Knowing Uyen's background, people admire this petite and resilient girl even more. Her mother passed away when she was only 3 years old. Growing up in the love of her father and grandmother, Phuong Uyen has been conscious since childhood of the need to study well to meet her family's expectations.

In 2021, Uyen won Second Prize in the provincial-level excellent student contest in Physics and was directly admitted to the Talented Physics class at Phenikaa University with a full-course scholarship. With her father working as a farmer year-round and the family's finances being modest, Uyen started tutoring in her first year to help cover living expenses.

After 5 years of persistent effort, Phuong Uyen achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.82/4, ranking as Excellent, and was honored by Phenikaa University to represent the new graduates in delivering a speech at the recent graduation ceremony.

Prior to that, she made an impression by winning First Prize in the Student Physics Olympiad for two consecutive years (2022 and 2023). Additionally, she holds many other awards, including Bronze Medal in the Vietnam Student Mathematics Olympiad 2022; Outstanding Student of Phenikaa University for the 2021-2022 academic year; First Prize in the faculty-level Student Scientific Research contest and Consolation Prize at the university level in 2024; Second Prize in the faculty-level Student Scientific Research contest in 2025.

Recently, she took initiative in contacting foreign professors and won a full scholarship for a master's program at the University of Ulsan (South Korea), along with a stipend as a research assistant.

Sharing her study methods, Uyen believes that focusing on lectures, researching thoroughly, and previewing the curriculum before class helps her stay proactive and easily connect knowledge, leading to better memory and understanding.

According to her, setting early goals is also very important. “Since my first year, I thought about studying abroad after graduation. Because of that, I saw my purpose clearly and felt more interested in studying,” Uyen said.

Daring to try in new fields

As a female, according to Uyen, pursuing Physics in particular and basic sciences in general is quite stressful and challenging. Therefore, she does not overextend herself but chooses to pursue directions she feels suitable and interested in, specifically Materials Physics.

Phung Ngoc Hien, Uyen's father, shared that from childhood until now, his daughter has been largely self-reliant, very brave, and resilient. “She loves and chose Physics instead of Economics or Information Technology. I have always oriented her toward one thing since she was small: the need to learn through a thinking mindset, both in work and in life.”

Uyen acknowledges that one of the factors helping her achieve today's results comes from the guidance of her teachers: from opportunities to experience Student Olympiads to winning postgraduate scholarships.

“My supervisor once said not everyone has the courage to email professors, but just try, you never know if there will be a positive result. He also shared about the transition from undergraduate to graduate studies, when there were many choices to consider. At that time, he proactively contacted many professors to seek opportunities for himself. If I had not heard his story, students like me might not know there was a path to reach our dreams. I followed his approach and succeeded,” Uyen said.

Uyen revealed that she has a habit of writing down what she has accomplished each year to reflect on herself, seeing it as motivation to keep moving forward.

“From time to time, I also update my ‘CV.’ Each time, I can look back on what I have and have not achieved over the past year. If after an update there is not at least one new line added, I feel very concerned,” Uyen said.

Uyen said her journey at Phenikaa University has been a diverse experience that changed the way she thinks. “Here, learning does not only take place in lecture halls but also through real experiences. The university environment encouraged me to dare to try and dare to change. Experimentation and change come with mistakes and setbacks, but after each time, I learned to view my shortcomings more calmly. I realized that being allowed to make mistakes, correct them, and grow is a very important part of learning,” she shared.

Le Huyen