The Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation Launches
LOS ANGELES, CA – October 23, 2020 -- Family and friends of the late MythBusters host Grant Imahara have established The Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation, a non-profit foundation designed to inspire and empower underserved youth to become active in science, technology, engineering, art and math.
The Foundation was officially announced today during a public online celebration of Grant’s life, on what would have been Imahara’s 50th birthday. The announcement and memorial can be found at the Foundation’s official website, http://grantimaharafoundation.org.
Imahara tragically passed away in July 2020 from a brain aneurysm, cutting short a prolific life that was spent inspiring others in science and the arts. Best known as host of the television series MythBusters, Imahara was a noted robotics engineer who held positions at both Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). There, he contributed to iconic films such as Star Wars: Episodes I, II and III, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. In the early 2000s and while still at ILM, Grant mentored the Richmond High robotics team for several years for the FIRST Robotics Competition, an international high school robotics competition. This inspired some of the students to stay involved and become mentors themselves, one of whom runs the program to this day.
Grant continued mentoring young talent for the rest of his life, and spoke often about the positive impact his own mentors had on his life and career. It is in this spirit that The Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation was created by founding board members Carolyn Imahara, Grant’s mother; and longtime professional colleagues and friends Don Bies, Anna Bies, Edward Chin, Fon H. Davis, Coya Elliott and Ioanna Stergiades. The Foundation will continue Grant’s legacy through mentorships, grants and scholarships designed to provide access to STEAM education to all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, race or gender.
“There are many students, like my son Grant, who need the balance of the technical and the creative, and this is what STEAM is all about,” said Carolyn Imahara, Grant’s mother and Foundation co-founder. “I’m so proud of my son’s career, but I’m equally proud of the work he did mentoring students. He would be thrilled that we plan to continue this, plus much more, through The Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation.”