Ayanna is a robotics specialist with a master’s and doctoral degree in electrical engineering, robotics, and computer science. Ayanna joined Georgia Tech in 2005 as an associate professor and the creator of the HumAnS lab. While at Georgia Tech, Ayanna has chaired the interdisciplinary robotics Ph.D. program and served as the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines’ assistant research director. In 2017, Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing appointed her chair. Ayanna is also the founder and president of the board of directors of Zyrobotics. This Georgia Tech spin-off develops mobile therapy and educational products for special-needs children. Recently, Ohio State University appointed Ayanna dean of its Engineering College. Ayanna has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the engineering field, academia, and working for unique companies like NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Ayanna has long been considered one of the country’s top female technologists, garnering considerable attention for her work in robotics, including her SnoMote robots deployed in the Antarctic ice shelves to study climate change.
