López was raised in San Pablo and Richmond, CA (Ohlone Land) and spent much of his youth working in Oakland and San Francisco. He has an academic and research background invested locally. López attended De Anza High School (Richmond, California) and graduated from Contra Costa College (San Pablo, California) with degrees in Mathematics(AS), Physics(AS), and Sociology(AA) . He transferred and gradu
ated from San Francisco State University with a BS in Civil Engineering. López most recently completed graduate studies at San José State University in Water Resources Engineering, and is also a Research Associate at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (2012-present), working on several projects for the U.S. Department of Energy addressing subsurface technology. Presently he is a Ph.D Candidate at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management. He also mentors and teaches 4th/5th grade scholars for a local non-profit, Metas. His trajectory in life was once misguided, not uncommon for many young people from his region, but a passion for the STEM field grew out of resources, opportunities and mentorship. He now commits himself to outreach, ensuring rising scholars can actualize their potential. He cares passionately about mental health awareness and access, science justice and equity, and why people put pineapple on pizza. Outside of the scholarly work, research, and outreach, he is a parent. Working hard to ensure his children are equipped with the best tools and resources possible to inch our society closer to a more just and equitable space.
