Emily Nguyen wins 2018 Carey Scholarship

Emily Nguyen, now a senior double majoring in honors English and mathematics at UT, is the 2018 Graham Carey Scholar.

Nguyen served a summer 2018 Moncrief Undergraduate Summer Internship with ICES Professor Tan Bui-Thanh, who nominated her for the award. In Fall 2018, she is conducting research with ICES Professor Todd Arbogast to complete her ICES Computational Science and Engineering Certificate Program.

(Through the internship) "I have discovered a personal method to effectively independently study topics, which has greatly increased my appreciation for research," said Nguyen in her application.

After taking various courses in mathematics and statistics, Nguyen developed an interest in optimization and data science. Her internship allowed her to expand on that interest as she learned about neural networks and relevant algorithms like gradient descent and back propagation, she said.

"Her ability, as a college junior, to conquer the emerging research in machine learning and then implement it successfully in a state-of-the-art software package within a short time is outstanding," said Bui-Thanh, following her internship. "After working with her, I am very pleased to have selected her for my research group."

Nguyen, who has a near-perfect GPA at UT, is currently applying for graduate schools nationwide.

The Graham Carey Scholarship honors the late Carey, a founding ICES professor specializing in computational fluid dynamics. He originally worked for the Boeing Company and helped develop the Boeing 747 and the Lunar Rover. In 1977, he joined the faculty at The University of Texas at Austin where he served for 34 years until his death in 2011. He became a prolific writer, publishing more than 250 papers in refereed journals and authoring or co-authoring 10 books. He served on the editorial boards of eight scientific journals.