Making Ocean Science Accessible to Everyone with Dijanna Figueroa

Dijanna Figueroa

Upper School Science and Director of Lucas Scholars STEAM Program

St. Matthew's Parish School
Pacific Palisades, CA

Dijanna Figueroa has made a career of exploring the mysteries of the deep. She was featured in James Cameron’s documentary Aliens of the Deep, which follows Cameron and NASA scientists as they explore the some of the deepest parts of the ocean and learn about the unique life forms that inhabit those spaces. Recently, Figueroa has become an advocate for STEAM education—adding art and design to the science, technology, engineering, and math equation. She’s spent more than two decades teaching STEAM to grades K–8 in the greater Los Angeles area, formerly served as global director of the Muse School National Geographic Society’s Green STEAM program and has advisory roles with many STEM/STEAM nonprofits. She was recently featured on MTV’s Women Crush Wednesdays Women in STEM series. She currently teaches middle school science at St. Matthew's Parish School and runs programs that teach students how to fly drones, scuba dive and build underwater robots. If that isn’t enough, Figueroa is the director of the Lucas Scholars STEM program, a community based social justice and equity program designed to engage young people in science, engineering, design, and art. She loves the ocean and is committed to making ocean science accessible to all people.