Akihiro Matsukawa

Akihiro Matsukawa is a machine learning research engineer currently working as a Quantitative Developer at The D. E. Shaw Group since July 2019.1 He has a strong background in deep learning and natural language processing, with experience at prominent tech companies and research institutions.12

Professional Experience

Prior to joining The D. E. Shaw Group, Matsukawa held several notable positions:

• Senior Research Engineer at DeepMind (April 2017 - June 2019)
• Software Engineer at Google (November 2014 - April 2017)
• Software Engineer at Twitter (August 2013 - November 2014)
• Software Engineer at Sift Science (February 2013 - May 2013)

Research and Academic Background

Matsukawa has a strong research background, having worked as an undergraduate researcher at UC Berkeley in two different labs:

1. Prof. Stuart Russel's group (October 2011 - February 2013)
2. Prof. Ken Goldberg's lab (August 2010 - February 2013)

Key Projects and Contributions

During his time at DeepMind, Matsukawa worked on:

• Applications of generative models for anomaly detection and predictive uncertainty quantification
• WaveNet text-to-speech implementation for Google Assistant
• Model training, evaluation, and hyper-parameter tuning
• Engineering aspects of the system, including training on TPUv2

At Google, he focused on:

• Information extraction from Wikipedia infoboxes
• NLP signals for question and answering for human-authored Q&A content

Skills and Interests

Matsukawa's expertise includes:

• Deep Learning
• Natural Language Processing (NLP)
• Reinforcement Learning
• Research

He is particularly interested in deep learning applications and research.12

Languages

Matsukawa is proficient in multiple languages:

• English (native or bilingual proficiency)
• Japanese (limited working proficiency)
• Chinese (limited working proficiency)

Akihiro Matsukawa's diverse experience in both industry and research positions, coupled with his expertise in machine learning and deep learning, makes him a valuable asset in his current role at The D. E. Shaw Group.