[1] She went to Stanford University for graduate study in mechanical engineering, working with Mark Cutkosky;[2] she earned a master's degree there in 1996, and completed her Ph.D. in 2000.
She returned to Stanford University as a faculty member in 2011, in part to solve a two-body problem with her husband's academic career.
[2] She served as editor-in-chief of the journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters from 2018 to 2021.
[2] She was named an IEEE Fellow in 2011, "for contributions to the design and control of haptic systems and medical robotics".
[4] In 2020, Okamura received the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Technical Achievement Award "for break-through technological developments in the field of medical robotics, including designing novel haptic feedback to enhance human performance and opening new pathways for soft robotics".