Hien Van Nguyen
Short Bio
Dr. Hien Van Nguyen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Houston. His research lies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, computer vision, and biomedical image analysis. Dr. Nguyen has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles and received 12 U.S. patents. Before his tenure at the University of Houston, Dr. Nguyen served as a research scientist at Siemens Corporate Research in Princeton and later as a senior scientist at UberATG's autonomous driving department. His work has been recognized with research awards from prestigious institutions such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Nguyen’s research has received the Best Poster Paper award at the 2023 International Renal Pathology Conference and a nomination for the best poster award at the 2024 International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging. He is a senior membership in the National Academy of Inventors and an associate editor for Elsevier’s journal, Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics.
Hien Van Nguyen
Associate Professor
Phone:
713-743-8615
Email:
Address:
4226 Martin Luther King Boulevard
Houston, TX 77204-4005
Google Scholar:
EDUCATION
2008-2013
Ph.D.
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
My doctoral thesis focused on learning sparse and adaptive representations for multimodal classification, under the guidance of Dr. Rama Chellappa. I received the Goldhaber Award from UMD Graduate School, an ECCV travel grant, and participated in the CVPR Doctoral Consortium Program.
2003-2007
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
I received the prestigious four-year Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs Scholarship, presented by Singapore's current Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. Additionally, I was awarded scholarships from the Japanese Business Association and the University of Miyazaki for my excellent academic performance.
Bachelor's Degree
1999-2002
High School Diploma
LE QUY DON HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED
I majored in Math and Physics and won first prize in the Physics Competition of Danang City, Vietnam.
EXPERIENCE
2016-Present
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
Associate Professor
Lead diverse teams, including international students and physicians, to develop advanced AI models for kidney and lung disease diagnostics and treatments. Instrumental in securing over $12 million in research grants, playing a critical role in proposal writing, budget management, and project execution. Delivered high-impact publications, planned and supervised AI workshops at major conferences, and managed events hosting over 200 attendees.
2015-2016
Senior Scientist
UBER ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES GROUP
Worked with a team of talented engineers to develop deep learning algorithms for Uber Advanced Technologies' autonomous driving, enabling vehicles to navigate highways at speeds up to 65 mph. Ensured effective communication and synergy between computer vision and machine learning teams.
2013-2015
Scientist
SIEMENS CORPORATE RESEARCH
Spearheaded deep learning initiatives at Siemens, co-holding its earliest deep learning patents, and invented network sparsification algorithms to reduce 3D computed tomography landmark detection error and improve runtime speed. Developed methods for predicting cardiac stent types and modeling aorta shapes.
FUNDED BY
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
MEET THE TEAM
Ph.D. Student
Samira Zare
Ph.D. Student
Akash Awasthi
Ph.D. Student
Huy Quoc Vo
Ph.D. Student
Mai-Anh Vu
Ph.D. Student
Son Thai Ly
Ph.D. Student
Hung Quoc Vo
Ph.D. Student
Mohammad Daouk
(Co-Supervised with Dr. Chandra Mohan)
Ph.D. Student
Jagan Dwarampudi
(Co-Supervised with Dr. Tania Banerjee)
SERVICES
NEWS
ISBI BEST POSTER FINALIST
$3 MILLION NIH FUNDING
Our paper entitled "Decoding Radiologists' Intentions: A Novel System for Accurate Region Identification in Chest X-ray Image Analysis", authored by Akash Awasthi, was nominated for best poster award at 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging.
Our project entitled "Objective Classification of Lupus Nephritis" was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. The project goal is to provide accurate and objective lupus nephritis diagnosis using AI.
SUMMER RESEARCH FELLOWS
Three students from our lab won UH Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships to work on virtual reality, large language models, and AI-powered medical diagnosis.