The Atlanta University Center Consortium welcomes Ayanna Howard, Ph.D., to the Council of Presidents. Dr. Howard has built a career teaching machines to navigate unfamiliar terrain. As Spelman College’s 12th president, she will help a new generation of Black women chart bold paths of their own.
The renowned roboticist, entrepreneur and higher education leader assumed office Aug. 1, 2026. Appointed by the Spelman College Board of Trustees, Howard brings a record of advancing innovation, expanding access to STEM education and preparing students to lead in a rapidly changing world.
Howard joins Spelman from The Ohio State University, where she served as dean of the College of Engineering and held the Monte Ahuja Endowed Dean’s Chair. Her career spans higher education, industry, entrepreneurship and government, including influential roles at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Born Jan. 24, 1972, in Providence, Rhode Island, Howard graduated from John Muir High School in Pasadena, California. She earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Brown University in 1993, followed by master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering from the University of Southern California in 1994 and 1999. Her dissertation, “Recursive Learning for Deformable Object Manipulation,” signaled the direction of a career dedicated to robotics, artificial intelligence and human-centered technology.
While studying at USC, Howard launched her professional career at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She remained there until 2005, advancing through roles as a computer scientist, information systems engineer, robotics researcher and senior robotics researcher.
After earning an M.B.A. from Claremont Graduate University in 2005, Howard joined Georgia Tech as an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. There, she founded the Human-Automation Systems Lab, where her research focused on strengthening robot autonomy.
Her work has reached some of the planet’s most remote terrain. In 2008, Howard’s SnoMote robots gained international recognition for helping researchers study climate change on Antarctic ice shelves—an innovation that demonstrated how intelligent machines could extend human reach and deepen scientific understanding.
Howard has published more than 100 academic papers and earned numerous honors, including the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s 2001 Lew Allen Award for Excellence in Research, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ 2005 Early Career Award in Robotics and Automation, and the National Society of Black Engineers’ 2009 Janice Lampkin Educator Award.
At Spelman, Howard’s appointment brings together a pioneering scientist and an institution known for producing trailblazers. Her next frontier is not simply technological advancement, but expanding who gets to imagine, design and lead the future.
