Schmidt Science Fellowship recipients receive a $100,000/year stipend for up to two years of postdoctoral research at a world-leading laboratory anywhere around the globe.
The 2023 Schmidt Fellowship recipients include Suong Nguyen (top row, second from right)
This is one of the most prestigious postdoctoral research awards in the world , awarded annually by the Schmidt Futures charity of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife since 2018. The program aims to support early-career scientists and engineers as they pursue interdisciplinary research, and scholarship recipients must study a field other than the one in which they received their PhD.
In addition to the grant, they receive expert mentorship and participate in the program's global conference series, receive training, are introduced to new concepts, visit leading interdisciplinary science centers, and have the opportunity to interact with leaders in science, business, policy, and society, according to Forbes magazine.
Suong Nguyen is a postdoctoral researcher in a laboratory in the Department of Chemistry, MIT. She graduated with a BA in chemistry from the University of Mississippi (USA) in 2017. Five years later, Suong Nguyen received her PhD in organic chemistry from Princeton University (USA), where she developed catalytic, light-driven methods for organic synthesis, biomass stabilization, plastic waste recycling, and the functionalization of quantum sensing materials.
Suong Nguyen Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT
As a Schmidt Fellow, Suong Nguyen will turn to nanomaterials. According to MIT News , biological systems can synthesize macromolecules with the precise structures required for their biological functions. Scientists have long dreamed of achieving similar control over synthetic materials, but current methods are inefficient and limited in scope. Suong Nguyen hopes to develop new strategies to achieve this high level of control over the structure and properties of nanomaterials, and explore their potential uses in therapeutic applications.
“I feel extremely honored and grateful to receive the Schmidt Science Fellowship. The fellowship will provide me with a unique opportunity to interact with scientists from a variety of research backgrounds. I believe this will greatly contribute to shaping my research goals for my future career,” she said.
“History provides striking examples of what happens when scientists are free to ask big questions, and real breakthroughs can be achieved across fields,” said Wendy Schmidt, Eric Schmidt’s wife. “Schmidt fellows are tackling climate change, discovering new drugs to fight disease, developing new materials, and using machine learning to understand the drivers of human health. This year’s new cohort will add to this legacy of applying scientific discovery to improve human health and opportunity, while preserving and restoring the planet’s vital systems.”
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