Thuc-Quyen Nguyen

Professor Nguyen was born in Ban Mê Thuột Vietnam. She was curious from an early age, always trying to understand how things work. Her mother was a math teacher so she was inspired from an early age to become a teacher. There are four generations of teachers in her family, and as a young child, she went along to her mother's classes as there was no daycare to attend. She also began working in a plant physiology lab, beginning by washing glassware. She asked for a research internship in the same lab during the summer but the lab manager turned her down. She also asked several labs at UCLA but they also turned her down. One professor said "research is not for everyone" and she should focus on learning English. == Research and career ==

Professor Nguyen completed her masters in 1998, and PhD in 2001, both from UCLA. In her PhD, she processed and studied conducting polymers using ultrafast spectroscopy under the supervision of Professor Benjamin Schwartz. After her PhD, Professor Nguyen worked as a research associate at Columbia University, with Professor Louis Brus. In 2004, Nguyen joined UCSB Chemistry and Biochemistry department as an assistant professor, and received appointment to full professor in 2011. She collaborated with Guillermo Bazan and Alan Heeger at UCSB for many years [4]. Professor Nguyen's current research focuses on organic electronic devices. She studies how chemical structure influence performance and function of organic devices like PVs, OLEDs, OFETs, and OPDs. She is interested in improving organic solar cells as well as developing flexible electronics. == Awards ==

• 2005 – Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award. • 2007 – Harold Plous Award. • 2008 – Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award. • 2009 – Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. • 2010 – Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Award. • 2015 – Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for Senior Scientists • 2015-2019 – World's most Influential Scientific Minds • 2016 – Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry • 2019 – Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) • 2019 – Beaufort Visiting Scholar, St John’s College, Cambridge University • 2019 – Hall of Fame, Advanced Materials • 2020 – UCSB Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor Award • 2023 – Wilhelm Exner Medal • 2023 – Elected to the US National Academy of Engineering • 2023 – De Gennes Prize for Materials Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry) • 2023 – Fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors == See also ==