Every contribution makes an impact.
UC San Diego changemakers are empowered to push the boundaries of possibility because of you. Your support opens doors, fuels exploration and changes the lives of our students, staff, faculty and researchers. The stories below illuminate just a few examples of how your contributions create lasting impact across our community.
Solange Jackson ’24 received the UC San Diego UJIMA Network Black History Month Scholarship which is endorsed by the university’s Black History Month Committee and Black Alumni Council, and is awarded to undergraduate students who have demonstrated academic and creative achievement in the study of African Americans and their history and culture. Photo: Erik Jepsen, UC San Diego
Scholarship Recipient Solange Jackson ’24 Advocates for Public Health
When Solange Jackson’s brother collapsed on a college football field in 2016 at the age of 20, she couldn’t understand why doctors had never caught his heart condition. After a week in a coma, Jackson’s brother died with a diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which causes a thickening of the chambers of the heart — but can be treated if caught.
“No one ever detected my brother’s condition,” said Jackson. “I felt like, with all the physicals we do as athletes, why did no one do a heart check on him? How was it never detected? But I started noticing that there were other cases of Black and brown students collapsing while doing the things that they love.”
In June 2024, Jackson, a recipient of the UC San Diego UJIMA Network Black History Month Scholarship, graduated with a degree in human biology. Her goal is to use her brother’s story to help change health care policies in underrepresented communities. To this end, she has accepted an offer to attend the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy and is now working toward earning her master’s in health administration.
→ To support outstanding students like Jackson, Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla has established a matching program for the Chancellor’s Alumni Council Scholarships.
Through June 30, 2025, Chancellor Khosla will match eligible gifts 1:1 that are made to any of the four scholarships endorsed by alumni affinity groups:
- UJIMA Network Black History Month Scholarship | Black Alumni Council
- Asian/Pacific-Islander Alumni Council Scholarship | Asian Pacific Islander Alumni Council
- Madrinas and Padrinos Scholarship Endowment | Chicanx Latinx Alumni Council
- Zenaida and Emilio dela Pena Scholarship | Pilipino/a/x Alumni Council
Members of the second cohort from the Scripps SCUBA DIVERsity Fellowship program include (pictured from left to right): Roland Ovbiebo, Jorge Toledo Marín, Diana Peña Bastalla, James Waterford and Alonzo Houston. Photo: Erik Jepsen, UC San Diego
Scripps SCUBA DIVERsity Fellowship Helps Train Scientific Divers
On a cold Wednesday morning in January, scuba trainees make their way down the Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier in wetsuits, eager to take another step toward achieving scientific diver certification, a rigorous training program in underwater techniques and technology to safely conduct underwater research. As the second cohort of the SCUBA DIVERsity Fellowship program at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, these divers are part of a concerted effort to diversify the field of scientific diving.
Since 1954, Scripps Oceanography has set the standard for diver training at the University of California. Yet scuba diving as a whole maintains a noticeable absence of diversity due to socioeconomic barriers, limited access to training opportunities, and a general lack of representation that deters participation by people from non-white backgrounds. The SCUBA DIVERsity Fellowship program hopes to change that by increasing access to scuba training for students who want to contribute to research and explore the ocean but face cultural, physical, emotional or financial barriers to joining the dive community.
Earning a scientific diver certification can be game changing. It has a profound impact on research experience and career opportunities available to scientists interested in the underwater environment. Scripps Oceanography alumna Analisa Freitas, MAS MBC ’23, was a part of the first SCUBA DIVERsity cohort. Her scientific diving certification, obtained in 2022, has opened doors by allowing her to meet other scientific divers of color from across the country and participate in diving projects in Florida and Peru. “Being a part of this program meant my dreams of becoming a marine conservationist would actually become reality,” says Freitas.
→ Learn more at Scripps Institution of Oceanography: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/giving
The Triton Alumni and Welcome Center will serve as a hub for the entire Triton family — from prospective students beginning their campus journey to alumni returning to their alma mater. Credit: LMN Architects
UC San Diego’s Triton Alumni and Welcome Center — A Hub for the Entire Triton Family
UC San Diego’s highly anticipated Triton Center will serve as the heart of campus and will host the Triton Alumni and Welcome Center, named to represent the entire Triton family — past, present and future. With a dedicated boardroom, lounge, library, hoteling space and meeting rooms for alumni, as well as a state-of-the-art exhibition space, the Triton Alumni and Welcome Center will be a destination for alumni and the greater UC San Diego community to socialize, work, gather and collaborate.
Slated for completion in 2026, the Triton Alumni and Welcome Center will centralize student and campus services; showcase UC San Diego’s distinctive accomplishments, heritage, art and culture; and offer spaces for relaxation, enrichment and celebration. “The Triton Alumni and Welcome Center at Triton Center will unite Tritons across generations,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla.
Since the project was announced, UC San Diego alumni have come together to provide significant support, naming spaces within the center and volunteering their time as ambassadors to the project.
“We are grateful to all of our alumni supporters who are seeking to bring Tritons together with the Triton Alumni and Welcome Center,” said Khosla. “Our alumni are making their mark and creating a lasting legacy at UC San Diego, which will benefit countless generations to come.”
→ To be part of the initial fundraising effort for Triton Center before it opens in 2026, please visit crowdsurf.ucsd.edu/campaigns/jointhewave.