As a University of South Carolina sophmore in the Biological Sciences, Rita Czako fits right into the ever-expanding intellectual environment of the College of Arts and Sciences. She is well travelled, having been born in Hungary, moving to the US and growing up initially in Washington state, with her final stop, South Carolina. Her parents, Mihaly and Zsuzsuanna Czako of Columbia, are both scientists and it is no coincidence that Rita will follow in their footsteps. They, as we, are certainly proud of her acceptance into the South Carolina Honors College and her being a Carolina Scholar, which is one of the most prestigious scholarships offered at USC. For all who have met Rita (and everyone should!), they know her as a bright, confident, friendly, and deeply concerned young woman who is personally and intellectually engaging on many levels. This well-balanced character combining intellect and personality has deservedly been recognized in her recent selection as one of only 3 Barry Goldwater scholars from the University this year.

There is yet another side to Rita, alluded to earlier, and that is her deep and abiding interest in health-related scientific research. Her focus at this point in her undergraduate career is to elucidate molecular mechanisms in parasitic infectious diseases, particularly leishmaniasis, which she studies in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Showman in the Department of Biological Sciences. Rita hopes that her research here at USC, and eventually in graduate school and beyond, will benefit some of the world's most vulnerable people in developing countries, where parasitic diseases threaten young and old alike. Her recent participation in country at Ohio University's Ecuador Tropical Disease Workshop in July 2005 (see picture) has further solidified her interests and aspirations in the field of molecular epidemiology. Many gifts from our alumni support a wide-variety of undergraduate student programs in the College, but those gifts really only come to fruition in our students, as they, like Rita, develop the knowledge and skills to carry their hopes and dreams into the next generation.

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