Not many students do what Nhu Nguyen does.
Nguyen, 21-year-old biological sciences senior, paints, cooks and plays acoustic guitar. But what sets him apart is he is one of the few undergraduates at the University with soon-to-be published biological research.
His findings could help other researchers potentially expand the use of ethanol to be used as an alternative to refined gasoline.
While studying the digestive tracts of wood-feeding bess beetles in 2003, he discovered a new species of yeast with the potential to more efficiently produce ethanol.
Ethanol – a renewable alcohol that is more environmentally friendly than methanol – is already mixed with gasoline for car fuel, and researchers continue to study how it might stand alone.
The key to efficient ethanol production is the ability of the yeast to ferment sugars. Nhu’s discovery does just that.
Most yeasts found in fruits and plant materials do not have this unique ability, said Meredith Blackwell, biological sciences professor.
Although it is still uncertain how Nguyen’s discovery will be applied, Blackwell said USDA forest researchers in Wisconsin are interested.
“One of their long range goals is to be able to efficiently produce fuel alcohol from plant materials,” she said.
Blackwell also said Fortune Magazine is interested in the research on the newly discovered fermenting organisms.
“They contacted us about information on the kinds of yeasts being discovered,” she said. “They were interested in the alcohol conversion.”
Nguyen named and described other new yeasts derived from beetles in an article that will run in a spring 2006 issue of “Mycological Research” – the leading international research journal on all aspects of fungi.
Mycology is a biological branch that deals with fungi – plants that lack chlorophyll and include molds, mushrooms and yeasts.
The mycology lab on campus, with funding from the National Science Foundation, has discovered hundreds of species of yeast from insects within the past seven years.
Professors say Nguyen’s discoveries are as unique as his background.
He was born in Vietnam to parents who farmed and harvested tropical fruits by hand.
“The country is very corrupt. You have no way to better yourself unless you are the son of a government official,” Nguyen said of his native country. “We actually had it better than many other people.”
But his parents decided to move him and his sister to the United States in 1994 in pursuit of a better life, he said.
Nguyen said he began to learn the English language in middle school and that it took him three years to start having solid conversations.
He said he learned how to paint and play acoustic guitar in high school. His interest in wildlife bleeds into his botanical paintings of actual plant images.
“I had a lot of free time in high school,” he joked. “I was pretty nerdy.”
He said he knew he wanted to study biology when he came to the University in 2001.
“I’ve always wanted to be a scientist,” he said. “It excites me and I have a passion for questioning and understanding life.”
Because he had already collected and raised insects for several years as a hobby, he began researching insect-related projects in his freshman year.
Nguyen received the biological sciences department’s annual Outstanding Research Award in the spring for his work on yeasts.
“I wish we had more students as hardworking, interested and driven as Nhu,” Blackwell said. “He really wants to succeed.”
After his December graduation, he plans to continue his research in organism interaction on a larger scale at the University of California at Berkeley.
“Studying one organism is too limited,” he said. “My interest is in how insects and other organisms interact.”
 
Contact Chris Day at [email protected]