Especially hard-hit by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Association for Investment Management (AIMR) has set up a million dollar memorial fund to provide scholarships to business and accounting students. The first recipients were announced this week.

The students receiving the awards are potential financial analysts and investment professionals, who could someday have jobs like the ones held by 56 members and Chartered Financial Analyst candidates AIMR lost in the attacks. "Our intention with this scholarship fund," explained AIMR CEO Thomas A. Bowman, "is to memorialize the victims by encouraging a new generation of bright minds to pursue opportunities in the world of finance - professionals committed to the highest degree of education and professional ethics."

The first recipients of the awards, which averaged around $13,000 each, were as follows:

• Christine Colon, a freshman in commerce and finance at Villanova University in Villanova, Penn.
• James Della Bella, a junior in economics at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, N.J.
• Hao-Min Jian, a junior in finance and economics at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.
• Michael Pascuma, a senior in finance and business at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.
• Michael Puckett, a junior in business at Suffolk University in Boston.
• Janna Rasuvaev, a sophomore in accounting at Seneca College in Toronto.
• Rebecca Scott, a sophomore in business at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio.

AIMR's scholarships are available for both part-time and full-time study to students of finance, economics, accounting and business who were disabled in the attacks or are the spouse, domestic partner, or dependent of someone who was disabled in the attacks. To apply for a scholarship or make a donation, visit AIMR's Web site.

-Rosemary Schlank