Alan Papalia
Assistant Professor at Northeastern University
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Summary
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Senior🎓
Top SchoolAlan Papalia is an Assistant Professor and robotics researcher with a decade of hands-on experience spanning marine robotics, robotic perception, and cloud manufacturing. He holds a PhD-level research background from MIT and WHOI in ocean engineering and marine robotics, and has transitioned from graduate research to postdoctoral work and a faculty role at the University of Michigan. Alan blends software proficiency (C/C++/Python) and computer vision expertise with practical mechanical and manufacturing skills—CAD, FEA, topology optimization, welding and machining—enabling end-to-end robotic system development. He has led integration efforts in industry as a Lead Roboticist and contributed to wide-scale digital manufacturing and actuator prototyping during his undergraduate research. Known for tackling multidisciplinary challenges, he pairs navigation and environmental sensing for ocean applications with scalable cloud-enabled tooling. Beyond academia, his Formula SAE leadership and shop-floor experience hint at a pragmatic, systems-oriented approach to research and engineering.
10 years of coding experience
8 years of employment as a software developer
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Marine Robotics, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Marine Robotics at Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionDoctor of Philosophy - PhD, Ocean Engineering, Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Ocean Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Stackoverflow
11reputation
62reached
0answers
1question
Github Skills (24)
ios10
robotics10
uwb10
java10
localization10
android10
scanning10
slam10
ros10
algorithm7
graph7
python7
cpp6
drake6
matlab6
Programming languages (8)
Github contributions (5)
MarineRoboticsGroup/cora
Dec 2023 - Mar 2026
The official implementation of the "Certifiably Correct Range-Aided SLAM" algorithm. Implemented in performant C++
Contributions:8 PRs, 49 pushes, 22 branches in 2 years 2 months
cppcertifiable-perceptionuwbcplusplus
MarineRoboticsGroup/score
Dec 2021 - Nov 2022
Official implementation of "SCORE: Second Order Conic Initialization for RA-SLAM"
Contributions:1 review, 31 commits, 5 PRs in 11 months
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