My Thanh Nguyen

Chemist, inventor and entrepreneur My Thanh Nguyen, BSc 86, MSc 88, is the founder or co-founder of 14 high-tech enterprises. 

A Vietnamese refugee to Montreal in 1979, Nguyen worked as a dishwasher until he had improved his English enough to attend university. He completed two degrees in chemistry at Concordia, then his PhD in Energy and Materials Science at Institut national de la recherche scientifique — all within seven years. 

In 1997, following several positions in the private sector, he spotted a market opportunity and founded American Dye Source, Inc., in Baie-D’Urfé, Quebec. As the first company in the world to produce near-infrared absorbing polymers for production of thermal offset printing plates, it changed the offset printing industry.

After 25 years in North America, Nguyen returned to his hometown of Trà Vinh in 2004 to build a $10-million factory for his next venture, Mylan Group. The province's first high-tech company, Mylan produces environmentally friendly, near-infrared dyes and polymers. In 2014, he co-founded RYNAN Technologies, a developer of artificial intelligence and Internet of Things smart devices for agriculture, aquaculture and smart cities.

Nguyen is the creator or co-creator of more than 600 inventions, which are patented in many countries. He has co-authored 68 papers on materials chemistry in peer-reviewed scientific journals and contributed five book chapters related to active polymers and aquaculture.

Nguyen is the founder of the Cooperative Education Program and co-founder of the Applied Chemistry Department at Trà Vinh University, where he served as a dean from 2007 to 2017. He established the Nguyen Thanh My Foundation to improve health, education and housing for impoverished rural Vietnamese people.

Tuesday, June 4, 2024 - Faculty of Arts and Science (3pm ceremony)