David Clark Lay holds a B.A. from Aurora University (Illinois), and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles. David Lay has been an educator and research mathematician since 1966, mostly at the University of Maryland, College Park. He has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Amsterdam, the Free University in Amsterdam, and the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. He published more than 30 research articles on functional analysis and linear algebra, in addition to authoring or co-authoring six books. As a founding member of the NSF-sponsored Linear Algebra Curriculum Study Group, David Lay was a leader in the movement to modernize the linear algebra curriculum. David Lay received four university awards for teaching excellence, including the title of Distinguished Scholar—Teacher of the University of Maryland in 1996. He also served on many committees in the Mathematics Department, on campus, and in the mathematical community. He retired in 1999. Source: [About the Author](https://books.google.com/books/about/Linear_Algebra_and_Its_Applications.html?id=bM6gBwAAQBAJ)