UWM Alumni Couple’s Legacy Scholarship Helped Space-Exploring Alum

Darian Dixon ’15 is searching for life on Mars.

On February 19, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover sent pictures from Mars back to Earth as the rover searched for evidence of ancient life on Mars. Darian leads the team that operates the high-powered cameras that make that search possible.

A geosciences major, Darian now works as a mission operations specialist at Malin Space Science Systems, a California company that operates some of the cameras for NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover. Darian says his experiences at the UWM Foundation are what launched his interest in space exploration.

“I worked with a professor, Lindsay McHenry, who was also the undergraduate advisor for the department at the time. She studies Mars minerology,” Darian recalls. “That was kind of my first big research project, and that was probably the most influential thing that got me on this path.”

In addition to his research experience, Darian says a scholarship also helped him achieve his goals at UWM. When he was a sophomore, he was surprised to learn that he had been awarded the Greater Milwaukee Foundation Dr. John H. and Cynthia A. Jackson Scholarship. “That was my first year taking STEM classes, and that scholarship was a huge help in me getting those pricey books. That was a hard year for me financially, so I know that without the John and Cynthia Jackson Scholarship, affording books would have been a lot tougher.”

John Jackson ’46 graduated from the Wisconsin State Teacher’s College, a predecessor institution to UWM, nearly 70 years before Darian, and Cynthia Jackson ’85 graduated three decades before Darian. John, who went on to earn his master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Chicago, served as a board member of the UWM Alumni Association in the 1970s.

The Jacksons made provisions in their estate plan to create this scholarship with the intention of helping UWM undergraduate students. The scholarship was established in 2009 following John’s death, and since it was created, nearly $1 million has been distributed to more than 180 UWM students.

“I would say to someone considering starting a scholarship at UWM to absolutely do it,” Darian says. “UWM is a thriving school with talented, eager students, and contributions to their education would go a long way in helping them achieve great success. In fact, I’m considering starting a scholarship myself.”

Like the Jacksons, you can influence students’ futures with a planned gift that creates legacy scholarships—and opportunity. To learn how, contact Gretchen E. Miller, J.D. at (414) 229-3067 or gemiller@uwm.edu.