Rate My Professor Carly Howett

Dr Carly Howett is Associate Professor of Space Instrumentation in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford, within the sub-department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics. She joined the university in July 2020, holding a concurrent Tutorial Fellowship at St Edmund Hall. Her research focuses on the surface properties of icy worlds in the outer solar system, including Saturn’s icy moons, Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids, Europa, and Kuiper Belt Objects such as Pluto and Charon. Dr Howett’s work emphasises the development of new instrumentation, missions, and ground-based observations to explore the solar system.

Prior to her appointment at Oxford, Dr Howett served as Assistant Director of the Department of Space Studies at the Southwest Research Institute in the United States. She holds key roles on multiple NASA missions, including Deputy Principal Investigator of the Ralph Instrument on New Horizons, Instrument Scientist on the Lucy mission, and Co-Investigator on the Cassini and Europa Clipper missions. She is also Deputy Principal Investigator of the Trident mission concept to explore Neptune’s moon Triton and Principal Investigator of a NASA-funded Planetary Mission Concept Study examining the feasibility of returning to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Her contributions include planning observations, instrument calibration and data analysis on New Horizons and Cassini, as well as involvement in instrument design for upcoming missions. Dr Howett maintains an active research profile through publications on planetary science topics and participates in outreach activities to promote science.