Experimental physicist Tuan Anh Nguyen is one of 19 recipients of this year’s Hertz Fellowship

Tuan Anh Nguyen, an incoming graduate student in physics at CU Boulder, has won the Hertz Fellowship, a prestigious recognition dedicated to empowering the promising innovators in applied science, engineering and mathematics, the foundation announced today.

The Hertz Fellowship is one of the most competitive and coveted doctoral fellowship programs in the nation. Hertz Fellows receive five years of funding and join an influential network of more than 1,300 fellows worldwide who are responsible for some of the most significant scientific and technological progress of the past century, from the recent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope to the development of global defense networks and from advanced medical therapies to computational systems that billions of people use every day.

“Hertz Fellows embody the promise of future scientific breakthroughs, major engineering achievements and thought leadership that is vital to our future,” said Stephen Fantone, chair of the Hertz Foundation board of directors and president and CEO of Optikos Corporation, in the foundation’s press release. “The newest recipients will direct research teams, serve in leadership positions in our government and take the helm of major corporations and startups that impact our communities and the world.”

Nguyen is an experimental physicist interested in leveraging the smallest atom-light interactions to make the biggest impact with precisely controlled quantum many-body systems.  He will attend CU Boulder for his doctorate after graduating from Stanford this spring with a degree in physics, focusing on atomic, molecular and optical physics.

During his undergraduate, Nguyen worked to develop low-power atomic clocks for undersea use. He has also worked with the Precision Photonics Synthesis Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, contributing to experiments in generating low-noise microwaves at cryogenic temperatures.

Nguyen spent his undergraduate education advocating for first-generation, low-income (FLI) students. As a leader of the Stanford Undergraduate Research Association (SURA), he expanded the outreach to and financial accessibility for FLI attendees of SURA’s Stanford Research Conference, a student-run national research conference. He also served as a residential assistant, an Arts Intensive Apprentice and a Stanford University Physics Society officer, positions he leveraged to mentor fellow FLI students.

Nguyen was born in Vietnam and grew up in Temple City, California, where he was involved with youth civic engagement organizations like the Temple City Youth Committee and academic teams like Science Olympiad. In his free time, he enjoys drawing, running and trying his hand at screenwriting.

As one of this year’s Hertz Fellows, Nguyen will gain access to lifelong programming, such as mentoring, events and networking, which has supported fellows’ efforts to form research collaborations, commercialize technology, and create and invest in early-stage companies together. They benefit from partnerships with influential organizations in science, technology, national security and philanthropy, such as the Gates Foundation, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 10x Genomics and Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group.

Over the foundation’s 62-year history of awarding fellowships, more than 1,300 Hertz Fellows have established a remarkable track record of accomplishments. Their ranks include two Nobel laureates including John Mather; recipients of 11 Breakthrough Prizes and three MacArthur Foundation “genius awards”; and winners of the Turing Award, the Fields Medal, the National Medal of Technology, the National Medal of Science and the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award.

In addition, 54 are members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and 40 are fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Hertz Fellows hold over 3,000 patents, have founded more than 375 companies, and have created hundreds of thousands of science and technology jobs.

More information about the fellowship is available on the Hertz Foundation website.