Binh Vu received his Ph.D. in computer science in August 2024, and he was supervised by Craig Knoblock. He was born and raised in a small beach city in Vietnam. He earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. 

Why did you choose a computer science field?

My father was a mechanical engineer, so he often used his computer to design machines. My brother and I got to use computers at a very young age, and I tried my hand at programming in high school. I was considering business or economics afterwards, but I wanted to master technical skills earlier, so I decided on computer science. 

Why did you choose ISI? What makes it unique? 

When I was applying for my Ph.D., I realized that ISI’s work aligned with my interests and I heard that the work environment at ISI was very flexible and collaborative. I’m lucky because I got so much support from Craig, and he helped me find projects related to my passions. 

What were your primary research focuses? 

Structured data is typically placed in tables and data sources, but it’s difficult for machines to use this data because they’re organized in different layouts. People often spend a lot of time extracting and normalizing data to formats they can use. Only a small fraction of time can be allocated to actually processing that data. My goal is to create semantic descriptions of these sources, so that data can be automatically extracted from them

What's the most impactful project you've worked on?

My latest project is called CriticalMAAS, which is a critical mineral assessment using machine learning to extract data from maps and mineral reports. We came up with geospatial data that can be used to train ML models, allowing them to predict whether locations are likely to have minerals. 

What's the biggest takeaway from your time at ISI?

One of the best pieces of advice was from Kevin Knight, who said, “Reading is when you’re catching up, and writing is when you’re producing knowledge.” When doing research, you tend to overlook the fact that your research will become a valuable resource for people in the future. You should think critically and crystallize knowledge in an easily understandable manner. This concept has greatly influenced me and my work. 

What are your plans at ISI?

My long term goal is to form my own research team, working on important problems that can help society.