Hoai-Thanh is pursuing his Ph.D. study under the co-supervision of Prof. Lior Sepunaru at The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Prof. Phillip Christopher at The Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of California, Santa Barbara, United States. His current research topic is the comparison of Pt-based catalysts in gas and liquid phases in terms of deactivation regime. He has been selected for several fellowships including the Chancellor Fellowship which will support his study at UCSB.
Prior to joining UCSB, he earned his Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from The University of Ulsan, South Korea. At that time, he worked with Prof. Jin Suk Chung on the research of renewable and sustainable energy sources. His research was based on heterojunction photocatalysts for generating hydrogen from water with the support of sacrificial agents. In addition, he was interested in the mechanism’s studies to understand how the materials work.
Hoai-Thanh was also awarded his Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology – Vietnam National University. He undertook his thesis with the support of Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Huu Hieu at Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Processing (CEPP). His research was focused on the utilization of modern extraction techniques and the optimization of extraction conditions of natural products for antioxidant and anticancer applications.
Currently, he is one of the members of the Vingroup Scholars (VGS) and Vietnam Education Foundation 2.0 (VEF 2.0) Fellows. He also works as a reviewer for some journals and is willing to cooperate with scientists around the globe. His research areas have involved nanomaterials, catalysis, extraction of natural products, and optimization.