To honor the memory of Alice Wu '12, a computer science alumna, friend Regina Ip '11 crowdfunded support to establish the Alice Y. Wu Memorial Award for junior and senior computer science majors. This endowed award was made possible by the gifts of many and through Regina's leadership and encouragement of philanthropy as a way to honor a friend's impact and legacy.
Regina Ip ’11 and Alice Wu ’12 were best friends from the moment they met during their first year at UC San Diego in Warren College. While Regina pursued dual degrees in communications and ecology, behavior and evolution, Alice graduated with a degree in computer science from the Jacobs School of Engineering. The two bonded over their desire to make the world a better place and Alice’s ideas for using technology to help solve societal problems. While a software engineer at Intuit, Alice organized hackathons and hosted Intuit outreach events at UC San Diego to encourage more underrepresented students to join the field.
When Alice passed away in 2017, Regina sought a way to honor her friend’s memory. Partnering with UC San Diego Advancement to create a Crowdsurf campaign, Regina established the Alice Y. Wu Memorial Award for junior and senior undergraduate students who are majoring in computer science and committed to making an impact in humanitarian causes. Through a combination of crowdfunding and her own personal philanthropy, Regina raised the $25,000 necessary to endow the award, and she now aspires to grow the endowment through additional donations.
Regina is grateful for the support and education that UC San Diego Advancement provided. She hopes to encourage young alumni from diverse backgrounds to consider creative philanthropy as a way to enrich their lives and others’ lives: “When we expand the donor pool, there's so much more impact that we can make in different communities and causes.”
For inquiries about making a gift in support of the Jacobs School of Engineering or a specific department, please contact Madison Lyle, Associate Director of Development at m1lyle@ucsd.edu or (858) 424-1450.