VietNamNet Bridge - A Vietnamese mathematician is to be awarded the George Polya prize by the US Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in San Diego, California, for his work in combinatorial theory.
Rutgers University professor Vu Ha Van is the first Vietnamese person to receive the biennial award.
The prize committee said Van had made one of the most important contributions to his specialised field in the last ten years.
A Hanoi native and son to poet Vu Quan Phuong, Van will receive an engraved medal and a 20,000 USD cash award on July 8.
After spending more than 20 years studying and working abroad, the professor returned to Vietnam last year as a member of the jury for the 48th International Mathematics Olympiad.
Van received his undergraduate degree in Hungary and his PhD in mathematics from Yale University in the US under the direction of Laszlo Lovasz, president of the International Mathematical Union and 1979 George Pólya Prize winner.
Van worked for the Institute for Advanced Study, Microsoft and the University of California, before becoming a mathematics professor at Rutgers University in 2005.