At the Center for Environmental Intelligence (CEI) at VinUniversity, meaningful conversations are not restricted to pure high-level discussion or official proceedings. Foregoing conventional lecture, CEI instead opted for a fireside chat that brought the VinUni community into a more intimate dialogue with world-renowned optimization expert Stephen Boyd, Samsung Professor of Engineering, Stanford University. Hosted by Professor Laurent El Ghaoui, Scientific Director of CEI, Vice Provost of Research and Innovation, VinUniversity, the discussion became a candid exchange about education, research, and the journey of becoming a scientist.

One of Professor Boyd’s core messages to students was simple yet powerful: university should be a time of exploration. Rather than rushing to specialize too early, he encouraged students to remain intellectually curious and open to different disciplines. Professor Boyd also spoke candidly about failure, framing it not as a setback but as a crucial part of the learning process. Every challenge, he suggested, sharpens thinking and ultimately strengthens a researcher’s ability to solve complex problems.

For early-career academics in the audience, Professor Boyd highlighted that the most effective PhD advisors do not dictate research directions. Instead, they guide students toward discovering their own questions and intellectual paths. True mentorship, he noted, lies in cultivating independence.

During the visit, Professor Boyd had the opportunity to review several student projects in Convex Optimization. His advice to aspiring researchers was characteristically thoughtful: keep refining how you formulate problems and continue asking deeper questions.

The fireside chat ultimately became a reminder that behind every scientific breakthrough lies curiosity, mentorship, and a community willing to learn from one another.