Tu Nguyen | A path well traveled

Almost every day, Tu Nguyen takes the same path to Cardwell Hall, clocking in at the lab.

Each day, Tu Nguyen takes a 20 minute walk to Cardwell Hall, proceeding down the stairs to the basement of the building. She slips off her shoes, taking the school-issued ones from her cubby, and secures a pair of laser safety glasses on her face. Punching in her code, she goes through two sets of doors, weaving around the James R. MacDonald Laboratory until she makes it to her area of research, where she studies explosion imaging techniques. 

Nguyen found her way to Kansas State after being told about the opportunity from one of her professors while working at Bui Thi Xuan High School in Ho Chi Minh City — her hometown in Vietnam. 

“I applied for a position and they offered me, so I flew all the way to the state to be a part of K-State,” Nguyen said. “For my undergrad, my major is physics education. As a graduate, I actually got a position to be a high school physics teacher. I was teaching for a year before I made my way to K-State.”

After flying to Kansas, Nguyen received nothing but support from friends and family alike.

“I still be friend with some of my the former co-workers,” Nguyen said. “I still know a little bit of what they are doing within the school. It’s still pretty nice and decent to be a teacher over there because the environment and you can be friends with the students and actually give them very nice physics lessons. I would say the experiment of teaching is quite good, to be honest. But my family, they quite open. They feel like whatever I want, they vibe with my decision.”

So far, Nguyen has been at K-State for nearly three years, and she hopes to finish her studies for the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics program in “five to six years.” The internationally renowned AMO program typically takes around seven years to complete, Nguyen said.

“I have a plan,” she said. “I hope that I can find a position in some of the facility that actually doing the similar thing that I’m researching right now. We have a few options that you can shoot for it. For example, we can either go to the state national lab or we can go to Switzerland or Germany or also China or Japan these days because they also have fascinating institutes over there also. Opportunity after graduate is quite open from my point of view.”

According to the James R. MacDonald Laboratory, “… the theme that unites the JRML current activities is the study of dynamical processes involving ions, atoms, [and] molecules” that are exposed to “short, intense bursts of electromagnetic radiation.”

Through her research, Nguyen said people can learn more about their “basic biological system.”

“Our main focus is we want to study … [how] everything is made from very tiny, tiny particles,” she said. “We actually want to know the behavior of those things. The main idea of our study is — we’re going to use a camera and our camera, in this case, is a spectrometer. You need a flash and the flash is going to be a laser source. You use your flash to shine on your tiny particle and it’s going to break your particle into small fragments. Your camera, aka, the spectrometer in this case, is going to capture all these fragments. Then with some data analysis, you can reconstruct what is their original configuration.”

To complete her research, Nguyen uses an apparatus called Cold Target Recoil Ion Momentum Spectrometer. COLTRIMS is a space imaging technique built to investigate the dynamics of electrons, ionizing ions or “photon impact reactions with atoms or molecules,” according to ScienceDirect.

Although her hours in the lab vary week-by-week, Nguyen is dedicated to her research.

“Most of the time we need to be on call,” Nguyen said. 

Whether she stays in the states, travels back to Vietnam or takes a job elsewhere, Nguyen is confident she will find the perfect path to take.

Chasing dreams abroad: International student finds community in Manhattan

From the vibrant tropics of Brazil to purple pride in the sunflower state. 

Growing up in the city of Bebedouro, São Paulo in Brazil, a region known for its production of oranges and vibrant outdoor attractions, Alice Ruy Piovezana has spent her whole life surrounded by the rolling hills filled with shrubbery, crops and the occasional shade of a wooded park. Though accustomed to the traditional Brazilian hospitality of familial and social gatherings over meals, Kansas State earned the attention of Ruy Piovezana. Now a freshman in business at, she made the move to Kansas. Beforehand, her only impression of the U.S. came from visits to popular tourist cities such as New York City, Miami and Orlando.

“My parents’ best friends, whom I call my aunt and uncle, live here in Manhattan, so two or three years ago my family came here to visit them, and they showed me Kansas State, and I loved it … I wanted to study here,” Ruy Piovezana said. 

When Ruy Piovezana first visited K-State, she was still exploring her interests. Over time, she realized where her calling is. 

“I was thinking about doing international relations, but then I found out I like more of the business side of the international things; I like the trades and commercial part,” Ruy Piovezana said. “So my interest changed to international business.” 

Once she decided what she wanted to pursue, Ruy Piovezana found her mind still set on K-State years after her first visit.

“I was thinking about going to university in Brazil, but since I wanted to do something related to international relations, I thought, ‘Why not do this in another country, in a new culture,’ you know?” Ruy Piovezana said. “Doing international things in the international world seemed like a good way to get experience. I started applying to other universities, but K-State was my favorite. … I already knew the campus and I knew people that were  living here.” 

Since choosing to pursue international business at K-State, Ruy Piovezana said she has felt at home and is enjoying the new experiences she’s gained during her first two months here. 

“I love the campus, I really loved when I saw everybody wearing purple, and I was like, ‘This is so fun,’ it felt like a family,” she said.

In the midst of her transition from life at home in Brazil to the Little Apple, Ruy Piovezana embraces the change and makes the most of her journey. 

 “I’m still getting used to it; I think the most difficult part of my transition was the first two weeks, because I was still getting used to the culture and speaking English 24 hours a day,” Ruy Piovezana said. 

“But now I’m much more comfortable here, and I’m comfortable with making mistakes, and people have been very understanding about that. I still have a lot to adjust to, and sometimes I still have a little of a Brazilian mindset because this is only my second month here. … I have never lived in another country before, so I still do some things that are strange to American culture, but I’m still adjusting and having a great time so far.”

Ruy Piovezana has wasted no time getting involved on campus and working toward her goals. She joined the Menards Scholars and Rise Up Scholars, leadership development programs for business students, as well as the Honors program, demonstrating her commitment to growth in the business field. She has a special interest in the logistics of business and supply chain management, hoping to earn a certificate in international business someday.