The Fellowship Selection Committee consisted of faculty members from 14 universities or research institutions in the United States. In addition, the group was very ablely managed by a group of professionals in Vietnam headed by Duc Vu of the Vietnam Education Foundation.
Specifically, I had accepted an invitation to visit
Vietnam, give several lectures on factoring matrices (in
English), and interview students for their potential
graduate study in the United States, and see some of
Vietnam country. This was an amazing and unexpected
opportunity.
After getting a regime of booster shots, purchasing luggage, trying to decide to take a laptop or not (not), and purchasing a digital camera. I was ready to go. On the way to Vietnam I connected in Los Angeles with several other members of the review panel. I left for Vietnam on June 1st, 2005 and arrived on Friday June 3rd. (I lost a day because I crossed the international dateline.) When we arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, we were met at the airport and were transported to the Sofitel Plaza Hanoi.
I found Vietnam to be hot and very humid and a fantastically exciting place to be. It was clear to me from my first interactions in Vietnam that something very exciting was happening in the country, but it was not clear to me what. However, as we were returning from one excursion, to Ha long Bay, we stopped on the road side just across from a rice field. It was late in the afternoon and in the distance I saw some workers in the field and three water buffalo. The water buffalo meandered in the direction of our group and at about the same time the tour guide was using his PDA/Cell phone. That will be one of the lasting images that I have of Vietnam: Water buffalos and PDAs. What an amazing contrast!
The students we interviewed were among the best in the
country and they had taken substantial amounts of
mathematics. I was very impressed by my reception at both
Vietnam National University (VNU), in Hanoi, and the
Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) in Ho Chi
Min City. The lectures were well attended, students were
seemingly engaged and very nice. At VAST there was tea
before the lecture, a very nice and familiar touch. Sincere
thanks to my host at both institutions.
The staff of the Vietnam Education Foundation was exceptional in their organizational skills and professionalism, knowledge of the environment, and ability to sing Karaoke! On this last point, as a mathematician who is in no way tuned into popular culture, I was able to give a credible performance, but was definitely overshadowed, by a nameless member of the panel, from Stanford University's Engineering faculty, who plays a "mean harmonica." In general the faculty panel was an impressively accomplished group and it was a delight to travel with them.
My overall conclusion is that if you are offered the opportunity for International travel I strongly encourage you to "seize the plane ticket and hotel reservation" and go!