A Rutgers University team comprised of MBA and undergraduate finance degree seekers were awarded the first-place prize of $5,000 in scholarship money in a recent competition.

Teams from 16 institutions took part in the New York Society of Security Analysts' (NYSSA) ninth annual Global Investment Research Challenge. The Rutgers students managed to best competitors from schools such as Yale and Fordham Universities.

In addition to the scholarship, the Rutgers team will have the opportunity to ring the closing bell on either the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ.

"We easily put in over 100 hours of work into this and were in constant communication with one another," said Dmitry Malinsky, a second-year MBA student at Rutgers. "We learned a ton."

The Rutgers team received guidance from faculty advisor John Longo, a clinical associate professor of finance and economics at Rutgers, and professional mentor Allan Campbell, senior vice president at Daiwa Asset Management.

After winning the competition, the students qualified to compete for a $10,000 prize at the global final of the Investment Research Challenge in Omaha, Nebraska on April 8.