New Product Development: From Idea to Launch

Ayanna Howard
Dean of the College of Engineering and Monte Ahuja Endowed Dean’s Chair, The Ohio State University

New Product Development: From Idea to Launch

Ayanna Howard is the dean of engineering at The Ohio State University and Monte Ahuja Endowed Dean’s Chair. Previously, she was the Linda J. and Mark C. Smith Endowed Chair in Bioengineering and Chair of the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Howard’s research encompasses advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), assistive technologies and robotics, and has resulted in over 275 peer-reviewed publications. Her current work ranges from healthcare robots to developing methods to mitigate bias and trust in AI. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, , the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). She was also recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Howard’s accomplishments have been highlighted through a number of other public recognitions, including being recognized as one of the 23 most powerful women engineers in the world by Business Insider and one of the Top 50 U.S. Women in Tech by Forbes. In 2013, she  founded Zyrobotics, which developed STEM educational products to engage children of diverse abilities. Prior to Georgia Tech, Howard was at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the senior robotics researcher and deputy manager in the Office of the Chief Scientist. She also served on the National Academies’ Committee on Responsible Computing Research: Ethics and Governance of Computing Research and its Applications. She currently serves on the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee  and the standing committee of the One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence.