The Vietnamese Fulbright Scholar Program (VSP), managed by the U.S Embassy and Consulate in Vietnam, is for applicants who are university faculty, foreign ministry and government officials, or professionals in the private sector, think tanks and others. The program focuses on applicants who have a significant record of scholarly or professional accomplishment. The VSP provides grants to Vietnamese scholars to lecture and/or conduct research at American institutions or universities for five months (one-semester grant) or nine months (two- semester grant) in the U.S.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Long, Vice Director of the International Cooperation Office, lecturer of the Faculty of Agronomy, Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) is one of the six qualified scholars for the VSP 2017. The Fulbright Program spent almost a page on Quarterly Newsletter Spring 2019 to introduce Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Long and his achievements when participating in the VSP from May to November, 2017.
Under the VSP 2017, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Long joined in the KSU Crops research group led by Dr. Ignacio Ciampitti, Kansas State University, USA on crop physiology, the utilization of high technology applications such as satellite images, unmanned aircraft and the big data processing in the corn production management at the U.S. corn belt region. After the first three months working in that group, his study on big data processing was published in the prestigious journal Frontiers in Plant Science which is the world’s highest citation rate journal in the field of plant science. In addition, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Long presented the research results and Vietnamese agriculture at many prestigious U.S. universities and conferences such as Notre Dame University and Indiana State; and the U.S. Crop Science Annual Meeting at Tampa Florida, or Kansas State University, America.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Long (front row, the fourth from the left) and the KSU Crop research group at KSU 2017
After the research period in the U.S, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Long and Dr. Ignacio continued to collaborate in developing a project proposal “Adoption and application of the American satellite imaging technology in assessing and forecasting maize production to improve maize production management in Vietnam”. This is considered as the spearhead research in Vietnam in the field of modern crop yield prediction at high accuracy which would be less time-consuming and less costly than the traditional methods and has been funded by the “Fostering Innovation through Research, Science and Technology (FIRST)” Project sponsored by the World Bank over the period 2018-2019.
The research group of Dr. Ignacio and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Long organized a scientific seminar on exploiting satellite images in assessing the situation and forecasting productivity in Vietnam
The objective of the Fulbright Scholar Program is to strengthen collaboration and enhance cultural exchange between Vietnam and the U.S through education and research. Therefore, when participating in the VSP 2017, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Long has actively connected and promoted the cooperation between VNUA and many US universities. Hence, 3 universities, namely the University of Kansas, Emporia State University (ESU) and Kansas State University (KSU), signed cooperation agreements with VNUA, and on that basis these universities have implemented the cooperation programs in training and research such as collaborative education and exchange of students and staff with VNUA.
Dr. Marcellus Caldas Assistant Provost, International Faculty Collaborations and Education Programs, KSU on his working visit to VNUA from March 19 to March 23, 2018
The ESU delegation led by Mr. Mark Daly, Dean of the International Education with the professors of the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism and Department of Biology had a working visit to discuss cooperation in training with VNUA
The ESU delegation in a working visit at VNUA
In the coming time, the research group of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Long will send staff to Kansas State University and continue their research on corn yield predicting technology to transfer the technology into production at the end of 2019.
Participating in the VSP, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Viet Long not only developed his research capacity but also has contributed to the enhancement of international cooperation with US partners.