The American Mathematical Society announced 10 finalists for its "Who Wants to Be a Mathematician" event, with four Indian American students among the participants.

Included in the finalists are Sameer Pusapaty, Karthik Karnik, Abishek Hariharan and Ankan Bhattacharya.

The winner of the contest, to be held Jan. 7 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, will win a grand prize of $10,000 – split $5,000 for the winner and $5,000 for the math department of the winner’s school. It is part of the annual Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle, which will be attended by more than 6,500 mathematicians.

Pusapaty, a junior at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Texas, won the second place Grand Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. According to his bio on the AMS Web site, he likes to draw and paint, with his favorite artist being M.C. Escher.

Karnik, a senior at the Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science, while competing in the competition, will also be presenting a paper in the Undergraduate Poster Session at the meetings. He was voted by his peers as “Most Likely to be Abducted by Aliens,” according to the AMS bio.

Hariharan is a junior at Tesla STEM High School in Washington. There, he helps run the math club and enjoys preparing for math contests, according to his bio. He has qualified for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination each of the previous two years.

Bhattacharya, a junior at the International Academy East in Michigan, won honorable mention at the 2015 USA Junior Mathematical Olympiad. According to his bio, he loves programming and playing video games.

“Who Wants to Be a Mathematician” is staged like a game show and is hosted by AMS spokesman and previous “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” contestant Mike Breen.