Juniors Sesha Pinnaduwage, Ayla Gafni, Brittany Rohrman and Arunan Skandarajah have been selected as the 2008 Goldwater Scholars, a prize that carries a two-year scholarship worth $7,500 a year, Vanderbilt News Service reported.

The Goldwater Scholarship awards students across the nation who excel in the fields of mathematics, the natural sciences and engineering.

Each year, Vanderbilt and other four-year universities are given the opportunity to nominate up to four outstanding sophomore and junior students. This year, 321 scholars were selected on academic merit from a field of 1,035 students.

All students are active in campus groups in addition to performing exceptionally well in the classroom, participating in groups that range from Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science to Vanderbilt Student Government to the show choir DOREbelles.