Grant Imahara’s family and friends have formed a new educational foundation in his memory.
The Grant Imahara STEAM Foundation, named for the late “Mythbusters” host, will work to inspire and empower underserved youth to become active in science, technology, engineering, art and math. The formation of the nonprofit was announced Friday on what would have been Imahara’s 50th birthday.
“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 co-founder of the foundation. “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.”
Imahara died in July from a brain aneurysm. An electrical engineer, he co-hosted more than 200 episodes of “Mythbusters” for Discovery, beginning with the show’s third season in 2005. He was invited to join the show by host Jamie Hyneman and was a part of the Build Team with Tory Belleci and Kari Byron. He specialized in creating robots and electronic devices for the show’s experiments.
The new foundation was created to continue Imahara’s legacy through mentorships, grants and scholarships designed to provide access to STEAM education to all students, regardless of socioeconomic status, race or gender. It was formed by founding board members Carolyn Imahara; and longtime professional colleagues and friends Don Bies, Anna Bies, Edward Chin, Fon H. Davis, Coya Elliott and Ioanna Stergiades.