2018 Peter Craig Breen Memorial Award

Devon Van Cura (Chemistry Undergraduate Class of 2018) was the recipient of the Peter Craig Breen Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Chemistry Research. The award was presented at the Chemistry Graduation Reception on May 5th. Devon will attend graduate school in the fall at the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

The award was established in 2015, in honor and memory of Peter Craig Breen, who was a chemistry major at Penn State from 2010 through 2014.  Peter was a gifted student who excelled in high school and was selected as a National Merit finalist. Peter chose during his senior year to attend Penn State. Peter enrolled at Penn State in 2010 as a Braddock Scholar and a Schreyer’s Scholar in The Eberly College of Science with a major in chemistry. Peter had planned to continue pursuing his passion for research in bioinformatics, and was accepted into three Ph.D. programs before his passing in 2014. Penn State conferred a B.S. degree in Chemistry with honors posthumously to his family in May 2014.

Peter’s friends and family felt that it would be fitting to establish a research award in his name so that his passion for scientific discovery would continue on after him. The award is intended to honor undergraduate students who are dedicated to excellence in research and who are driven by a spirit similar to Peter’s.