Skip to main content Skip to secondary navigation

Cynthia Okubo

Main content start
Cynthia Okubo

Cynthia Okubo is a Research Finance Analyst, working as part of the Bioengineering department’s Finance team. She holds a BA in Business-Economics from UCLA and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Can you tell us about your Asian American heritage?

I was born in Taiwan and grew up there through elementary school, then immigrated to the US with my parents. We were in Wisconsin for half a year, then relocated to California where my Dad’s permanent job was. After graduating from the university, my husband and I met while working at a Japanese company. Due to job reassignments, we moved to and lived in Japan for 3.5 years after our children were born; then to the United Kingdom for another 3 years. We ultimately decided to move back to California as we still find California to be our favorite place out of all the places we lived. During our years in Japan and the UK, we had the opportunity to travel to other countries in Asia and Europe. I enjoy meeting people from different cultures and seeing things differently than from where I came. I speak fluent Mandarin and can understand basic Japanese.

What is your area of focus, and how did you gain interest in it? 

In the Bioengineering department, I am part of a 5-person Finance team. Our team provides a full range of administrative and financial tasks associated with managing pre-award proposal submissions and post-award research dollars - sponsored grants and non-sponsored sources. We work closely with faculties and their lab members to ensure funds are spent appropriately.  Currently, I support 7 faculties: KC Huang, Jan Liphardt, Annelise Barron, Kwabena Boahen, Markus Covert, Vijay Pande, and Stanley Qi. In addition, I also assist predocs and postdocs with their sponsored fellowship applications and manage their fellowship fundings.

Although my educational background is in business economics (minored in accounting), I had a variety of job experiences including web design, coordinating marketing efforts, and financial analysis. Because I really like the school environment, I joined Stanford Bioengineering department as a Research Finance Analyst in 2018. What I enjoy the most about this role is helping people (students, postdocs, and PIs), assisting them with the administrative part so that they can focus on their research work.

Can you tell us about your thoughts on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion at Stanford?

Right now, I am not sure what kinds of things each initiative is trying to accomplish.  I would like to learn more about the JEDI initiatives and their desired end results.  Knowing this will help me figure out where I might best be able to contribute.

What’s one thing that people might not know about you?

I play the piano and majored in music (music performance) for one year.

What milestones in your life are of particular significance to you?

Becoming a parent and living/traveling in Asia and Europe. Re-starting my career at Stanford after a 10-year career break (for full-time parenting).