Principals

Dr. Michael Benjamin, mikerb at mit.edu (MechE/Pavlab), (papers), LinkedIn
PhD 2002 Brown Univ, 2002-2005 Postdoc MIT
617-324-7507 (Pavilion Land Line)
Dr. Supun Randeni, Supun at mit.edu (Sea Grant), (papers), LinkedIn
PhD 2018, Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania
Projects: Morpheus, Perseus, Sea Train, Sea Beaver III AUV

Affiliated Faculty

Prof. Michael Triantafyllou, mistetri at mit.edu
Director, MIT Sea Grant College Program (Sea Grant) , (papers)
Prof. John Leonard, jleonard at mit.edu
Director, Marine Robotics Group (MRG), (papers), LinkedIn
Prof. Henrik Schmidt, henrik at mit.edu
Director, Laboratory for Autonomous Marine Sensing Systems (LAMSS), (papers)

Research Scientists

Mike DeFilippo, mikedef at mit.edu (Sea Grant)(papers), LinkedIn
MSc 2022 Brandeis University.
Projects: Remote Explorer, Multi-Arch Autonomy, RoboWhaler, DARPA LINC
Captain Mike Sacarny, msacarny at mit.edu (Sea Grant), (papers), LinkedIn
BSEE, M.Eng.EE, Electrical Engeering, 1972-1977, Cornell University.
Projects: Remote Explorer, Charting the Charles, Prodromos, RoboWhaler, Sea Beaver, Autonomous Fish Tracking
Tyler Paine, tpaine at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/WHOI JP), (papers), LinkedIn
Ms 2018, Johns Hopkins. PhD June 2025, MIT.
Projects: MIT 2.680 Head TA, PBACS, Sea Beaver, Geometric Stochastic Ray Tracing, USV Model Estimation
Conlan Cesar, conlanc at csail.mit.edu (UMass-Amherst) (papers), LinkedIn
BS 2023, UMass Amherst.
2017-Present, Research Collaborator and Consultant
Projects: Aquaticus, MIT 2.680 TA, Multi-Arch Autonomy

Current Graduate Students

Ray Turrisi, 2022-Present, rturrisi at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/WHOI JP), LinkedIn
B.S. 2022, University of Rhode Island.
Projects: Spurdog AUV, Blueboat Autonomy
Jeremy Wenger, 2024-Present, jwenger at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/WHOI JP), LinkedIn
B.S. 2024, Olin College.
Projects: BlueBoat Autonomy
Karan Mahesh, 2025-Present, karanmah at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/WHOI JP), LinkedIn
B.S. 2022, UC-Berkeley.
LT Stephen Bruno, 2025-Present, bruno752 at mit.edu (MIT-MechE), LinkedIn
B.S. 2019, US Coast Guard Academy, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.
LT Tom Monaghan , 2025-Present, thoma904 at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/2N), LinkedIn
B.S. May 2018, US Naval Academy
LT Alyssa Hargis , 2025-Present, akhargis at mit.edu (MIT-MechE), LinkedIn
B.S. 2025, US Air Force Academy.

Current Undergrad Students

Sam Huang, haojing at mit.edu (MIT-MechE, Class of 2026), LinkedIn
Projects: HydroLink
Mentor: Ray Turrisi
Ethan Phan, ethan at mit.edu (MIT-MechE Course 2, Class of 2028), LinkedIn
Projects: Solar Blueboat
Mentor: Ray Turrisi
Seth Robles, sirobles at mit.edu (MIT Course 2A-6, Class of 2027), LinkedIn
Projects: Mechanical-Scanning Sonar-Based SLAM for Blueboat USVs and Spurdog AUVs.
Mentor: Ray Turrisi
Guy Gong, guygong3 at mit.edu (MIT Course 2A-6, Class of 2028), LinkedIn
Projects: Cyano USV
Mentor: Dr. Supun Randeni
Eshing Ji, eshingji at mit.edu (Class of 2028), LinkedIn
Project: Buoyancy Engine for the Sea Beaver III AUV
Mentor: Dr. Supun Randeni
Conrad Straden, cstraden at mit.edu (MIT-MechE Course 2, Class of 2028), LinkedIn
Project: Integrated Communication System between AUVs and USVs
Mentor: Ray Turrisi

Post-Doc and Research Staff Lab Alumni

Dr. Michael Novtizky, PhD 2015, Georgia Tech (MechE/Pavlab), (papers)
As of 2021, Professor, United States Military Academy at West Point
Projects: Aquaticus, COLREGS, MIT 2.680 TA
Dr. Paul Robinette, PhD 2015 GTRI (MechE-Pavlab/SeaGrant), (papers)
As of 2021, Professor, UMass Lowell
Projects: Aquaticus, MIT 2.680 TA
Dr. Mohamed Saad IBN SEDDIK, (MechE-Pavlab), LinkedIn
PhD 2015 ENSTA Bretagne, Post-doc 2016-2017 MIT Pavlab
As of 2021, President of blkSAIL
Projects: Aquaticus, MIT 2.680 TA
Alon Yaari (MechE-Pavlab/AUV Lab), (papers)
As of 2021, Senior Roboticist at Neya Systems
Projects: Aquaticus, RobotX-2014, MIT 2.680 TA
Caileigh Fitzgerald (MechE-Pavlab), (papers)
As of 2021, Engineer II, Applied Ocean Physics & Engineering at WHOI
Projects: Aquaticus, MIT 2.680 TA
Hugh Dougherty (MechE-Pavlab), (papers)
As of 2021, Grad school, Virginia Tech, Ocean Engineering
Projects: Aquaticus

Grad Student Lab Alumni

Tyler Paine, tpaine at mit.edu, (MIT/WHOI Joint Program), (papers), LinkedIn
PhD June 2025, MIT.
As of September 2025, MIT Marine Autonomy Lab.
Filip Traasdahl Stromstad, filipts at mit.edu (MIT-MechE), LinkedIn
BS 2023, NTNU, Norway. Msc June 2025, MIT.
Projects: Swarm Autonomy
Matthew Ahlers, ahlers at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/Naval Architecture)
Msc June 2025, MIT.
Projects: Autonomous Sailing
Steve Nomeny, scnomeny at mit.edu (NTNU), LinkedIn
MSc July 2025, MIT/NTNU.
Projects: Skywalker
Kevin Becker, kevin00 at mit.edu (MIT-MechE)
MSc MIT June 2024, Development of a Distributed Simulation Cluster for MOOS-IvP
As of September 2025, HavocAI
Mikala Molina, 2022-Present, mnmolina at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/2N)
BS 2017, USNA, MSc MIT June 2024.
As of October 2024, US Navy
Jason Bradley Webb, 2023-Present, webbj at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/2N)
BS 2013, Dallas Baptist University, MSc MIT June 2024.
As of October 2024, US Navy
Blake Cole, blerk at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/WHOI Joint Program), (papers)
PhD MIT June 2024, Wingsail Design Methodology and Performance Evaluation Metrics for Autonomous Sailing
As of September 2025, Greenroom Robotics, Australia
Eric Young, younge at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/2N)
BS 2016, USNA. MSc 2023. Rapidly Estimating Swarm Resource Needs Through Autonomous Simulation
As of June 2023, US Navy
Nicholas Craig Evans, ncevans at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/WHOI Joint Program)
MSc MIT August, 2022
As of October 2024, GD-APS
Nick Gershfeld, 2020-2022, gersni at mit.edu (MIT-MechE)
MSc MIT June, 2022, Adaptive Collaborative Channel Finding Approaches for Autonomous Marine Vehicles
As of September 2022, Amazon Robotics
Oscar A. Viquez Rojas, oviquezr at mit.edu (MechE/LAMSS), (papers)
Tracking an Acoustic Source using a UUV, MIT 2.680 Head TA
As of June 2022, Saildrone
John Li, (MIT-MechE/WHOI Joint Program)
MSc August, 2020, A planned approach to high collision risk area
As of 2021, US Navy
Jason Barker, (MIT-MechE/2N Program)
MSc June, 2020, Automated decision making for operations within a Traffic Separation Scheme using MOOS-IvP, As of 2021, US Navy
Brian Stanfield, (MIT-MechE/2N Program)
MSc June, 2020, Incorporating contact management and marine dynamics in decentralized auction bidding for autonomous surface vehicles, As of 2021, US Navy
Greg Nannig, (MIT-MechE/LAMSS)
MSc 2020, Using image processing methods for a radar estimate of marine vehicle odometry
As of 2021, BAE Systems, LinkedIn
Dr. Nick Rypkema, rypkema at mit.edu (MIT-MechE/WHOI Joint Program/LAMSS)
PhD 2019, Underwater & out of sight: towards ubiquity in underwater robotics
As of 2021, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, | LinkedIn
Adam Michael Campbell, (MIT-MechE/2N Program)
MSc 2018, Enabling Tactical Autonomy for Unmanned Surface Vehicles in Defensive Swarm Engagements
As of 2020, US Navy
Joseph William Leavitt, (MIT-MechE/WHOI Joint Program)
MSc 2017, Intent-aware collision avoidance for autonomous marine vehicles
As of 2021, Delorean Power, LLC, LinkedIn
Dr. Kyle Woerner, (MIT-MechE/2N Program), (papers)
PhD 2016, Multi-contact protocol-constrained collision avoidance for autonomous marine vehicles
As of 2021, US Navy, DARPA TTO, LinkedIn
Dr. Erin Fischell, MIT (MIT-MechE/WHOI Joint Program/LAMSS)
PhD 2015, Characterization of underwater target geometry from autonomous underwater vehicle ...
LinkedIn
Jacob Gerlach, MIT (MIT-MechE/2N Program)
MSc June 2015, Autonomous data collection techniques for approximating marine vehicle kinematics
As of 2021, Marine Engineer, Glosten, LinkedIn
Dr. Arthur Douglas Anderson, III, (MIT-MechE/2N Program)
PhD June 2015, The effect of towed array orientation on the 3D acoustic picture for sound sources and ...
As of 2021, US Navy LinkedIn

Undergrad Lab Alumni

Spring Lin, MIT
Summer 2023 Pavlab MIT UROP
Mark Franklin, Cornell University
Summer 2022, Summer 2023, MIT Pavlab intern
Conlan Cesar, conlanc at gmail.com (MechE)
Summer 2017, 2018 Pavlab intern
Projects: Aquaticus
Carter Fendley, carter.fendley at gmail.com (MechE)
Summer 2016, 2017, 2018 Pavlab intern
Projects: Aquaticus
Valerie Hunter, vhunter at mit.edu (MechE)
Summer 2018 Pavlab MIT UROP
Projects: Remote Explorer, RoboChallenge
Heiko Dieter Kabutz, heikok@mit.edu (MRG)
Summer 2018 Pavlab MIT UROP
Projects: Remote Explorer, RoboChallenge
Jonathan Schwartz, jonbs98 at gmail.gwo.edu (MRG)
Summer 2018 Pavlab intern
Projects: Aquaticus
Erik Boesen, me@erikboesen.com (MechE)
Summer 2018 Pavlab intern
Projects: Aquaticus
Margaret Sullivan, msull at mit.edu (Sea Grant)
Summer 2018 Pavlab MIT UROP
Projects: Remote Explorer, RoboChallenge
Isaac Perper, iperper at mit.edu (Sea Grant)
Summer 2018 Pavlab MIT UROP
Projects: Remote Explorer, RoboChallenge
Joseph Doyle, j at random-stuff.org (MechE)
Summer 2018 Pavlab intern
Projects: Aquaticus
Brian Liang (Sea Grant)
Summer 2018 Pavlab intern
Projects: Remote Explorer
Arjun Gupta (MechE), (papers)
Summer 2018 Pavlab MIT UROP
Projects: Aquaticus
Danielle Gleason (MechE), (papers)
Summer 2017 Pavlab MIT UROP
Projects: Aquaticus
Cutter O'Connell (MechE)
Summer 2016 Pavlab MIT UROP
Projects: Aquaticus

Visitors Alumni

Ching-Tang Hung (Underwater Acoustic Lab at National Taiwan University)
LinkedIn
Projects: Autonomous Fish Tracking
Herman Amundsen (Department of Engineering Cybernetics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU))
LinkedIn
Jouko Kinnari (Aalto University (Finland), School of Science and Technology)
LinkedIn