2009 Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Challenge Awards Honor Distinguished Undergraduate Students

Given annually to outstanding undergraduate students in the submatriculation program in chemistry or physics, the 2009 Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Challenge Awards were conferred in June by a committee of standing faculty. This year’s recipients are biochemistry and physics major Kevin Axelrod, C’11, biochemistry and chemistry major Phillip Benedetti, C’10, biochemistry and physics major Matthew Berck, C’10, biochemistry major Edward Kreider, C’11, and physics major Aaron Levy, C’11. Equal to current tuition and fees, the awards are intended to challenge College science students to get the most from Penn and themselves—both in the classroom and in the laboratory—and are given to rising juniors or seniors independent of financial need.

Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, C’50, Hon ’99, majored in chemistry at Penn and received his medical degree from Columbia University. Retired chairman and CEO of Merck, he served as chair of the University’s Board of Trustees from 1995 to 1999 and is a former member of the SAS Board of Overseers. His wife Diana served as an overseer of the Penn Museum from 1996 to 2002. In addition to the Science Challenge Awards, their many gifts to Penn include the Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular Life Sciences, the Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories of the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, and the Roy and Diana Vagelos Chair in Chemistry and Chemical Biology.