Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Indian Dashini Jeyathuria, 24, has been selected for delivering the valedictory address at the University of Minnesota (USA).

Jeyathuria has been selected from out of 30 bright students to speak on "Disorienting Dilemmas: Getting an Education", Bernama, the state-run Malaysian news agency reported.

The New Straits Times newspaper noted on Sunday that like many Asians doing well in the American educational world, she follows the achievement of Indian child prodigy13-year-old Sameer Mishra, who "stunned the American nation by winning the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee competition in Washington".

"I was the only Malaysian out of six students granted scholarships," she said in an interview.

She arrived in USA in 2004 to pursue an undergraduate course in English and Women's Studies at the Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota.

In June, she graduated with a summa-cum-laude distinction which is awarded to students who graduate with a 3.90 score and above.

She has received accolades at Carleton, including the Mortar Board Fund Prize, Niles Prize in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and the Noyes Prize which is awarded to distinguished scholars from the junior class.

This year, she won the Scott Tyler Bergner Prize for demonstrating excellence in character and thought, and the Andrea Iseminger Endowed Scholarship which enabled her to study theatre and empire literature in London.

She is planning to study for her PhD in English and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan, the report said. IANS