By Joanie Harmon, SE&IS News
UCLA scholar of inequality in education one of 100 Angelenos honored in social impact art project by artist Marcus Lyon and The Getty Conservation Institute.
Jane Margolis, UCLA research scientist emerita, has been highlighted in “Alta / A Human Atlas of a City of Angels,” the newest in a series of international social impact art projects by and London-based artist Marcus Lyon and The Getty Conservation Institute. A pioneering scholar focused on systemic segregation and inequality in education, Margolis was selected as one of 100 individuals in Los Angeles County who are creating substantial and positive change. Veronica Terriquez, professor and director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and former staff member of the Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA) at SEIS, was also selected for the project.
The four-year project included a year-long nomination process, where a diverse group of Angelenos nominated individuals from their own communities for their significant contributions and service to society. Lyon and his team interviewed and captured portraits of 100 nominees and analyzed their ancestral DNA, casting a light on their origins.
The project charts their lives and impact through a limited-edition portrait book, available in English and Spanish, an exhibition at the L.A. Central Public Library, opening on Jan. 13, 2025, a website, and mobile app. In addition, each of the individuals chosen for the project will be part of an episode on the project’s podcast, “Intersections: Los Angeles”; Margolis’ story will be part of the broadcast on Nov. 12.
Since 1994, Margolis’ work has focused on computer science education as a window into how segregation and inequality get reproduced. She is the lead author of two award-winning books, “Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing” (MIT Press, 2002), which examines the gender gap in computer science at the college level; and “Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing” (MIT Press, 2008, 2017), which examines the low number of African-Americans, Latinos, and females in computer science at the high school level. Margolis was also the founder and long-time leader of the Computer Science Equity Project at UCLA’s Center X.
