AUBG Student Phuc Tran to Pursue a PhD in Mathematics at Yale

by Dimana Doneva

Graduating senior Phuc Tran has just been accepted to a PhD in Mathematics at Yale University. A Mathematics major at AUBG, Tran will focus on studying Additive Combinatorics, Probability, and Extremal Combinatorics at the Ivy League school.

“I love mathematics,” Tran said. “And all math professors in my life have seen my passion and helped me nourish it.” Upon graduation, he plans to pursue a career in academics or research.

A gifted student in mathematics, Tran used all opportunities to learn, taking advanced level courses at AUBG. “The Mathematics department and the mathematics professors at AUBG gave me freedom and knowledge with all their hearts: Professor Ivanova, professor Iliev, professor Ganchev, they changed their schedules, offered me more advanced courses, and allowed me to study advanced courses since the first semester. At AUBG, I have all the freedom and support to study in depth,” he said.

Since his second year at AUBG, Tran has done research together with professor Todor Popov. The AUBG student also completed two research internships: at the Hanoi University of Education in Vietnam and at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Tran has been published in several reputable science journals, including the Journal of Number Theory and the Journal of Elsevier Discrete Applied Mathematics, and has won medals in mathematical competitions in both Bulgaria and Vietnam.

Tran also used the opportunity to do an exchange program while at AUBG and spent a semester at the University of Vermont in the U.S. There, he took five math courses for master’s students and met some of the world’s prominent mathematicians who helped him prepare his Ph.D. application.

Phuc with his AUBG friends Slava Shklyaev (‘18), who now works at Google, Emiljano Gjiriti ('19) who currently studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne and Euxhen Hasanaj ('19) who is enrolled at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Vietnamese team at the AUBG Taste Fest.

Every year, the AUBG students represent their national dishes and dances during International Week.

Outside of academics, he said he enjoyed representing Vietnam at the Taste Fest at AUBG. He made great friends at AUBG, Tran said, but “it’s a sad memory a bit that because I studied math with senior students since my first semester, my friends were mostly seniors and would be out of school every year.”

Coming all the way from Vietnam, Tran said he enjoys life in Blagoevgrad. “The environment in Blago is really peaceful and quiet – which is really good to focus on your works. [The city] is a mix between old and new, I can say that it is special. And the Bulgarians are friendly.”