Earlier this semester, Perry also won the Fulbright Scholarship and the five-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) from Cambridge University Graduate Partnerships Fellowships.
Perry said she was shocked when she found out about the scholarships, but she said she soon felt excitement, satisfaction and also a sense of gratitude toward her mentors.
Thomas Lynn, assistant professor of English, taught Perry in two of his classes at Penn State Berks. Lynn also was Perry's mentor during the summer of 2001 for an informal independent study of her poetry.
"Dani is one of the most talented students I've ever worked with," Lynn said. "I knew she was going to do impressive things, but it couldn't have happened to a better person."
Since she was young, Perry said she always had an interest in math and science. As she grew older, Perry realized she wanted to further her education and apply her knowledge in math and science to the world through physics.
At first, her parents were not thrilled with the idea of Perry attending college, but Perry's father allowed her to attend nursing school at Reading Hospital and eventually Penn State Berks and University Park.
Although she grew academically through home schooling, Perry said she felt extremely isolated from the outside world.
"I almost felt like I was from another country," Perry said. "It's taken four to five years, I feel completely normal. It's something I had to work for."
Perry said the driving force behind her interest in medicine came from her experiences spending time with patients in the nursing school, her father's work as a surgeon and her time spent in a Dominican Republic hospital.
"When I saw all the horrible conditions, it gave more of a personal drive to my interest in medicine," Perry said.
Through scientific research and medicine, Perry hopes to understand how languages are processed to the brain. Perry said she would like to help people with language alternating diseases such as aphasia, which hinders one's ability to speak.
Perry, a member of the Schreyer Honors College, also serves as treasurer for the Society for Physics Students, mentor for the International Hospitality Council and co-founder and president of the Penn State Student Chapter of the Association of Women in Mathematics. Perry currently works in a chemistry laboratory studying synthetic cells.
In her spare time, Perry said she enjoys reading literature, playing the flute, surfing, sky diving, hiking and cooking.
"My mom and I take cooking courses over the summer," Perry said. "I like to take a recipe and change it. Usually, it turns out well."
In a family of four brothers and six sisters, Perry said she has a close relationship with her twin sister, Alyson.
"Everything people say about twins is true. There's something about being a twin. We're somehow connected in a way I can't explain," Perry said. "All through my life in all that I do or the success that I make will somehow be for her."
Alyson Perry, a senior majoring in philosophy at Cedarville University in Ohio, will study at Oxford University in England this summer.
She said the twins share a passion for learning.
"She's a person of integrity and passion, and I'm glad people are recognizing it," Alyson said.
Lynn said Perry is an open-minded individual.
"You know when you are speaking with her and interacting with her she is a very sensitive soul," Lynn said.
