AFP

New York, May 10: Two Russian-born sisters are due to become assistant professors of finance in New York state later this year, even though they are only 19 and 21, university officials said on Wednesday.   

Angela Kniazeva and her younger sister Diana were due to take up their new positions in September at the University of Rochester, where half of their students will likely be older than them.   

The pair, who already have masters degrees in international policy from Stanford University in California, were picking up their doctorates from New York University's Stern business school on Wednesday after five years of study.   

The talented twosome told the New York Post they did not consider themselves geniuses, despite their achievements.   

"I don't think this is the right word or right way of putting it," the newspaper quoted Angela as saying. "I think we've been given valuable opportunities, and we found ourselves in very fortunate circumstances."   

The duo were home-schooled by their parents and earned the equivalent of their US high-school diploma at the ages of 10 and 11 before graduating college in Russia at the ages of 13 and 14. They graduated from Stanford in 2002.   

The brainiac pair, who have already been teaching international financial management at New York University, seemed unfazed by their new positions.   

"I don't think our age is actually anyhow relevant to the teaching or our research," Diana, who is due to turn 20 later this month, told the Post.   

"I think that the simple fact that I'm younger than my students does not have an influence on what I teach or how I teach."