Nguyen joined agricultural career trips to Imperial Valley, Coachella Valley, and Yuma, where she toured facilities and explored their vegetable production methods. These experiences helped shape her focus on irrigation and water resource management. However, it was her role as a student assistant at the Center for Turf, Irrigation, and Landscape Technology and her summer internship at The Creek Golf Club in Long Island, New York, that sparked her interest in horticulture.

Today, her career revolves around her passions. As a Water Manager/Irrigation Designer at Arroyo Irrigation and as a Water Manager for the Aliso Viejo Community Association, she oversees the irrigation system of almost 200 controllers.

Kathy Phuc Nguyen grew up in Vietnam, surrounded by agriculture. “My childhood had a deep connection with the fields of rice, groves of fruit trees, urban landscape and the prosperity they bring to the world,” she explains. It felt fitting to pursue a career in plant science. This led her to Cal Poly Pomona, where she discovered her interests in horticulture, irrigation and water resource management.