"Purdue and Zucrow Labs gave me a solid engineering foundation with cross discipline experiences and opened the doors to industry/government partnership opportunities. I was equipped with engineering fundamentals to continue developing my skills in industry smoothly. Most importantly, a network of trusted peers and lifetime friends. I am grateful to Purdue.”
As senior director, Yen Matsutomi leads the Engines Design Office that supports all Blue Engines programs at Blue Origin. Matsutomi is responsible for all Blue Engines engineering skills in design and development from engine components to the integrated systems and technical processes definition from concept through flight. She leads a team of more than 300 engineers.
Matsutomi has been with Blue Origin since 2010, spending her early years developing the BE-3 main injector that has flown on all New Shepard missions. As a Propulsion Engineer, she supported subscale injector development testing at West Texas launch site and full scale thrust chamber assembly testing at the NASA Stennis Space Center.
Later, she focused on injector and combustion stability verification through full-scale integrated engine development testing, culminating in a successful engine acceptance test program.
After multiple New Shepard missions, Matsutomi transitioned in 2015 to a lead role establishing technical standards, improving processes and advancing analysis tools for injector and combustor development across all Blue Engines. The responsibilities later expanded to cover all engineering aspects for all engine products. In 2016, she was appointed as Injector Lead, and in 2018, she was appointed as Director for Combustion Devices for Blue Engines. She was appointed to her current position in 2019.
She represented the Blue Origin team that won the 2016 Collier Award for the first New Shepard flight.
Matsutomi received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University.
Class of 2020 OAE feature series: Yen Matsutomi
Class of 2020 OAE feature series: Bond built at Purdue