Thank you for being here this afternoon; I am truly humbled but, alas, not speechless. Thank you, Janice and Steve, for beginning this process and seeing it to conclusion. Thank you to my other graduate students and to old friends and colleagues who wrote letters of support, and lied convincingly. Thank you to Kelli Sapp and the members of the Awards Committee for opening and reading the file, even after seeing my name on it. And thank you to this wonderful society, the American Society of Parasitologists (ASP), for providing me with an environment and a home in which my students and I could always feel welcome and thrive.
Three words are the centerpiece of my talk: students, opportunity, and serendipity. Students, obviously, are central to all mentors. Opportunity, because several of my students said at different times that I had given them a chance by admitting them into graduate...