3 Things You Didn't Know About Billy Riggs

1. Riggs loves Sci-Fi! “I feel like science fiction really is one of the most innovative and original forms of fiction, and I really enjoy escaping into a good story,” he said. “Since a lot of my work and research involves future transportation, cities, and urban spaces, I think I may enjoy this genre because many of the stories involve real, yet unreal futures. You also get the opportunity to see how someone else thinks about the future of transportation, housing, economics, and urban form."
   Visit Riggs' symposium Autonomous Vehicles and the City at USF on November 8, 2017. Riggs holds a PhD in City and Regional Planning, from UC Berkeley.
2. Riggs is passionate about music. He was in high school when his interest in music started truly developing, but it has always been part of his life: “My parents were both hippies, and played Paul Winter Consort’s album Icarus for me when I was an infant,” he said. On his 16th birthday, he and his dad watched the Woodstock movie together. After that, I started playing guitar in a number of groups, which led to me establishing my own band in San Francisco in 2003,” he said. “I always felt that my music was my art and I enjoyed it because it was one of the ways I could create beauty in the world around me; as if I could paint a song.”
3. Riggs’s favorite places to visit are wine regions and wineries. “Both my wife, Menka, and I appreciate good wine,” he said, “We met in Napa, so wine tasting and viticulture have been a part of our relationship since then.” They’ve been making their own wine together since 2009. He and his wife’s most recent vineyard visit was in Santa Barbara where they hand-picked Pinot Noir grapes.
    

Image

By Lonny Wysard