Immaculate Mugisa is a gifted young researcher who plans to follow the road less travelled. Committed to helping alleviate poverty in her country, she eventually wants to launch an NGO that serves the rural poor in northern Uganda—a once-dangerous conflict zone. It’s perhaps not a traditional career path for a crop scientist who grew up in the capital, Kampala. “Despite the difficulties we experienced while growing up, my five siblings and I all did well in school, and I got a government scholarship for university, where I studied agriculture, specializing in crops,” says Mugisa. “I’ve always been interested in plants, and particularly plant diseases and pests, but as a Christian, I also love helping people and when I see people in poverty, my heart goes out to them. This is what drives me.”