Portfolio

Production Senior Editor

Nonprofit organization Thực phẩm Cộng đồng, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Jan 2020- )

Main role: Editing content about food science and technology, providing health and medical information for Vietnamese citizens. Other duties include:

Managing different activities of the organization and improving public access to health information.
Preparing and editing media content on health-related and nutrional information.

Doctoral Research

Design and Evaluation of Hybrid Plasmonic Nanostructures towards Materialization of Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) Sensors (May 2014- Dec 2019)

Laboratory of Smart and Hybrid Materials (SHM), KAUST, KSA

Research Advisor: Professor Niveen M. Khashab

Population aging, increasing diabetes rate and lifestyle-related diseases lead to demand for point of care testing devices. Among the current biosensors, optical sensors offer fast and accurate analysis while remaining lightweight for portability. It has been demonstrated that optical sensor based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) process or SERS sensors offer unparalleled advantages such as fingerprint identification, minimum sample preparation and does not require vacuum for operation. The overall objective of the research is to offer rational SERS substrate designs and detection approaches which can advance the future commercialization of SERS sensors.

Major findings of the research were summarized below

High-throughput fabrication of SERS sensor based on semiconductor platform
Design of functional ligands for biomimetic SERS detection of optical impurities compound
A robust signal processing scheme for database storage of Raman responses, which enhance the efficiency of multiplex screening

The full text of this thesis will be available from the KAUST Library after embargo period.

Undergraduate Research

Laboratory of Organic and Medicinal research (Jun 2012- May 2014)

Research Advisor: Professor Syed R. Hussaini

Synthesize different analogues of nicotine, an addictive ingredient in cigarettes
Optimize the efficiency of coupling between carbenes and thioamides for photochemical synthesis of enaminones

Capstone Project

Dicyclopentadiene Recovery from the By-product of Naphtha Steam-cracking (Jan 2014- May 2014)

Research Advisors: Professor Francis Manning and Professor Keith Wisecarver

Optimize by-products processing scheme of a steam-cracking naphtha plant by HYSYS simulation
Estimate sizing of process equipment and provide an economic assessment (net present value, fixed capital cost, operating cost, and rate of return) for a ten-year operating plant

Leadership and Community Services

Editor, Thực phẩm Cộng đồng Project, Hồ Chí Minh city, Vietnam (Jan 2020 – Present)

Supervise and publish health and medical articles in Vietnamese.
Manage workload and track progress for a group of 40 employee.
Create infographics, brochure to raise publich awarenes about health issues.
Content editor for books about health and wellness.

Lab administrator, SHM laboratory, KAUST, KSA (Aug 2014 – Dec 2019)

Organize chemicals storage according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) hazard safety standard
Maintain an online record of chemical inventory for lab usage
Train new lab members on proper storage and handling of hazardous chemicals

Language translator, Street School, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA (Jan 2012 – Jun 2012)

Provide language translation service for the juvenile delinquents and their parents in weekly behavior correction sessions

Team member, Engineers without Borders (EWB) project, Cotani, Bolivia (Jan 2011 – May 2013)

Design and construct a solar water heater using solar power as an alternative for electricity in the remote area
Help organize a fundraising event for the project and provide training for local people to operate the system

Skills & Expertise

Characterization techniques: Raman, FT-IR, ATR, NMR, powder XRD, DLS, ZP, ORD

Microscopy characterization: TEM, SEM, EDS

Laboratory: Synthetic organic chemistry, solvothermal synthesis of ZnO template, synthesis of plasmonic and organosilica materials

Application software: Competent with most Microsoft Office programs, Origin Pro, HYSYS, Labspec, MestReNova, ChemDraw, Power Automate

Infographic and brochure design: Canva, Photoshop

Awards & Fellowship

Full scholarship, KAUST, KSA
Recipient of the Wilbur L. Nelson award for outstanding academic achievement in Chemical Engineering, TU, USA
Recipient of the Ralph J. Kaufmann award for outstanding academic achievement in Chemistry, TU, USA
BS Magna Cum Laude, with Departmental Honors, TU, USA
International leadership scholarship, TU, USA
Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge scholarship (TURC): financial aid for undergraduates to take honor courses and conduct research, TU, USA