Welcome to my personal website!
If you want to know a bit more about my background, check out
this autobiography.
Where am I?
I am currently a resident of Somerville, MA; sometimes I say I am in Boston or Cambridge, both of which I have easy access to. Let me know if you are in the area and want to meet up!
What am I interested in?
My research interests have evolved radically over time. I would like to think that there is a narrative consistency to my interests, but the directionality can appear random. As part of my work in the
Schiffer Group, I am currently interested in the following topics:
1. Ergodicity and Generalizability Problems in Electrochemical Research
I am primarily an experimentalist, which I would consider an ideological choice. As I think about the assumptions and implications of my research, I have grappled with the probabilistic nature of my data: perhaps, what it means for electrochemical systems to be reproducible, or whether data has a generalizable/inferential value towards other systems. One such important implication is in the power of modeling, if it can act as a predictive tool that supersedes experimentation. I think the scientific community is at an optimistically exciting intersection where scientific progress can be obtained in approaches that sometimes diverge and sometimes converge. Most answers to whether a system can be considered ergodic or generalizable (or at least the ones I have found) tend to be matters of personal opinions, yet they materialize in how insitutions beyond individual scientific laboratories interpret results.
Electrochemical research is only picked because I view it as a sufficiently complex problem with an interesting dynanmic between theory and experiment, the microscopic phenomena and the macroscopic observables, that I think warrants better consensus on generalizability. Answers to the problem of ergodicity and generalizability might be different across fields, and they would not discount each other. A demonstration of this problem is in
this paper, or
this paper, or
this paper.
2. Kinetic Modeling in Electrochemical Systems
The term kinetics can be pretty generously defined among the swath of chemistry and engineering subfields, and I am not even sure if I am using it right. What I mean is some sort of computational fluid dynamics method that can account for electrochemically active species involved in heterogenous catalytic reactions and diffusion regimes. This is another case where the theory and experiment can be bridged without executing either: perhaps because analytical solutions are incredibly hard to make sense of, or because the requirements for confidence in experimental data are too high, but the computational cost is justifiable. Some inspirations that I am look at are
this paper, or
this paper, or
this paper.
3. Flow Electrochemistry
I never really thought of this as a field in itself. Previously, I would look at applications of chemical engineering systems in green energy, or water treatment, and realize to myself that I really believe in the electrochemical systems that are used for such applications. Flow electrochemistry is perhaps my newest rationalization of an undercurrent that connects my scientific interests, but I am giving myself some time to think about the contexts in which it would be particularly powerful.
Send me papers if you have anything related to
energy technology, decarbonization, the metaphysics of science, or the humanism of scientific progress. I am always looking for different perspectives to influence my own.
Young Researcher Accelerator Fellowship
Last year, I held a pilot program for a fellowship that I called the Young Researcher Accelerator Fellowship. The program was designed to provide a stipend and mentorship to high school students who were interested in conducting self-directed research (mostly in the quantiative social sciences, but many scientific and humanities topics also work). The program was designed to provide students with the resources to pursue a project, and I am looking forward to expanding the program this year. If you are a high school student interested in applying, or a college student or graduate hoping to facilitate this project in Vietnam, please send me an email at manhlinhle < dot > 00 < at > gmail < dot > com.
Anthology of Hanoi-Amsterdam Project
When I was in high school, I was practically obsessed with the ideology espoused by the existence of the Gifted School program. Even more specifically is the consequences of the English class; there is a perceived diversity in the kind of students it admits, and the kind of students it produces over the years. I was a member of the 2015-2018 cohort, and as I talk to those in senior cohorts who might have had a different Ams experience than my own, I become more intrigued just by the pathways that these students have chosen, and how Ams might have played a role.
I was recently made aware of the fact that next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the school's construction. Before I become too old to remember, I would like to compile a series of interviews with students who have graduated from the school, and to see how the Ams experience has changed over the years. If you know someone who might be good for me to talk to, or if you are interested in participating, please send me an email and I will get back to you as soon as possible!