CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A Vietnamese 'boat person' who spoke no English nine years ago has earned a record seventh degree, a nuclear engineering doctorate, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the university said Wednesday.
Tue Nguyen, 26, who came to the United States after fleeing Vietnam, is believed to have earned more degrees than any other single alumnus of the prestigious school, MIT said.
'What else would I do with my free time?' Ngyuen laughed, when asked why he decided to pursue so many degrees. 'I like to read, to learn.'
The doctorate, earned when MIT accepted his doctoral thesis this fall, will be officially awarded at ceremonies in February.
Nguyen and two of his brothers fled Vietnam in December 1978, spent nine months in a Malaysian refugee camp, and arrived in this country in October 1979. His parents, two other brothers and a sister remain in Ho Chi Minh City.
After a stint at a Texas junior college, where he focused on learning English, Nguyen, then 19, entered MIT in September 1981.
He subsequently earned five bachelor of science degrees -- in physics, computer science and engineering, electrical engineering, mathematics, and nuclear engineering -- and in 1986 obtained a master of science degree in nuclear engineering.
Nguyen took especially heavy course loads, including 12 subjects in one semester, an amount one of his professors described as 'staggering.' University officials said he earned more than double the credits required for a single degree.
'I worked three jobs in the first year,' he said, adding that loans and financial aid programs helped him to raise the money for MIT's steep tuition.
Nguyen said it took him between three and six months to master the English language. Asked if he knew any English when he first came to this country, he replied ruefully, 'I claimed that I did, they (Americans) claimed that I didn't.'
Nguyen said he had heard of MIT while he was a student in Vietnam. 'That's a good school. When I was in Vietnam I had already heard about it, heard it was the best school in the U.S.,' he said.
Nyugen will soon begin work for IBM in Burlington, Vt., designing new technology for semiconductors. His fiancee, whom he met at MIT, will also be taking a job with IBM.
'We're getting married soon,' he said. 'I think I will stay in Vermont for the time. Vermont is a good place.'
