Ayanna Howard is the Dean of Engineering at the Ohio State University College, looking after 10,000 students and nearly 1000 faculty, research scientist and staff members. Taking one look at Ayanna Howard’s stellar resume it would come as no surprise that she was listed as one of the Top 50 U.S Women in Tech by Forbes. A Fellow at the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, she has led people across her roles in academia, government, and technology startups. Expanding the platforms through which she educates people, Ayanna is now available to hire as a speaker. At events she talks about the power of AI in the pandemic, how to prepare students for the AI economy and the future of work in the age of AI, amongst other things.
At the onset of her career, Ayanna served as the Senior Robotics Researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A Member of the Board of Directors at Motorola Solutions and Autodesk today, she Co-Founded Zyrobotics LLC in 2013 and serves as one of its Board Members. The educational technology company is working towards STEM learning accessibility for children everywhere and has won several awards such as the Best Educational App award at the 2017 Summer Awards. Ayanna has also been a Visiting Research Scientist for Microsoft and is a member of National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee.
Highly qualified herself, having received a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering at Brown University, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California, an MBA from Drucker School of Management, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering/Robotics/Computer Science from USC, she is a passionate educator. She forged a longstanding relationship with the Georgia Institute of Technology one of the nation’s leading schools that is focused on solving real-world challenges through computational capabilities. Combining her love for robotics and education, she has been an Adjunct Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology since 2005. Assuming roles with more room to exercise strategic leadership, she served as the Associate Chair of Research for the Georgia Tech Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Machines, Chair of the School of Interactive Computing, and Chair of the Ph.D. program in Robotics for the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Recognised as one of the Most Powerful Women Engineers by Business Insider, Ayanna is unquestionably a frontrunner in the world of AI and Robotics. Her TEDx Talk “Should We Trust Robots, and Should They Trust Us” discusses how trust and bias must be looked at more carefully now that robots are more intertwined in day-to-day human activities. Ayanna is also the author of “Sex, Race, and Robot – How to Be Human in the Age of AI” and the host of the "Enginuity" podcast. Incredibly knowledgeable, Ayanna’s expertise is bound to inspire her audience to learn more about topics like AI, and robotics, and how they affect our daily lives. Go ahead and hire Ayanna Howard as a speaker for your next event!
