Yoky Matsuoka

Yoky Matsuoka grew up assuming she would become a professional tennis player. One thing led to another, and she ended up with a B.S. from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. from MIT in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science in the fields of artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience. Subsequently, she became a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and later the University of Washington, developing robotic devices for rehabilitating and assisting the human body and brain. This work led her to the MacArthur Award and being named one of “The Brilliant Ten” by Popular Science Magazine and one of the “Top 10 Women to Watch in 2010” by Barbie. In late 2009, Matsuoka joined Google [x] as one of the three founding members before taking her position as VP of Technology at Nest. In 2019, Matsuoka transitioned to Panasonic Corporation where she leads the creation of new products and services. Recent (2015) honors include “The Next List” by Wired Magazine and The Excellence in Achievement Award from UC Berkeley. She is happy to have four children and most of all enjoys cheering them on from the sidelines of their extracurricular activities.