Vietnam Education Foundation Sponsors U.S. Faculty Scholars To Teach In Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam, and WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) is pleased to announce the selection of nine American professors as the fifth group to teach at Vietnamese universities as part of its U.S. Faculty Scholar (USFS) Program. This distinguished group of U.S. professors, who will teach during the 2012-2013 Academic Year, is the largest cohort of U.S. Faculty Scholars that VEF has selected.

The U.S. Faculty Scholar Program contributes to the VEF mission of bringing the United States and Vietnam closer together through educational exchanges related to science, engineering, mathematics, medicine, and technology. U.S. Faculty Scholars teach in English at Vietnamese universities in their fields of expertise. Teaching may be conducted either on-site in Vietnam or by interactive, real-time videoconferencing from the United States. VEF serves as the sponsor and organizer while the Vietnamese universities serve as the hosts and the U.S. universities cooperate in the collaborative programs.

Claire Pierangelo, the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission to Vietnam, affirmed: "The VEF U.S. Faculty Scholar Program is an outstanding U.S. government program, which reflects one of our Mission's top priorities of enhancing American cooperation with Vietnam in the area of education. I believe it will also serve to support Vietnam's efforts to further reform and develop its higher education system."

The Vietnamese Minister of Science and Technology (MOST), Dr. Nguyen Quan, acknowledged: "The Ministry of Science and Technology greatly appreciates the U.S. Faculty Scholar Program of the Vietnam Education Foundation. The grants program has provided an excellent opportunity for Vietnamese students and faculty to access advanced teaching and research methods in classes where English is used as the language of instruction. The Program promotes partnerships not only between individuals and between the U.S. and Vietnamese universities, but also between the two countries through educational exchanges in science and technology."

Each of the American professors will lead different teaching projects in Vietnam this year under the U.S. Faculty Scholar Program.

Dr. Kunwar Jay Bagga is a Professor of Computer Science at Ball State University. His extensive research is funded by government, industry and universities. He is active in international collaboration and international exchange programs management. In 2000, he was a Senior U.S. Fulbright Scholar at the University of Zimbabwe. He has won the Outstanding Researcher and the Outstanding Faculty awards at Ball State University. Dr. Bagga will teach a computer science course in the Department of Software Engineering at the University of Engineering and Technology in Hanoi. The class, Design and Analysis of Algorithms - Mobile Applications, will be taught during the Fall 2012 academic term by videoconferencing. Dr. Bagga was also a VEF U.S. Faculty Scholar in 2011.

Dr. James F. Cremer is a professor of Computer Science at the University of Iowa and was chair of the Department from 2002-2010. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1989 and has authored or co-authored more than 75 technical papers. His research interests include virtual environments (VE), health informatics, and mobile applications. In Spring 2011, he taught at Hanoi University of Technology as a VEF U.S. Faculty Scholar. Dr. Cremer will teach a course on developing mobile applications at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology during the Spring Semester 2013 where he will teach both on site and by videoconferencing.

Dr. Diane M. Dewar is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Behavior in the School of Public Health at the University at Albany, State University of New York. She has nearly 20 years of teaching experience in higher education. She received the William Waters Research Award from the Association of Social Economists, the Aetna Susan B. Anthony Award from the American Public Health Association, and is President of the Alpha Gamma Chapter of the Public Health Honor Society, Delta Omega. She also received the University at Albany Excellence in Academic Service Award and the State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Academic Excellence. She also has a Visiting Professorship at CES University in Medellin, Colombia. She will be teaching Health Promotion over the Life Span at the Hanoi Medical University during the Fall 2012 semester by videoconferencing.

Dr. Austin Marshall, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas at El Paso, will teach Waste Management Technologies at Hue University in the fall of 2012, using combined classroom and live Internet-based teaching. Dr. Marshall has more than thirty years of international industry and teaching experience in the fields of waste management and construction. His education includes a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University, a Master's Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan, a Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Detroit, and postdoctoral studies in Geology at the University of Michigan. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer and Builder and serves on the Board of Directors of a number of environmental companies.

Dr. Randy Ribler is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science at Lynchburg College. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Virginia Tech, a Master's in computer science from George Mason University, and a B.S. in computer science from the University of Maryland, College Park. Prior to joining the faculty at Lynchburg College, Dr. Ribler completed a two-year postdoctoral appointment at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In 2006, he taught undergraduate and graduate classes at Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU-HN), as a Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Ribler has also worked extensively in the computer industry, primarily in high-performance computing. During the spring semester of 2013, he will return to VNU-HN on a VEF Faculty Scholar grant to teach Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence. He plans to develop these courses so that they can be taught jointly in the future, thus allowing students from Lynchburg College and VNU-HN to work together.

Dr. Mark Rosenfeld is Professor Emeritus, at the University of Washington, Tacoma. Dr. Rosenfeld has received multiple Fulbright and National Science Foundation grants. As part of an agreement between VNU-HN and the University of Washington, Dr. Rosenfeld introduced discrete mathematics and discrete optimization into the Vietnamese curriculum. Dr. Rosenfeld will be teaching on site at the University of Science, VNU-HN, during the Fall 2012 academic term. Dr. Rosenfeld's fields of expertise are Mathematics and Computer Science and he will be teaching a course, entitled Discrete Optimization.

Dr. Cyrus Shahabi is Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering and Director of the NSF Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC) at the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. He will be teaching at two universities in Ho Chi Minh City: Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT) and University of Information Technology (UIT), using webcasting and video-conferencing from the United States during the Fall 2012 academic term. Dr. Shahabi's field of expertise is in Information Technology and he will be teaching a course, entitled Geospatial Information Management. This is the second time that Dr. Shahabi has received the VEF Faculty Scholar award. In Fall 2011, he taught the same course remotely at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Dr. Shahabi is a recipient of the ACM Distinguished Scientist award in 2009 and the 2003 U.S. Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

Dr. Douglas Slakey, MD, MPH, is Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Department of Surgery at Tulane University School of Medicine. His education and training include the University of California at Berkeley, Medical College of Wisconsin, Oxford University, and Johns Hopkins. He continues to have an active surgical practice involving transplantation and advanced surgery for pancreas and liver disease. Dr. Slakey has received recognition for his accomplishments in the United States and internationally. He has developed innovative techniques for medical education including the use of simulation. His research and international medical education experience includes the application of human factors and team training to improve outcomes, healthcare efficiency, and patient safety. Through the support of VEF, he will be working with the Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy to teach the Multidisciplinary Approach to Optimize the Care of Renal Patients. The course includes simulation and human factors to improve the team-oriented care of patients with kidney disease.

Dr. Robert W. Taylor is a professor of environmental studies in the Department of Earth and Environmental Studies at Montclair State University of New Jersey. He is responsible for teaching courses in environmental science and directing doctoral research in environmental management. He completed a Fulbright Scholar Award in the Philippines in 2009 where he was a visiting professor in the Department of Biology at De La Salle University, teaching and conducting field research in urban ecology. He was previously a Fulbright scholar/professor at the University of Jos in Jos, Nigeria. Dr. Taylor is currently involved in developing curricula in sustainability science, and his most recent publication is Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Sustainability (McGraw-Hill, 2012). Dr. Taylor will be teaching a course, entitled Sustainability Science and Cities: Technologies for Climate Change Adaptation at the Ho Chi Minh University of Natural Resources and Environment (HUNRE) in Ho Chi Minh City from January to July 2013.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Vang, General Director of the Vietnam International Education Development, Ministry of Education and Training, said: "The Ministry of Education and Training Vietnam International Education Development division supports and appreciates the U.S. Faculty Scholar (USFS) Program initiated by VEF. We are glad to learn that VEF has selected nine American professors for the 2012 cohort of Faculty Scholars. The contribution of the U.S. Faculty Scholars Program to advancing sustainable collaboration between U.S. and Vietnamese universities is invaluable to the development and growth of Vietnamese education."

Dr. Lynne McNamara, VEF Executive Director, stated: "An excellent example of American and Vietnamese university collaboration, the U.S. Faculty Scholar Grant Program is a significant initiative of VEF, bringing outstanding American experts to teach at Vietnamese universities. Without a doubt, the U.S. Faculty Scholar Grant program will have a lasting impact on higher education in Vietnam."

The Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF), a U.S. Federal government agency, is in its tenth year of operations.  With regard to other VEF programs, the VEF Fellowship Program has placed nearly 450 Fellows at over 80 top-tier U.S. graduate research institutions, mostly for doctoral degrees. Since 2007 the VEF Visiting Scholar Program has provided opportunities for 38 Vietnamese to pursue post-doctoral programs at U.S. universities for up to 12 months. VEF Fellows and Visiting Scholars are required to return to Vietnam after completing their academic programs in the United States.

For more information on VEF, please visit: www.vef.gov.

SOURCE Vietnam Education Foundation