Three Harvard students and six alumni have received Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, an honor that carries with it financial assistance for up to three years of graduate study at a U. S. college or university.

The nine current and former Harvard students are among 30 fellows selected nationwide from a pool of approximately 1,200 applicants from 410 colleges and universities. Fellows receive half of tuition costs for up to three years of study, plus $20,000 a year in maintenance grants.

The fellowships, created last year by Paul and Daisy Soros, are targeted toward new immigrants and their children. The Soroses, who immigrated to the United States several decades ago, established the fellowships with a $50 million charitable trust as an expression of gratitude for all the United States has given them and in recognition of the extraordinary contributions immigrants have made to this country.

The Harvard students awarded fellowships are second year Medical School student Ravi Kamath '97, Supinda Bunyavanich '99, an environmental science and public policy concentrator who is planning to attend medical school, and Deborah Yeh '99, a biochemical sciences concentrator, who is also considering medical school.

Harvard alumni who received the award are Naheed Rehman '96, who is attending a University of California joint degree program that will gain her both an M.D. and an M.S. in health and medical sciences; Julissa Reynoso '97, who is in law school at Columbia University; Jinesh Shah '98, who is attending medical school at Columbia; Constance Marian Chen '90, who is attending Stanford Medical School; Heela Yang '93, who plans to attend either Harvard or Stanford Business School next year; and Salmaan Keshavjee, who earned a Ph.D. in 1998, an M.A. in 1995, and a M.Sc. in 1993, all from Harvard, is attending Stanford Medical School.

Five of the 1998 fellows were Harvard graduates.

Applicants must be age 30 or younger, have earned a bachelor's degree or be in the final year of undergraduate study, hold a green card (or be a naturalized U.S. citizen or the child of parents who are both naturalized citizens). In addition, fellows must not only have achieved academic excellence, they must also meet two of three criteria, which include showing creativity, originality, and initiative in some area of their lives; demonstrating accomplishment in activities that require drive and sustained effort; and demonstrating a commitment, through activities, to the values expressed in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.