During the day, Dr. Truong Nguyen Thanh works at the Chemistry Faculty of Utah University (USA) and he runs the Calculation Science and Technology Institute in HCM City at night.

Dr. Truong Nguyen Thanh (first from the left) at the Calculation Science and Technology Institute.

Talking with him at 12am, Vietnam time, or 11pm, US time, Thanh is still at his office in the US.

He has classes three days a week. The remaining time he devotes to research work and online work with his co-workers at the HCM City-based Calculation Science and Technology Institute. He has a whole Sunday for his two sons, 11 and 12.

In August 2005, the Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan invited Dr. Truong Nguyen Thanh, who has lived in the US for 28 years, to return to Vietnam to give a presentation about the significance of the calculation sciences and prepare for the establishment of this new science in Vietnam.

Nhan asked Dr. Thanh to compile a project to establish and develop the HCM City Calculation Science and Technology Institute.

On December 18, 2008, the institute was opened, with the participation of six overseas Vietnamese scientists from the US, Australia, Canada and Poland. The institute’s employees are young university graduates or master’s degree holders.

Dr. Thanh said calculation sciences involves computers to make tests so he doesn’t need to be present in Vietnam permanently.

Weekly meetings between the institute’s director, Dr. Thanh, and his co-workers in Vietnam as well as managers of the institute’s laboratories in Canada, Australia, US and Poland are carried out via the Internet. Dr. Thanh returns to Vietnam several times a year to solve the most important issues.

Dr. Thanh receives a monthly pay of $1,000, which is considered very high for a scientist in Vietnam. The pay is under a special treatment policy suggested by the HCM City Department of Science and Technology.

Dr. Thanh said the pay is for airfare, accommodations, health insurance, cooking, etc. each time he returns to Vietnam.

HCM City aims to create a modern research environment at the HCM City Calculation Science and Technology Institute.

Since 2002, Dr. Thanh began receiving Vietnamese students to train at his laboratory in the US.

“I hope that with the support of overseas Vietnamese scientists, the HCM City Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Science and Technology, the institute will develop well with an open working mechanism which is not hindered by cumbersome administrative formalities. With these conditions, the institute can become an Asian-level and international research institution,” he said.

VietNamNet/TP