About

Kyle Yoshida grew up in Pearl City, Hawaii and attended Kamehameha Schools Kapalama from kindergarten through high school, graduating in 2014. Throughout high school, he gained an interest in biological research and engineering, so he majored in Bioengineering and minored in African Studies at Harvard University. At the beginning of his research career, Kyle interned at the University of Pittsburgh Hillman Cancer Center, studying mechanisms of DNA double strand break repair, the University of Hawaii Cancer Center, conducting high throughput screening of plant extracts for cancer treatments, and at the University of Hawaii Center for Microbial Oceanography Research and Education, studying the genes contributing to choanoflagellate multicellularity using transposon mutagenesis. In the latter half of his undergraduate career, he was a student in the Akamai Internship program and worked at HNu Photonics, developing a system that can track the pH and cell density of closed cell culture systems that are currently used on the International Space Station as part of the BioChip Space Lab. He also worked in the Harvard BioDesign lab, specializing in real-time ultrasound feedback for exoskeletons and in the Locomotion in Mechanical and Biological Systems lab at Johns Hopkins University, studying adaptive control in electric fish. These research experiences inspired him to pursue a PhD at Stanford University in the Collaborative Haptics and Robotics in Medicine Lab, where he currently focuses on designing soft robots and wearable haptic devices.

His past work has been recognized through winning competitions (Brown University IEEE Micromouse, 2016 & 2017), poster awards (Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 2017), paper awards (IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, 2020; IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2020; Genetics, 2015), and presentation awards (American Indian Science and Engineering Society, 2016 & 2017). Kyle is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, Stanford Graduate Fellowship in Science and Engineering, and the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education Fellowship. He has also received support from his Native Hawaiian community through scholarships from the Pauahi Foundation and Kalino Foundation. Kyle is a member of SACNAS, AISES, and IEEE and a student trainee in the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute's Mind, Brain, Computation, and Technology program and the American Indian Science and Engineering Society Lighting the Pathway to Faculty Careers program. Outside of lab, he works as a Graduate Student Equity and Inclusion Recruiter with the Stanford School of Engineering, an officer for that Stanford Native American Graduate Students Association, and as a community associate with the Stanford Graduate Life Office. In the summer of 2020, he founded Honua Scholars, an organization that provides mentorship, tutoring, and professional development to college students throughout Hawaii interested in pursuing professional or graduate education or careers in STEM. In his free time, Kyle enjoys listening to classical music, singing in the church choir, and writing short stories.

Short Bio: Kyle Yoshida is a PhD candidate in the CHARM lab at Stanford University. He received his BS degree in Bioengineering with a minor in African Studies at Harvard University, and a MS degree from Stanford University. He has received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Stanford Graduate Research Fellowship, and the Stanford Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education Fellowship. He is also part of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society's Lighting the Pathways Program and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Mind, Brain, Computation, and Technology Graduate Training Program. His research interests span soft robotics and wearable/mobile haptics. His work has been recognized through multiple awards at the IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, and the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology National Conference. In his free time, he serves as a community associate with the Stanford Graduate Life Office and manages Honua Scholars, an education mentorship program that was recognized as one of the 2021 Top 10 Native STEM Enterprises to Watch by the American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

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