Dr. Do Duc Ton.

Obtaining the doctorate at the age of 30

Dr. Do Duc Ton was ever thought to be close-mouthed, with his thoughtful face and thick glasses of a scientific researcher, but recently when meeting him on the occasion of his return to the homeland to visit his relatives, we found that he is much younger than his image in the photo and his real age.

With a friendly, open smile, he shared with us his efforts to be successful today. From the secondary school years, Ton was always among the best students of the Viet Yen School for the Talented (now known as Than Nhan Trung Secondary School). He had participated in many district- and provincial-level English and mathematics contests and won high prizes.

When studying in the Viet Yen 1 High School, Ton set his goal of entering the Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Therefore, he strived to learn physics and chemistry well. As one of the few university graduates with an excellent degree, he continued to pursue a postgraduate course without taking any examination and was recruited to be a lecturer at the University of Water Resources. Right after successfully defending his master's dissertation in 2009, the young man quickly got a scholarship to continue his study at Dongguk University, Seoul, the Republic of Korea in order to realize his dream of becoming a PhD.

In February 2014, at the age of 30, Do Duc Ton successfully defended his doctoral dissertation titled “Direct torque control of IPMSM (interior permanent magnet synchronous machine) drives based on a nonlinear optimal control technique for electric vehicle applications.” 

Also that year, he was the only individual presented with the "Best Research Award” by the school. Being intelligent and talented, he had numerous job opportunities. He continued to study at Dongguk University and was invited to work at Gyeongsang University. 

Since September 2015, he has been working for Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan as an assistant professor in the Department of Robotics and Mechatronics. Besides the teaching time, his main job is to do scientific research and guide students and postgraduates to do master’s and doctoral theses.

Sharing the passion for scientific research

Dr. Do Duc Ton takes photo with his parents in Phuc Lam village, Hoang Ninh commune (Viet Yen district).

If the high school system has schools for the gifted, the place where Ton is working is the school for the gifted of the university system. This is a high-quality educational environment in Kazakhstan with more than 300 professors and lecturers from 57 countries and territories (Vietnam has two people).

Reviewing his past path, Dr. Do Duc Ton himself finds that he has two advantages: being good at foreign languages and firmly grasping specialized knowledge. "Youth never comes back, I recommend young people focus the most on studying and learning English well from now," he shared.

During his research and working process, Dr. Do Duc Ton has 20 articles, including 12 posted on IEEE Access - the world's leading electrical engineering and automation magazine by the US-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Since April 2017, he has participated in the editorial work in this magazine. 

While working abroad, every year on vacations, he spends his time meeting and inspiring young people in the province and the country to learn and do scientific research. He often returns to schools such as Than Nhan Trung Secondary School and Viet Yen 1 High School every year. Teacher Tieu Thanh Tuyet, Principal of Viet Yen 1 High School, said: "In addition to talent and wide knowledge of science, we feel Ton’s hard work and calm in communication. His meetings and talks with the school’s students were of great significance, motivating them to study well.”

Mai Toan