Ten Indian-Americans and one Bangladeshi-American are among 30 students chosen for the prestigious 2004 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.

Majority of the winners of the Soros Fellowship are Rhodes scholars.

The Fellowship entitles the students to receive a maintenance grant of $20,000 (paid in two installments) and a tuition grant of one-half the tuition cost of the US graduate program attended by the Fellow.

The Indian American students who would receive the fellowship are: Jacob Chako, Pavan Cheruvu, Janani Sreenivasan, Lipika Goyal, Sachin Jain, Ankur Luthra, Arpit Malaviya, Sunita Puri, Rahul Rajkumar and Raju Raval.

Nusrat Choudhury is the lone Bangladeshi-American in the list.

The purpose of The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans is 'to provide opportunities for continuing generations of able and accomplished New Americans to achieve leadership in their chosen fields'.

The program was established in recognition of the contributions new Americans have made to American life and in gratitude for the opportunities the US has afforded the donors and their families.

The Fellowship program pays the tuition grant directly to the institution. The size of the tuition grant depends on the cost of tuition at the institution the Fellow attends. Fees are not included in calculating tuition.

It is expected that the Fellow will complete the cost of tuition from such other sources as summer employment, public and private grant and loan programs for advanced education, or matching funds from the graduate institution the Fellow attends.

This year the winners were selected from 86 finalists from a pool of 1,300 applicants.

Now in its seventh year of operation, The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans have already become one of the highly sought-after awards for graduate study. A Fellow may pursue a graduate degree in any professional field or scholarly discipline in the Fine or Performing Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences.

EXTERNAL LINK:
Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans