The course was organized by Dr. Daniel Suman of the University of Miami and coordinated locally by Dr. Hoang Van Long of the Department of Geology at HUMG.  This is the third year that the University of Miami and HUMG have celebrated this course.

The participating young professionals were graduate students from varied disciplines, such as law, environmental engineering, environmental policy, hydrogeology, structural geology, and environmental geology.

During the course lectures offered by Prof. Suman and more than six professors from HUMG, the Center for Water Resources Planning and Investigation of the Ministry for Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE), the Hanoi University of Civil Engineering, and the Vietnam Atomic Energy Centre (VAEC), students learned about global comparative water resources, drinking and waste water treatment, groundwater resources, as well as the pros and cons of large dam construction. These topics are important given the needs of increasing urban and rural populations, industrial development, pollution of our surface waters, proposals to build new dams on major rivers in East and Southeast Asia, and impacts of global climate change to which Viet Nam is particularly vulnerable.

In addition to the classroom experience, the group also visited sites on the Red River, Halong Bay, and Sapa and discussed water management issues relevant to these areas.

The US students praised the friendliness of their Viet Nam hosts and the beautiful environments that they observed in their travels.  HUMG and the University of Miami hope to repeat this training course next year and expand cooperation between both institutions into new areas.