Khanh Nguyen

Khanh’s parents immigrated to the United States from Vietnam following the wave of persecution that came with the war’s end. They arrived with a combination of ambition and apprehension, condensed into foreign words like ‘hello’ and ‘thank you,’ and not much else. “As a child, I begged my parents for stories of their lives before immigrating. Instead of bedtime fairy tales, I heard accounts of war and censorship and escape.” Those stories have taught the Revelle College Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience major the value of the past and the future, and of the hard work and perseverance it takes to get from one to the other.

Aside from academic classes, Khanh admits to being an orchestra geek. “My greatest joy is working with my peers to recreate what came before us by playing pieces composed hundreds of years ago, translating the voice of the composer into the present so they come alive.”

Khanh has a passion for sharing knowledge and feels lucky to be able to combine a love for music and education through the Symphonic Student Association and teaching math online. She also has a passion for speech-language pathology where she can help people in concrete ways.

Khanh is interested in the brain and psychology. Her curiosity lies in the space between neuroscience and psychology, the synapse where biology becomes behavior and ideas become action. Khanh’s goal is to become a university professor and contribute to the field through rigorous, in-depth research that works to answer how and why people do the things they do.

“Ultimately, I hope to expand our understanding of ourselves and the world around us, to apply this knowledge to better people’s lives, and to continue the legacy of human learning and curiosity.”