University of the Sciences presented the 2012 Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching to Lia Vas, PhD, an associate professor of mathematics in the department of mathematics, physics, and statistics. The Philadelphia resident received the honor on May 23, 2012, at the University’s graduation ceremony.

 The Lindback Award, which is funded through a gift from the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation, is given annually to a faculty member recognized by the students as the most outstanding instructor at the University. Mr. Lindback was the president and principal owner of Abbotts Dairies Inc., and the Foundation created the award to honor excellence in training activities and superior teaching skills of a tenure-track faculty member from colleges or universities within the dairy's service area of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia. Award recipients are nominated by the students and selected by a committee of both students and previous faculty awardees.

Dr. Vas, who has been with the University since 2002, is renowned nationally and internationally in the field of ring theory. She often receives invitations to speak at conferences and has been hosted by institutions abroad to conduct research with her collaborators. Her work has been published more than 20 times. Most recently, Dr. Vas’ “Classes of Almost Clean Rings” from Algebra and Representation Theory was the most downloaded article for April 2012. She co-authored the article with Evrim Akalan, PhD, from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey.

Dr. Vas hails from Novi Sad, Serbia. She relocated to the U.S. in 1996 and received her PhD in mathematics from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2002. She currently resides in Philadelphia with her husband, Branimir Vasilic, and close to her mother, Vera Vas. 

For more information, visit usciences.edu. 

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