Dr. Phyllis Yoshida is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia and the Americas in the Office of International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). She was responsible for implementing Administration policy for and supported the development of international cooperation on science and technology issues and energy policy issues. The Office conducted studies and projects that served the strategic corporate interests of the Department. This work included analysis and recommendations on international departmental research and development (R&D) policies and investment priorities, management structure and communications strategies. The Office also worked closely with the Department's program offices to guide and coordinate their individual research, development, deployment and international collaboration strategies.

Previously Dr. Yoshida served as the DOE Director of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. The FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership is a government-industry cooperative research partnership to examine and advance the pre-competitive, high-risk research needed to achieve petroleum-free, emission-free personal transportation.

Prior to joining DOE, Dr. Yoshida served as the Director of Asia-Pacific Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Her responsibilities included developing and advocating national and international policies and initiatives with responsibility for key emerging technologies, for bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Asia, for strategic competitive analysis of international technology developments, and for negotiating greater access to foreign technology for U.S. companies and researchers. She chaired multilateral and bilateral committees, including the APEC Industrial Science and Technology Working Group. She won the Department’s two most prestigious honors, a gold medal for Distinguished Federal Service for increasing access to Japanese science and technology, and a Silver Medal for Meritorious Federal Service for leading the team that established the International Intelligent Manufacturing Partnership. She was selected as the Commerce Employee of the Month twice. She was a founding member of the National Nanotechnology Initiative and a member of the Committee on the Advancement of Minorities and Women in Science, Engineering and Technology. At the Commerce Department, she also served as a trade policy analyst in the Office of the Under Secretary for International Trade, and in the Offices of Automotive Industry Affairs and Industrial Trade coordinating trade policy and conducting trade negotiations and export promotion activities. She has served as an economist at the Japan Economic Institute, a legislative assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives, and an adjunct professor at George Mason University.

Dr. Yoshida received her B.A. from Carleton College, and M.A. and Ph.D. from George Washington University. She was the first recipient of Japan’s GARIOA/Fulbright Fellowship under which she studied at the University of Tokyo. She has written and edited over 40 publications related to industrial science and technology, including widely cited work on the globalization of R&D and on government-industry relations.