Vietnam Education Foundation Announces New Chairman Of The Board And New Board Members Appointed By President Obama

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) is proud to announce the appointment of Dr. Isaac F. Silvera as Chairman of the VEF Board of Directors as well as the appointment by President Barack Obama of two new Presidential appointees to the VEF Board of Directors, Ms. Anhlan P. Nguyen and Ms. Quyen N. Vuong.  

Dr. Isaac F. Silvera is the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University where he has taught physics and conducted research since 1982. His research is supported by the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and NASA. Professor Silvera earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1971, he became a full professor at the University of Amsterdam.  In Amsterdam, Professor Silvera stabilized the first Bose gas, atomic hydrogen, which led to Bose-Einstein Condensation. For this development Professor Silvera was awarded the Hewlett Packard Europhysics Prize. In 2006, at the request of the Vietnamese government, he served on a team of the National Academies of the United States to conduct research for VEF in order to advise on enhancing higher education in science and engineering in the Vietnamese universities. He has visited Vietnam several times to aid in the selection of scholars supported by VEF for studies in the United States, and he has lectured throughout Vietnam on advanced subjects in physics. He was elected by the VEF Board of Directors as its Chairman and assumed his duties on April 27, 2012.

Anhlan P. Nguyen is currently an IT project portfolio manager at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Chair of the Board of Directors for the Vietnamese Culture and Science Association. Her accomplishments include the establishment of the Vietnamese Youth Center of Toronto, Canada; the National Youth Leadership Development Camp "Len Duong" for young community activists from across the United States and Canada; and the hosting of numerous community programs aimed at helping and assisting in the development of Vietnamese-American youth. In 2010, she was selected as one of the "Top 25 Women of Houston" by the Steed Society and the Commercial Bank for her outstanding leadership and community involvement. In 2011, she received the "Women's Leadership Empowerment" Award by the Texas Women's Empowerment Foundation. Ms. Nguyen has a B.S. and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Toronto, Canada.

Quyen N. Vuong is the Executive Director of the International Children Assistance Network (ICAN) in San Jose, CA, an organization she co-founded in 2000. She is also a board member of the Pacific Links Foundation, an organization she co-founded in 2001, and a founding member of the Vietnamese American Non-Governmental Network, created in 2004. Ms. Vuong serves on the Board of Directors of the Santa Clara Family Health Foundation, the Community Advisory Committee for San Jose Children's Discovery Museum, and the Advisory Board for the Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution for Mission College. She received a Fulbright in 1989 and worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Hong Kong. Ms. Vuong holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale University, and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Dr. Lynne A. McNamara, VEF Executive Director, praised the work of the Board. "The VEF Board of Directors provides such valuable leadership and direction to all of our activities and programs. The Board members have varied experience and insights that lend depth to considerations of every aspect of operations and finances. I sincerely respect their efforts and their commitment to the mission and goals of VEF."  VEF is governed by a thirteen-member Board of Directors, which consists of two U.S. Senators, two U.S. Representatives, three U.S. cabinet members, and six members from the U.S. citizenry appointed by the President of the United States. The Board appoints an American Executive Director to oversee VEF operations, conducted through two highly coordinated offices: the U.S. Headquarters in the Washington, D.C., area and the Vietnam Field Office in Hanoi.

VEF is a special initiative enacted by the U.S. Congress to bring the United States and Vietnam closer through educational exchanges related to science, engineering, mathematics, medicine, and technology. The Foundation is approaching its tenth anniversary. As its flagship activity, the VEF Fellowship program has placed 424 Fellows at 84 top-tier U.S. graduate research institutions as of June 2012, mostly for doctoral degrees. Additionally, the Visiting Scholar Program funds Vietnamese doctorate recipients to pursue postdoctoral programs at U.S. universities for up to 12 months and the U.S. Faculty Scholar Grant Program provides support for American professors to teach at Vietnamese universities for one or two terms via videoconferencing or on site in Vietnam. VEF Fellows and Visiting Scholars are required to return to Vietnam after completing their academic programs in the United States.

For additional information on VEF, please visit the VEF website at: www.vef.gov.

SOURCE Vietnam Education Foundation