WASHINGTON - Seven Indian-Americans have been selected for this year's prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship, which is given to college juniors on the basis of leadership potential, public service and academic achievement records. The finalists will be interviewed by the foundation's regional review panel from March 3 to April 7, with the scholars being announced on April 21, the American Bazaar online reported on Thursday.
The foundation reviewed 768 potential scholars from 315 institutions before settling on the 199 students from 136 institutions. The Indian-American finalists are: Shreya Ganeshan of the University of Georgia, Anjali Misra of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Samarth Gupta of Harvard University, Megan Patel of Georgetown University, Maya Durvasula of Duke University, Manju Bangalore of the University of Oregon, and Anjana Murali of the University of Pittsburgh. The highly-competitive federal scholarship carried an amount of $30,000 for graduate study. The US Congress created the scholarship in 1975 as a living memorial to the 33rd President Harry S. Truman. Since its creation, the foundation has supported almost 3,000 Truman scholars who are making a difference in all corners of the nation and the globe, said the report.