Current Positions
- Post-doctoral
Scholar-in-Residence -
- Environmental
Studies Program, Biology
Department, Vassar
College
- Consortium for Faculty Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges
Instructor for: Environmental Studies/Anthropology 280-Ethnobotany (Fall 2007); Environmental Studies/Anthropology 383-Ethnic Markets Research (Spring 2008)
- Co-Principle Investigator -
- Ethnobotany: Segues to Science, NSF-CCLI
Project.
.University of Hawai`i at Manoa
Mailing address:
Biology Department,
Research Interests
- Ethnobotany
- East and Southeast Asian Food and Medicinal Plants
- Diaspora and Evolution of Cultural Food Traditions
- Ethnic Grocers and Food Markets
- Science Curriculum and Education
- Vietnamese Culture and Ethnobotany

Educational Background (Download CV)
- Ph.D. 2005. Botany. University of Hawai‘i
at Mānoa
- Pacific Partnerships
in Disability and Diversity Leadership Certificate.
2002. Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa - M.S. 1997. Curriculum
and Secondary Science. University of Rochester,
Margaret Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development - B.A. 1992. Biology. State
University of New York, College at Oswego
Affiliations
- Center on Disability Studies at
the University of Hawai‘i
- Botanical Society of America
- East-West
Center - Degree Fellow 2001-2005
- Ethnobotany Track at the University of Hawai‘i
- International Society for Ethnopharmacology
- Society for Economic Botany
Selected Publications
-
Nguyen, M.T. (In press). Use and potential of Colocasia
gigantea (Blume) Hook. f. In K.V. Peter, Ed. Underutilized and Underexploited
Horticultural Crops.New Delhi:
New India Publishing Agency. Nguyen, M.T., J. Wieting, and K.L. Doherty. 2008. Vegetation analysis of urban ethnic markets shows mainstream market generalists and Chinatown ethnic-specialist vendors. Ethnobotany Research and Applications 6:63-85.
Nguyen, M.T. 2007. Community dynamics and functional stability: A recipe for cultural adaptation and continuity. Economic Botany 61(4):337-346.
Nguyen, M.T. 2006. Insertions and deletions: Evolution in the assemblage of Vietnamese food plants. Ethnobotany Research and Applications 4:176-201.
- Nguyen, M.T. 2006. Ethnobotany on a Roll: Access to Vietnam. The Review of Disability Studies 2(2):37-46.
- Nguyen, M.T. 2005. Community dynamics and functional stability: a recipe for cultural continuity in the Vietnamese diaspora. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
- Nguyen, M.T. 2005. Colocasia gigantea, Eryngium foetidum and Limnophila chinensis sbsp. aromatica in a cultural food context. Plants and People. Society for Economic Botany Newsletter 19(Fall):14-15.
- Nguyen, M.T. 2005. Bạc hà (Colocasia gigantea (Blume) Hook. f.), in the culinary history of Vietnamese-Americans. Economic Botany 59(2):185-190.
- Nguyen, M.T. 2005. Cultivated plant collections from market places. Ethnobotany Research and Applications 3(1): 5-15.
- Nguyen, M.T. 2004. Report on the experience of conducting research in Viet Nam as a person with a physical disability. Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
- Nguyen, M.T. 2003. Comparison of food plant knowledge between Vietnamese living in Vietnam and Hawai‘i. Economic Botany 57(4):472-480.
- Gibson, S.L., M.L. Nguyen, J.J. Havens, A. Barbarin, and R. Hilf. 1999. Relationship of δ-aminolaevulinic acid-induced protoporphyrin IX levels to mitochondrial content in neoplastic cells in vitro. Biochemistry and Biophysics Research Communications 265(2):315-21.
- Gibson, S.L., J.J. Havens, M.L. Nguyen, and R. Hilf. 1999. Delta-aminolaevulinic acid-induced photodynamic therapy inhibits Protoporphyrin IX biosynthesis and reduces subsequent treatment efficacy in vitro. British Journal of Cancer 80(7):998-1004.
- Gibson, S.L., D.J. Cupriks, J.J. Havens, M.L. Nguyen, and R. Hilf. 1998. A regulatory role for Porphobilinogen deaminase (PBGD) in δ-aminolaevulinic acid (δ-ALA)-induced photosensitization? British Journal of Cancer 77(2):235-43.
- Gibson, S.L., M.L. Nguyen, T.H. Foster, G. White, and R. Hilf. 1995. Efficacy of photodynamic therapy on original and recurrent rat mammary tumors. Photochemistry and Photobiology 61(2):196-9.
- Lawrence, D.S., S.L. Gibson, M.L. Nguyen, K.R. Whittemore, D.G. Whitten, and R. Hilf. 1995. Photosensitization and tissue distribution studies of the picket fence porphyrin, 3,1-TPro, a candidate for photodynamic therapy. Photochemistry and Photobiology 61(1):90-8.
Personal
Interests
- Sound Body & Sound Mind - Alpine skiing, English horseback riding, swimming, yoga, weight training
-

- World T.E.A.M. Sports
Family
- Family (from left to
right - brother Linh, Mom, My Lien, cousin Huong) Vietnam, 1973
- Born in
Bien Hoa, Vietnam, 1970 - Resettled in
United States, 1975 - Raised in
Rochester, New York





