Nobel laureate David MacMillan brings medal, inspiration to Ho Chi Minh City students

The Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City and the VinFuture Foundation held the 2026 VinFuture InnovaConnect program on chemistry and drug discovery, featuring Nobel laureate Professor MacMillan of Princeton University and some Vietnamese professors and doctors.

As soon as the program ended, students quickly crowded around Scottish-born Prof. MacMillan.

Many waited for a chance to shake his hand, talk with him, ask for his autograph and take photos together.

The Nobel medal he had brought with him attracted particular attention, with many students eager to see it up close and capture a commemorative photo.

Young Vietnamese are passionate about science

The question-and-answer session was filled with excitement as students engaged with the Nobel laureate.

The professor shared that he was impressed by the enthusiasm of young Vietnamese people for science and technology and by their engagement with the topics discussed during the program.

One student asked Professor MacMillan about sustainable development in chemistry, specifically how to balance the effectiveness of synthetic methods with environmental responsibility.

Professor MacMillan said chemists have a fairly clear understanding of the requirements for a sustainable synthetic process.

In practice, however, catalysts, reagents and certain metals are still used in ways that are not fully sustainable.

He acknowledged that his research group has encountered similar challenges in some of its work on photocatalysis.

Researchers need to develop more sustainable catalysts and reagents while reducing their reliance on palladium and other scarce metals, he said.

He described this as a promising research direction for young people interested in pursuing chemistry.

In response to a question about how to identify problems capable of generating real impact while maintaining their motivation to pursue science, Professor MacMillan said researchers should first understand the current limits of their field: what can already be done and what remains beyond reach.

From there, scientists can ask what does not yet exist but, if created, could change the way people conduct research or solve a particular problem, he elaborated.

He advised young researchers to begin with the problem that needs to be solved and only then search for a solution.

Scientists do not necessarily have to wait for others to identify important problems, he noted, explaining that some questions may initially receive little attention but reveal their value once they are successfully addressed.

Connecting Nobel laureates with university students

Professor MacMillan is currently a professor at Princeton University in the United States.

In 2021, he and German Professor Benjamin List were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of asymmetric organocatalysis.

The 2026 VinFuture InnovaConnect program focused on research areas including asymmetric organocatalysis, photoredox catalysis, green chemistry, medicinal chemistry and the translation of laboratory research into practical applications.

The InnovaConnect series has been organized by the VinFuture Foundation since 2024 to connect international scientists, including Nobel laureates, with universities, research institutes, hospitals, businesses and the scientific community in Vietnam.

Seven InnovaConnect events were held in 2024 and 2025, attracting more than 3,000 participants in person, according to the organizers.