By: Rebeca Lazo
Pasadena ISD Communication & Alumni Department
The Communication & Alumni Department would like to present a series of stories dedicated to the many wonderful PISD alumni who continue to inspire us.
Khanh ‘Kate’ Nguyen, a 2012 Dobie High School graduate, hit a new milestone recently, as she joined the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory of the German Primate Center in Göttingen, Germany as a postdoctoral researcher - marking the start of her career.
Nguyen was born and raised in Vietnam. Knowing little English, she and her family moved to the U.S. in 2008, where she faced obstacles assimilating due to cultural differences.
“It was difficult in the beginning...I had to translate English into Vietnamese back and forth in my head, but my teachers were very understanding and helped me overcome both language and cultural barriers,” said Ngyuen.
Nguyen’s professional journey can be traced back as far as her involvement at Dobie when her 10th grade calculus teacher, Kathleen Murrell, encouraged her to enroll in AP physics.
Between taking dual credit math classes at San Jacinto College and participating in the school math club, Nguyen’s high school experience was the result of self-determination and hard work; but these accomplishments were only one part of her life-long journey.
While Nguyen was hesitant at first, she grew fond of physics and eventually chose to major in the subject while completing her undergraduate studies at the University of Houston.
After graduating from Dobie, Nguyen returned to Pasadena ISD to tutor high school students in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program while continuing her education at the University of Houston.
During her senior year, Nguyen joined the University of Houston’s Scholar Enrichment program (SEP) as a lead science content mentor where she created an interactive learning model that is still being used today for both men and women in STEM.
The model’s main focus is to help students ask the right questions, which is something Nguyen practiced when tutoring AVID students.
“I found that students were trained to answer questions and were incapable of posing answers. Thus, a change was necessary...My experiences with the AVID program allowed me to adapt and improve their models to fit the SEP program,” says Nguyen. “Instead of giving them answers, I asked questions to help them develop their thought process.”
Nguyen received the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, awarded to college sophomores and juniors seeking research careers in natural sciences, mathematics and engineering. In 2015, she graduated from the University of Houston, summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics.
Nguyen continued her education with the University of Houston’s doctoral program. In 2017, she earned a competitive and prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship program has continued to support her research proposal for the past three years in mathematical neuroscience and decision-making.
In July, Nguyen graduated with a Ph. D. in mathematics from the University of Houston, marking the start of her career.
While Nguyen has settled into her new life in Germany as a researcher, she sees more big plans in her future and is hopeful she can make an impact on other women in STEM fields.
“After I finish my postdoc position in Germany, I aim to obtain a position as a research professor at a U.S. institute because research in mathematics is what I am passionate about,” says Nguyen. “My goal is to reduce the gap between men and women in STEM fields. I am excited to envision that one day there will be more women in my math and science classes.”
Khanh 'Kate' Nguyen, Ph.D. student in mathematics
Photo by Karin Tilch