Jogging along a Southern California beach, Sean McCafferty came upon hundreds and hundreds of crosses, each with the name of a soldier who had been killed during wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Pausing for a moment, McCafferty focused on the name of U.S. Army Cpt. John E. Tipton – a man he had never met and did not know. McCafferty said at that moment, he felt a profound sadness for Tipton and desire to reach out to his family.

"I did not claim to know the man John Tipton, only what he symbolized to me: The ultimate acceptance of duty and consequence in his dedication to bring about positive change," said McCafferty, a graduate student in the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. "It touched me deeply." 

Three years later, McCafferty established the John Tipton Scholarship for UA engineering and optical sciences students.  

McCafferty said it was important to aid gifted applicants, especially motivated low-income students, interested in pursuing such high-demand fields as science and engineering.