Kennel (born 1939) is an American scientist and member of the United States National Academy of Sciences born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Kennel received a bachelor's degree in astronomy from Harvard College and a doctorate in astrophysical sciences from Princeton University.
In 1997 he received the James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics.
In 2009, he was advertised by NASA Watch as a potential pick by Barack Obama as the next NASA Administrator.