Ayanna MacCalla Howard (born January 24, 1972) is an American roboticist, entrepreneur and educator currently serving as the dean of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University.

From 1993 to 2005, she worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory[6] where she held multiple roles including senior robotics researcher and deputy manager in the Office of the Chief Scientist.

[3] In 2008, she received worldwide attention for her SnoMote robots, designed to study the impact of global warming on the Antarctic ice shelves.

[9] She is a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

[9] In a 2020 interview on Marketplace, Howard outlined the ways in which companion robots would fill the gap left by social distancing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

[10] On November 30, 2020, the Columbus Dispatch reported Howard has been named the next dean of the College of Engineering at Ohio State University, to begin March 1, pending approval by the board of trustees.