Portrait of John Pohovey

Hi all, I'm John Pohovey.

I am a PhD candidate with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and Illinois Robotics Group at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). I work in the Human Centered Autonomy Lab, advised by Professor Katie Driggs-Campbell. Before this, I obtained my bachelors degrees in {Computer Engineering; Innovation, Leadership, & Engineering Entrepreneurship} also from UIUC.

Generally, my research interests are in Human-Robot Interaction and Human-AI Interaction for social good. I am particularly interested in path planning, multimodal communication, understanding, and decision-making (e.g., visual language, 3D world), for creating assistive robotic systems for people with disabilities.

News & Updates

  • June 2025
    I am delighted to be awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP)! 🎉
  • April 2025
    I pass the ECE Qualifying Exam and am admitted to PhD candidacy!
  • August 2024
    I conclude my internship with Microsoft, working to design and build a new system architecture for secure gaming.
  • June 2024
    We present our work LIT at CVPR 2024 Workshops in Seattle, WA.
  • June 2024
    LIT selected for a Spotlight Presentation at CVPR 2024 Computer Vision in the Wild Workshop! ⭐
  • May 2024
    One submission accepted at the Workshop on Embodied AI at CVPR 2024, and to the Workshop on Computer Vision in the Wild at CVPR 2024.
  • May 2024
    Starting my internship at Microsoft.
  • May 2024
    I present our work NIRRT* at ICRA 2024 in Yokohama, Japan!
  • March 2024
    I am honored to receive the Henderson Fellowship.
  • January 2024
    One paper accepted to ICRA 2024.
  • August 2023
    I begin grad school!
  • May 2023
    Starting my internship at Microsoft.
  • May 2023
    Graduating with two B.S. degrees and one certificate.
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