I-STAR Research Group gathers young and capable Vietnamese researchers with more than half currently working at The University of Danang - University of Science and Technology (DUT) and half still working at research institutions in many countries such as the United States, Japan, Australia, Korea, etc. Most of the researchers have experience working in advanced research facilities in the world. Researchers create a network that can be connected to solve academic and application problems in almost field of Civil, Infrastructure and Environment Engineering.
Leader of Istar
After completing undergraduate, master's, and doctoral studies at Utsunomiya University, Japan, from 2006 to 2015, Dr. Nguyen Minh Hai began working as an assistant professor at Utsunomiya University from 2015 to 2020. Subsequently, Dr. Hai returned to Vietnam and has been serving as a lecturer at Da Nang University of Technology since 2021. His expertise lies in materials and structural engineering.
In his research activities, Dr. Hai has received numerous prestigious awards from the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE), including the Outstanding Paper Award from the JSCE journal in 2016 and the Outstanding Paper Award from the Journal of Structural Engineering of JSCE in 2019. He has contributed to over 50 scientific publications in reputable international journals and has played key roles as project leader and team member in more than 15 research projects at various levels, many of which were carried out during his tenure in Japan.
In recent years, Dr. Hai has undertaken new research related to the electrical and wave properties of concrete materials. This represents a highly advanced research direction with significant potential in the current era of digital transformation and energy efficiency in the construction industry.
Vice Leader of Istar
Dr. Ngoc completed a doctoral degree at Griffith University, Australia. His research expertise consists of laboratory and fieldwork in the area of infrastructure with a specific focus on site characterisation, soft soil engineering, ground improvement, and deep foundation design. Dr. Ngoc has more than ten years of experience as a geotechnical engineer, academic, and structural engineer. He has extensive experience delivering large and complex civil infrastructure projects. In recent years, he has developed evolutionary prediction models for the strength of soil stabilization material using Artificial Intelligent techniques. Currently, he is a lecturer at the Faculty of Road & Bridge Engineering, University of Science and Technology - The University of Danang (DUT), Danang city, Vietnam.
Leader of Sub-Istar 1
Dr. Phan graduated Master's program in Structural Engineering at Dongguk University, South Korea in 2011, and achieved his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at Roma Tre University, Italy. He also got a postdoc position for 2 years at Roma Tre University. He is now working as a full-time lecturer at The University of Danang - University of Science and Technology and he is also a leader of the Natural Hazard Risk and Safety Control of Civil Infrastructures (RiSCI) at the University of Danang. His research interests focus on seismic vulnerability and risk of structures, seismic mitigation approaches, and natural hazard risk and resilience assessment of infrastructure. He is the author of more than 40 papers in international peer-review journals and conferences.
Leader of Sub-Istar 2
Dr. Nguyen Van Quang has been a senior lecturer in the Construction materials division- Faculty of Road and Bridge Engineering, The University of Danang - University of Science and Technology. He received a B.S. degree in Materials technology at his home university in 2011 and got a Ph.D. degree in chemistry Engineering at Yeungnam University, Republic of Korea, in 2021. His interest over the past 10 years including his published papers has been in the design of materials for environmental sustainability and applications such as photocatalysis in environmental purification, photocatalytic concrete, cement chemistry, geopolymers, and cementitious materials.
Member of Sub-Istar 2
Personal HP
Dr. Phuong Pham has worked as a lecturer for The University of Danang – University of Science and Technology (UD-UST) since 2008. From 2010 to 2012, he joined Highway Engineering and Airport Research Taskforce Laboratory (HEART Lab.) as a research assistant with his Mater research program at Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea. His further study was in Civil Engineering at Le Laboratoire Matériaux et Durabilité des Constructions (LMDC), INSA/UPS Toulouse, France, in 2015. Afterwards obtaining his PhD in 2018, he joined University of South Australia, Australia as a researcher until 2020. He has been a principal investigator for several research projects and published more than 20 SCIE papers.
Dr. Phuong Pham is currently Head of Division of Highway & Traffic Engineering (UD-UST) and interested in pavement materials and durability.
Leader of Sub-Istar 4
Dr. Nguyen Phuoc Quy Duy is one of leading researchers in the field of transportation in Vietnam. Currently, he is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Road and Bridge Engineering, the University of Danang - University of Science and Technology. He is also the research group leader of Sustainable Travel and Economic Behaviour Research Group (STEB-RG) managed by the University of Danang. He got the Ph.D in Transportation at Monash University (ranked 57th globally in the QS) under the direction of Professor Graham Currie, who is the founder and Director of the Public Transport Research Group (the 3rd top academic research group in the world). He has also worked as a postdoctoral associate for 2 years at Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). At SMART, he has worked closely with professors from MIT, the United States (ranked 1st globally), from NUS, Singapore (ranked 11th) and researchers from the Ministry of Transport, Singapore. In 2019, he won the SIDRA SOLUTIONS Award which was presented to the most outstanding postgraduate student from a tertiary institution in Australia or New Zealand, based on the quality of his research paper and potential to make a significant contribution to the profession. After graduating the Ph.D degree, Dr Nguyen-Phuoc has successfully led a number of research projects investigating the travel behaviours of road users in Vietnam. Currently, he has published more than 35 research papers in leading international peer research journals (Q1) such as Transportation Research Part A, D, F, Accident Analysis & Prevention and Transportation, in which he was the main author and corresponding author of 30 papers.
Member
Personal HP
Dr. Teron Nguyen has been working as a lecturer at The University of Danang – University of Science and Technology since 2009 after receiving an Engineer degree in Bridge and Road Construction Engineering. He completed the Master of Science in Transportation Systems, Technical University of Munich, Germany (TUM) in 2014. In 2020, he obtained the Dr.-Ing. degree from both TUM and NTU (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) under the joint-PhD program. From 2015 to 2020, Teron worked as a Research Associate at TUMCREATE, Singapore, focusing on road infrastructure design for Autonomous and Electrified Vehicles. Right after, Teron joined Samwoh Innovation Centre (SWIC), Singapore, working on innovative Pavement Management Systems and Data Analytics for Road networks and Airport runways.
Beside Pavement Engineering, his research interests are Transportation and Traffic Engineering, Human Factors, Autonomous Vehicles and Machine Learning. Teron is now serving as a Guest Editor for:
1) Special Issue "Mitigation of Air Pollution through Sustainable Transportation", Sustainability (IF 3.889).
2) Special Issue "Smart Innovation for Transport Infrastructure Maintenance", Frontiers in Future Transportation, Frontiers.
Member
Dr. Hung Vo received Ph.D. Degree in Civil Engineering Department from Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan, in 2016. Now he works as senior lecturer and researcher in University of Danang, University of Science and Technology, Vietnam. His current research interests include structure aerodynamics, structure dynamic behaviors, FEM analysis, Bridge design and Bridge construction technology.
He has been a principal investigator for several research projects and published more than 50 academic papers.
Member
Personal HP
MINH TD was a lecturer at the University of Transport in Ho Chi Minh City from 2008 to 2012, then a lecturer at the University of Danang - University of Science and Technology (UD-UST) from 2012. His postgraduate studies were in Civil Engineering at the Institut de Recherche en Génie Civil et Mécanique (GEM), Univesité de Nantes, France, in 2017, and obtained his Ph.D. in 2020. After returning to Vietnam, he participates in some research projects (primary or member investigator).
MINH TD is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Bridges and Underground Infrastructures. His field is concerned with the study in terms of materials, erosion, and landslides using simulation and experiments.
Member
Official CV
Thien Q. Tran is a Ph.D. candidate in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), USA. He received his M.S. and B.S. degrees in civil engineering from Chonnam National University in 2019 and the University of Da Nang University of Science and Technology in 2015, respectively. His primary research focus is on cement chemistry, concrete, cementitious composites using industrial wastes (e.g., stabilized soil and controlled low-strength material (CLSM)), polymer concrete, and non-destructive evaluation.
Member