Geordan Gutow

Biography

Dr. Gutow joined Michigan Tech in Fall 2025. His research focuses on developing uncertainty-aware optimization-based planners, estimators, and controllers that allow robots to reason about the properties and capabilities of their embodiments. A particular area of emphasis is space robotics, especially for in-space servicing and logistics. This leads to formulating large and challenging optimization problems, which must then be solved on poorly performing space-grade computers. Such problems are made tractable by finding ways to exploit structure in the underlying mathematics, particularly precomputation, parallelism, upper and lower bounds, and convexity. He is currently recruiting students at all levels; the key qualification is a willingness to learn. If you are interested, please reach out!

For prospective graduate students, please include in your email why you reached out specifically to me (i.e. how my research fits your interests) and provide enough information about your background that I can assess if you would be a potentially good fit. A resume is required; a full CV is preferred and a statement of purpose is also highly encouraged. Clearly articulate what you did in the projects you highlight. What was your contribution, and how did what you worked on teach you things that apply more broadly? Clarify how my focus areas are suitable for someone with your skills and interests.