Recently, Royal University of Phnom Penh publish e-newsletter about events and people of the uni. I am honored to be asked to write a peice for RUPP newsletter.
I think I should start with my education background from undergraduate level. I got a Bsc. in biology from RUPP in 2003. It was a subject that I like the most at high school and I planed to advance my knowledge in that field. Upon completion of high school deploma, I apply and sat for entrance exam to several universities. However, among those , I only aim to be accepted at Biology department of RUPP. People considered me stupid that I apply for the subject that after graduation I cannot earn to support a living due to the fact that after finish the degree, students will end up being teachers whose salary is very low, may be the lowest compare to that of other profession. At that time, I did not care what people think about me, I just did what I like doing and study what I love. As a result, I got 1st place in my batch and won a scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in Natural Resources Management (NRM) at Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Thailand. Again, at AIT I continue performing well and got GPA4/4 scale.
Upon completion a Master’s degree from AIT in 2006, I returned to RUPP but that time I was a lecturer. I gave lectures on NRM related subjects as biodiversity conservation, protected area management, etc. I enjoyed teaching a lot. I found students are enthusiastic. They asked questions…not like while I was doing my Bsc. I was not dare enough to ask many questions as I wished.
Besides teaching, I also worked for a conservation NGO, Birdlife international as a monitoring coordinator for Biodiversity Conservation Corridor Initiative project. This work provides me with the opportunity to conduct field work in the forest area such as in the Cardamom and Mondulkiri Eastern plain which I really appreciate as I love working with and for nature.
After working for more than one year, I feel I need to upgrade my self. Thus, I decide to apply for Fulbright scholarship which begin to provide scholarship to PhD candidate for academic year 2008. After being evaluated through application, I was called for an interviewed at the U.S embassy on September 6, 2007. The following day, I got good news from the embassy that I was selected as a principle candidate for Fulbright scholarship.
My plan to do the PhD was to gain technical knowledge on fish population modeling. I plan to develop a model for a sustainable management of fish population at Tonle Sap , the great lake of Cambodia. Cambodia is a developing country and it is important to assure that the development path is leading toward sustainability. Cambodia need both human resources and natural resources to move forward and be more developed. It is evident that natural resources such as fishery which used to be abundant is declining. These resources need to be managed in away that provide benefit to all people of the nation at present and does not compromise future need. I believe that the fish population modeling that I aim to develop will serve as a guide for a sustainable management of fishery resources in the country.
Even though carrying out a PhD in the US will be an extremely challenging and tough job, I am looking forward to it as I believe that it will help me advance my capacity and skill in conservation of natural resources particularly fishery resources.
