A Day of Making: A Grant Imahara Memorial Event

USC Viterbi’s Day of Making is coming Saturday, October 23, with three separate remote events centered on makers and making, all prompted by the memory and generosity of Grant Imahara.

Grant graduated from USC Viterbi School of Engineering in 1993 and went on to have a stellar career in film and television as a master maker. Even before graduating with his degree in electrical engineering, he was working with LucasFilm and Industrial Light and Magic. His work has been featured in Star Wars, Jurassic Park, The Matrix, and Terminator, and he is remembered with affection for updating R2-D2 in the later Star Wars movies. Later, Grant became one of the hosts of the legendary television show, MythBusters. Beloved by the community of makers, Grant died unexpectedly last year, yet his friends and followers have kept alive his legacy of creativity and engagement with youth through the Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation.

The USC Viterbi K-12 STEM Center is grateful to the Foundation and all of Grant’s friends for their support of our outreach to students in elementary, middle and high school. On October 23, Grant’s birthday, we are hosting this USC Viterbi Day of Making in Grant’s honor.

The day kicks off with a very special Zoom talk and demonstration at 11 am by Grant’s friend, Allen Pan (USC Viterbi ’12), who is a celebrity maker on YouTube with his “Sufficiently Advanced.” Afterwards, two Zoom workshops will actually give viewers hands-on making experience, starting at 12:15 pm with a “Mini Maker Faire” the USC Makers students and another workshop on innovation at 1:15 with USC’s Robogals student organization.