Alan Papalia

Robotics | SLAM | Climate
Assistant Professor @ University of Michigan

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I am actively recruiting PhD students for the upcoming year. See the information on my Join Us page for how to reach out if you are interested in working with me. I also welcome inquiries from prospective postdocs, and University of Michigan undergrads.

A Bit About Me

I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. I received my PhD in 2025 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program, where I was lucky to work with John Leonard. I then spent a year at Northeastern University with Hanu Singh and Michael Everett on a broad set of topics in robot navigation and perception.

My research develops algorithms and systems that enable robots to explore and monitor challenging environments, with a particular focus on marine and maritime environments. We work on the tools that will allow future robots to autonomously study and understand the natural world.

Brief Personal Bio (for talks, etc.) Alan Papalia is an assistant professor in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering at the University of Michigan, where he runs the Robotic Exploration Lab. He received his PhD in Ocean Engineering from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 2025. His research focuses on algorithms to enable robots to explore, perceive, and map unstructured environments. He particularly focuses on applications in marine robotics and the broader maritime applications. He is a recipient of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics King-Sun Fu Best Paper Award and was selected as a 2025 Robotics: Science and Systems Pioneer.

Honors and Awards

  • 2025 Robotics: Science and Systems Pioneer
  • 2025 Transactions on Robotics King-Sun Fu Best Paper Award
  • MathWorks Fellow
  • Woods Hole Next Wave Fellow
  • Undersea Technology Innovation Scholar

Roadmap for Climate-Relevant Robotics

If you’re interested in the future of robotics and how it can help us understand, mitigate, and adapt to climate change, check out this paper I was lucky to lead with a group of amazing colleagues!

Roadmap for Climate-Relevant Robotics Research.