Howard’s research group specializes in interferometric radar remote sensing applications and technique development, as applied to studies of the Earth and solar system. Originally a microwave engineer, he built support equipment for the SEASAT satellite synthetic aperture radar and designed airborne radar systems. He later developed imaging radar polarimetry, a technique for measurement of the radar scattering matrix of a surface.
He is a Fellow of the AGU, IEEE, and Electromagnetics Academy. He has served on a number of National Academy panels, mostly for the Space Studies Board, plus the Naval Studies Board Advanced Radar Technology Panel. He holds a joint appointment with the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford, where he serves as Associate Chair for admissions.