John Lathrop

July 17, 2026
John Lathrop

John Lathrop

  • Grad student in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science
  • Hometown Silver Spring, Maryland
  • Date of this Interview June 15, 2022

What do you research?

Motion planning for aerial and space robots.

Why does space inspire you?

I’m so excited by how much there is there to discover and explore, and I love that my research becomes part of that.

If you could instantly travel to any point in the universe, where would you choose to go?

Onto a planet in the galactic core, where the night skies would be bursting full of nearby stars and nebula.

Where can you be found when you’re not conducting research?

Spending my time outside hiking or running!

What book do you wish you could read for the first time again?

Ender’s Game

Image of the beach shore and some equipment
Collecting thermal images to build a dataset for robotic motion planning, and an excuse to head to the beach!