Team AEDC Spotlight: Dr. Bui first recorded AEDC female to receive Ph.D.

  • Published
  • By Raquel March
  • AEDC/PA
Dr. Them Bui is known as a Control Systems engineer at AEDC who provides support to operational, maintenance and sustainment at the Space Threat Assessment Testbed. She also has the unique role as the first recorded female at the Complex to receive a doctorate degree.
She earned her degree through an advanced degree program at AEDC and by the fall of 2015, Bui completed coursework and received her doctorate in industrial engineering from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She was recognized at the 2016 University of Tennessee Space Institute graduation ceremony in May.

When Teri Black, an AEDC contractor training supervisor, checked the training and human resources records, she found that there wasn’t another female who had received a doctorate while at AEDC.

Bui admits that achieving her accomplishments were demanding.

“It has been one of the most significantly difficult and challenging efforts that I have undertaken,” she said. “It has been a long journey with many obstacles and enormous pressures which I had to face to get where I am today.

“I started by learning English, took the high school GRE [Graduate Record Examination] test, and finally successfully defended my doctoral dissertation. I did all this while balancing the toughest challenging work tasks, home and my academia. Those years were very tough. I never thought this day would happen and I am truly grateful to all who have been there for me and who believed that I could accomplish the wishes of success that my father had for me.”

Bui was raised in a military family in Vietnam with her parents, four brothers and seven sisters. After the Vietnam War her family experienced some hardships but Bui’s father emphasized obtaining a good education.

“In Vietnam, the girl has nothing and no chance for a higher education or a professional engineering career,” she said. “I have always loved school and admired engineers. I graduated at the top of my high school class in Vietnam. My dad was so proud that he told me that even though he had to work the hardest job on this earth, he wished for me to be successful and wanted to support me in pursuing my higher education.”

Bui said she didn’t think it was possible to receive a higher education in Vietnam. She expressed however, that in the United States higher education is an opportunity for anyone, including women, as well as an engineering career.

Dr. Joe Sheeley, mentor and senior technology engineer at AEDC, believes that Bui’s background was a major contributor to her drive to earn her doctorate.

“Dr. Bui has an inspiring story, having immigrated to the U.S. and then finding time to complete her education while usually working full time and taking care of a family,” he said. “During her dissertation work she was using nights and weekends to complete the research and writing while supporting a very aggressive development schedule in STAT. She knew that education was important to her father and therefore took advantage of the opportunities she had.”

Although Bui’s doctorate is from UTK, she was able to take UTK classes at the UT Space Institute. The Institute was founded in 1964 and located next to AEDC to further the education of the engineers and scientists who work at the Complex. The leadership at AEDC, during the 1950s and early 60s, believed the knowledge obtained by personnel would be beneficial to the future testing capabilities at the Complex. Today, AEDC team members continue to increase their knowledge by attending the institute.

Randy Sloan, an Information Assurance lead and former Control Systems Engineering manager at AEDC, sees a future use for Bui’s doctoral research on prognostic algorithms at AEDC.

“I’m confident that Them's research has helped build a foundation on which AEDC can develop better prognostic algorithms capable of predicting industrial equipment and system failures before they happen, helping to avoid costly repairs and extended mission down time,” he said.

Bui presented her research at the 2015 Machinery Failure Prevention Technology Conference in Huntsville and published her findings.
Sheeley noted that she stepped outside of her comfort zone and Bui said she appreciated the frequent encouragement she received from Sheeley when he told her “don’t give up.”

Bui has 31 years of experience in engineering, seven of those years at AEDC. She also holds an Associate of Science degree in computer science and aerospace engineering, a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering technology and a master’s degree in industrial and systems engineering management.

Bui is married to Mike Mashburn, a test control engineer in the AEDC von Karman Gas Dynamics Facility, an aerodynamics hypersonics testing facility.

-AEDC-