Dr. Ayanna Howard

Dr. Ayanna Howard's favorite part about being an engineer is having the flexibility to have revolutionary ideas and then make them a reality. "In other words," she says, "I get to make my dreams become reality." To become an engineer, Dr. Howard worked hard in school. She received her B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Brown University, and her Ph.D. in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence from the University of Southern California. She has been at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 1990. She has a husband and a new baby boy and in her free time she loves to play video games and see action-adventure or science fiction movies. Her advice to students considering a career in engineering? "Learn the math basics and keep your imagination alive, since engineering is about creating new things!"