Huntsville engineer, entrepreneur and UAH alumnus Mike Wicks is giving $1.5 million to his alma mater, putting his family’s name on a prominent space inside the university’s new engineering building.
The gift to The University of Alabama in Huntsville will name the largest multi-purpose space in the new Raymond B. Jones Engineering Building the Wicks Family Innovation Hall.
“UAH is such a treasure and an asset in this community,” Wicks said. “It has so many tentacles that reach into the community and enrich everybody’s lives. For me personally, UAH made a profound difference in my education and my career, and it just seemed like a natural thing to give back.”
The University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approved the gift Sept. 11.
The Wicks Family Innovation Hall is designed to serve several purposes. It can operate as a large classroom, be divided into two smaller rooms or be transformed into space for meetings and events. UAH said it will be the largest and most frequently used room in the new building.
For Wicks, the building’s name also carries a personal connection.
The facility honors the late Ray Jones, a longtime Huntsville business and community leader who served as chairman of the UAH Foundation. Wicks, a Huntsville native, said the Jones family has been part of his life since childhood.
“Mr. Ray and (his wife) Libby Jones have been in my life since I was a toddler,” Wicks said. “I’ve enjoyed lifelong relationships with them, their children and their grandchildren.”
Wicks earned his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from UAH in 1993 after earning his bachelor’s degree at Auburn University and beginning his career with the U.S. Army Missile Command.
He said UAH’s close connection to Huntsville’s aerospace and defense industry was an important part of his education.
“The education here at UAH is fantastic, but on top of that, you get professors who have real-world experience,” Wicks said. “Some of them are coming from their aerospace and defense jobs to teach at night. They bring real-world examples and ways to apply them into what we’re learning in the classroom.”
That connection to UAH continued with the next generation of his family. His son, Chandler Wicks, and daughter-in-law, Chelsea Lavish Wicks, both graduated from UAH’s engineering program in 2013.
Wicks spent much of his career in Huntsville’s defense industry, first as an Army civilian and later as a defense contractor. He founded engineering and technical services companies including Summit Research Corp. and Huntsville-based Integration Innovation Inc., known as i3.
In 2023, he was inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame.
His career has since taken him into another field. Wicks, a cancer survivor, became CEO of Houston-based Diakonos Oncology in 2022. The company is developing cancer immunotherapies targeting diseases including glioblastoma, pancreatic cancer and melanoma.
“I thought, I’ve got a little fire left in the belly,” Wicks said. “I wanted to get involved in something aside from aerospace and defense, but again, a hard problem.”
Wicks and his wife, Christine, also support community initiatives through the Wicks Family Foundation.
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