Yayoi Kusama describes her artwork as "art that does battle between life and death, questioning what we are and it means to live and die."
Luz Rivas has built a her career at the intersection of engineering, education and public service — most recently as founder and executive director of DIY Girls, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing girls' interest and success in science and technology. Now, as the Commissioner of the Board of Public Works, Luz is working to create a brighter future for all Angelenos, and is continuing to inspire and work with girls in science and technology.
Luz began her professional career as an electrical design engineer for Motorola after earning a Bachelor of Science from M.I.T. Her passion to get kids interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) led her to pursue a Master of Education from Harvard University. For the last 15 years, Luz has worked at nonprofits, museums and universities where she has developed partnerships between educators and STEM research institutions to make cutting-edge science content accessible for K-12 students. She taught service learning for engineering undergraduates at USC, and worked to increase diversity at Caltech. Additionally, Luz has collaborated with engineers, planners and environmentalists to develop environmental technology curriculum for high school students and worked on NASA and National Science Foundation funded projects that aimed to increase access to STEM in community-based organizations.
Last week's winner was Tony Shu (@mastermindsays), who answered our question, "What are your hopes for future generations?": I hope that those who follow in our footsteps will be filled with such a sense of wonder that they can find happiness even in their everyday lives, that they remember to pause and to treasure those beautiful moments that can all too often be deceptively disguised as ordinary life... I hope that when they look around them, they will see more than the screens on their phones and more than photoshop and filters, that instead they would see sky and trees, oceans and sunsets, that they would see people and faces, and the laughter and the tears hidden in their eyes… I hope they will be brave enough to search for beauty, especially when it is hardest to find, and wise enough to understand when it is more important to be kind than it is to be right... I hope that they will grasp every day just how amazing it is that they are here in this magnificent world… to live and to breathe and to move… And I hope that one day, those who journey behind them will find themselves walking in the footsteps of giants and be inspired to stand as tall as they did... I hope..."