Crista Lopes (Diva Canto) is professor within the Department of Informatics, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of California Irvine and a core OpenSimulator developer. She developed Hypergrid, which is a federation architecture and protocol for OpenSimulator virtual worlds that supports the seamless transfer of avatar user agents and assets between them.

In 2016, Crista was the first woman to be awarded the $10,000 Pizzigati Prize that honors software developers who are working to develop open source applications that aid activists and nonprofits involved in struggles for social change.