Received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2003 and her M.A. degree in American Civilization from the University of Texas-Austin. She is currently the main researcher at the Institute for American Studies (where she was formerly Deputy General Director), under the Vietnam Academy for Social Sciences. Her interests and writings include issues in contemporary history, environment, education and literature. Her major publications include the book Vietnam-US Relations 1994-2010, Vietnam Academy for Social Sciences Publishing House. She was a contributor to New Literary History of America, Harvard University Press, 2009.

Dr. Bui has also worked extensively within the Vietnamese education system, and has served as Senior Adviser to the US government-funded Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF). She founded the Faculty of International Studies at Hanoi University in 2005 and served as Dean till 2009. This faculty was the first and by now the only program that teaches the social sciences in English in Vietnam, offering students up-to-date materials and from multiple perspectives.