Research Medal Award Winner

Andrew Howard
Astronomy

Andrew Howard is an assistant astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.

He has discovered dozens of planets orbiting stars other than the Sun in our Milky Way galaxy. Using telescopes in Hawai‘i and in space, he explores the chemical compositions, formation histories and diversity of these extrasolar planets.

Howard’s research team was the first to show that an Earth-size extrasolar planet is made of rock and iron like Earth, and that temperate, Earth-size planets are common in our galaxy. The latter study was recognized by the 2013 Cozzarelli Prize for the top paper in the physical and natural sciences in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He is enabling future discoveries by developing the next generation of planet-finding instruments for telescopes on Mauna Kea.