Ayanna Howard, PhD, is an American roboticist, entrepreneur, and educator. Inspired by the TV show “The Bionic Woman,” at age 11, Ayanna decided that she wanted to create artificial limbs for people and realized as an engineer, she could do exactly that. She has worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she was involved in developing SmartNav, an autonomous, next-generation Mars rover, and SnoMote robots, designed to study the impact of global warming on the Antarctic ice shelves. She is the Chief Technology Officer for Zyrobotics, a company she founded that develops mobile therapy and educational products for children with differing needs. In March 2021, she became the first woman appointed dean of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University.
Ayanna Howard, PhD
Engineering