Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Anh, a recent graduate from the Class of 2025 in the Human-Centered Engineering program at Fulbright University Vietnam, has long been passionate about music production. Early on, she realized that creating sound effects requires a foundational understanding of signals – a quiet yet powerful link between her passion for art and her technical curiosity. Throughout her time at Fulbright, Quỳnh Anh constantly wondered, “How can I apply what I’m learning to my own interests?”
Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh Anh, a recent graduate from the Class of 2025 in the Human-Centered Engineering program at Fulbright University Vietnam
The answer gradually emerged in her third year, when she took the course Signals, Systems and Control taught by Dr. Trương Trung Kiên, an expert in Digital Signal Processing – DSP. The journey to mastering DSP was not easy, as Quỳnh Anh had to learn complex subjects such as electronics, signals and systems, data transmission, mathematics, and programming. Throughout this journey, Dr. Kiên was always by her side, patiently asking questions to encourage critical thinking and helping her connect the scattered pieces of knowledge into a coherent picture – one she could articulate in her own words.
In her final year, Quỳnh Anh pursued her passion with her graduation project, “Developing a directional audio system for online meeting applications.” This was when she got to explore every aspect of signals, from processing to system development, to transform multi-directional sound into meaningful information.
In her final year, Quynh Anh pursued her passion with her graduation project, “Developing a directional audio system for online meeting applications.” This was when she got to explore every aspect of signals, from processing to system development, to transform multi-directional sound into meaningful information.
Alongside her studies, from her third year, Quỳnh Anh actively gained practical experience through an internship at Intel, a technology manufacturing corporation, where she was first exposed to semiconductor microchips. From there, she began to wonder if she could connect her knowledge of digital signal processing from school with her newly acquired experience in microchip design. The answer gradually became clear when she joined Marvell Technology – a semiconductor chip design company – at the end of her fourth year, where DSP and chips coexist. Every day, she delved deeper into DSP: no longer familiar audio signals, but electronic signals from actual chip circuits.
Quỳnh Anh shares: “Outside of work, I still apply my digital signal processing knowledge to learn music production. I enjoy technical work, but I also want to stay connected to my personal passion, and DSP gives me the opportunity to bridge both worlds.” For her, four years in a liberal arts environment opened up new perspectives – a place where seemingly unrelated ideas could come together into a unified whole.
For Quỳnh Anh, four years in a liberal arts environment opened up new perspectives – a place where seemingly unrelated ideas could come together into a unified whole.
Quỳnh Anh and her friends captured memorable moments during the Fulbright University Vietnam’s Commencement 2025.
