Yoky Matsuoka

Yoky Matsuoka

Yoky Matsuoka is VP of Technology at Nest Labs.

Nest reinvents unloved but important home products, like the thermostat and the smoke alarm. She invents and designs smart features that bring people comfort, safety, convenience and efficiency in their home.

Yoky 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 at 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, she joined Google [x] as one of the three founding members before taking her current position at Nest.  She is happy to have four children under age 9 and most of all enjoys cheering them on from the sidelines of their extracurricular activities.