Jonathan Yao is a senior lab manager for the Prototyping and Research Operations (PROps) team at Toyota Research Institute (TRI). Although the core of his role is based in facility and equipment management, design and fabrication, and safety protocols, Jonathan has also led significant projects coordinating offsite robot testing and vendor management for building testing environments.

Jonathan’s involvement with the tech industry is unexpected, having received a B.A. in art from San Francisco State University and an MFA in spatial arts from San José University. Glassblowing is his passion and has led him around the world as a student, instructor, and visiting artist. Jonathan’s previous work in the tech world was as a Lab Tech at Google.