Jul 16, 2014
Megan Smith is the Vice President of Google[x]. She oversees teams
that manage early-stage partnerships, pilot explorations, and
technology licensing working closely with Google's engineering and
product teams globally. She joined Google in 2003 and has led
several of the company's acquisitions, including Keyhole (Google
Earth), Where2Tech (Google Maps) and Picasa.
Over the years, Megan has contributed to a wide range of
engineering projects, such as designing an award-winning bicycle
lock, working on a space station construction research project that
eventually flew on the U.S. space shuttle, and running a
field-research study on solar cookstoves in South America. She was
also a member of the MIT student team that designed, built, and
raced a solar car in the first cross-continental solar car race,
covering 2000 miles of the Australian outback.
Megan holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in mechanical
engineering from MIT, where she now serves on the board. She
completed her master's thesis work at the MIT Media Lab.