Iowa State University has bestowed its Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor for graduates, to only 206 alumni since 1961.

Kathleen Connor Howell recently was selected to join the prestigious group. 

Howell, who received a bachelor’s in aerospace engineering from Iowa State, is part of a three-member class that initially was to be recognized during a ceremony April 17. Because of COVID-19, the ceremony is being rescheduled, tentatively for the fall.

Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Kathleen Howell

The timing isn’t all that important, though.

The honor in itself says plenty.

With the award, Iowa State, through its Alumni Association, honors alumni who are nationally and/or internationally recognized for preeminent contributions to their professions or life’s work.

Howell, the Hsu Lo Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, is being recognized for pioneering advancements in celestial mechanics and astrodynamics, mentoring a generation of highly regarded researchers and providing distinguished leadership and service to Purdue University.

“I was surprised and very humbled by this honor," Howell said. "My technical roots are at Iowa State University, where I was challenged and encouraged by the excellent faculty to pursue my goals. The learning and growing accomplished during my undergraduate years were also enabled and supported by the institution and the enriching environment. I also have lifelong friends from ISU that have been so important to me along the way. As such a huge part of the journey, I really look forward to engaging with the university in new ways in the future."

One of Purdue’s most accomplished and well-respected professors, Howell has been honored at every level within the University. She’s received the Morrill Award, the highest honor Purdue confers onto a member of its faculty who signifies the spirit of a land-grant university; the Charles B. Murphy Award, the University’s highest undergraduate teaching honor; the A.A. Potter Award for engineering education from the College of Engineering; the College’s Leadership Award; and she’s an eight-time recipient of the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Elmer F. Bruhn Award for outstanding teaching, selected by undergraduate students.

Howell is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Astronautical Society. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Astronautics. 

Howell serves on a variety of advisory councils across the country, including for NASA, and has been editor-in-chief of The Journal of Astronautical Sciences, which is considered the most prestigious journal in astrodynamics, since 1992.

“Kathie’s research has had major impact on a number of NASA and international space flight missions,” wrote her nominator for the Distinguished Alumni Award. “Since arriving at Iowa State as an undergraduate from Cedar Rapids in 1969, Kathie has had a substantial global impact in her chosen profession.”

In addition to her bachelor’s degree from Iowa State, Howell earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University. She joined Purdue as a faculty member in 1982.