to research independently. Before having an article published on the Journal of Molecular Liquids, Trung’s study gained the first prize in a students’ scientific research competition at university-level and the third prize at department-level. Dr Pham Tien Duc also praises Trung’s capability to write scientific research in English.  In his first year, Trung’s English was still poor, but after only 1-2 years of extensive learning, his written English became significantly better.

Numerous students have high IELTS band score and eligible research facility but not all of them has the skill to write academic study paper. This an important skill and Trung has got it” – Dr. Pham Tien Duc shared.

“After finishing my study I want to come back and contribute to my country”

Nguyen Ngoc Trung was a student of a chemistry specialized class in Nguyen Hue High School (Ha Dong), he was among a few who continued to pursue Chemistry at university, while most of Trung’s peers chosed economics or information technology major.

During high school, Trung’s academic performance was in the middle group. “Back then I was pretty playful, I only fancied football and didn’t really have a clear orientation until I went to university I and met lecturer Pham Tien Duc, an enthusiast in enviromental study. By virtue of my admiration, I asked to join his study team when we split speciality. I’ve learned so much from him” - Trung said.

The 9X who discovers antibiotics-adsorbing material in wastewater is rewarded with a PhD scholarship

“My drastic change in awareness came out of nowhere, I set a goal and stuck with it. In my third year, I was quite worn out having to be at the lab at 7AM, there were days that i wouldn’t leave until 8PM. But as soon as the experiment result came out that aluminum oxide material was capable of removing 90% of antibiotics in water, I reported to the supervisor and I was on cloud nine.”

In August, 2021, according to the plan, Trung is flying to Australia to study. This 1.8m young man decided to focus on studying battery and replenishable energy, different from his university major. Trung hopes that in the near future, Viet Nam will invest in mass production of amoniac, a very potential energy source to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels which is detrimental to the enviroment.

“My dream is to be a lecturer, a researcher, to serve the nation’s education and train better human resources for my country” – Trung humbly talked about his aspiration.

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