Brett D Lapin PHD

soon, at home surrounded by his family after a rapid progression of cancer he had fought for

years. Brett leaves behind his loving wife, Amy Jenkins Lapin, and devastated parents, Jerome

and Regina Lapin. His loss is also sadly mourned by his sons Ryan and Matt Bayes, daughter

Sarah Bayes, daughters-in-law Samantha Seip-Bayes and Karen Goss, grandchildren Devica,

Hunter, and Elias Bayes, and his loving brother and sister-in-law, Craig and Anne Lapin, niece

Sarah Lapin Scrimgeour, and nephew, Ian Lapin. As well as his friends and colleagues, his

ever-faithful dog, Pearl, will surely miss him terribly.

Brett was born on August 24, 1960 in Los Angeles. In 1966 he emigrated with his family to

Sydney, Australia, graduating high school from the Scots College. He went to university at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, going on then to the Georgia Institute of Technology to

earn a PhD in electrical engineering – from then on he was Dr. Brett Lapin.

Since 1997 Brett worked at the prestigious Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics

Laboratory (JHUAPL) in many capacities, and in 2009 was promoted to the level of Principal

Scientist from a very competitive field of nominees. His work involved data analytics, data

fusion, machine learning, pattern analysis and anomaly detection, and unmanned autonomous

systems . He published many articles and was awarded two patents for his work. One of his

patents was inspired by the DC sniper attacks in 2002 and was licensed to Shot Spotter

( https://www.shotspotter.com/ ), a gunshot detection and location technology. He also started a

cancer support group at JHUAPL. Brett was a member of the winning team in the 1992

International Aerial Robotics Competition.

Brett was passionate about teaching, which he started as a graduate student and continued

throughout his life. Even at the end, as he was fighting cancer, he continued to teach robotics in

the Johns Hopkins University’s Engineering for Professionals program. Brett also was a mentor

for multiple high school FIRST Robotics teams dedicating months every year preparing and

coaching them to meet the challenge of building industrial-size robots to play difficult field

games in alliance with other teams. Through teaching and mentorship he touched many lives.

Although he challenged his students, they always appreciated his dedication and enjoyed his

teaching style.

Brett loved living in Australia. He enjoyed going out on the boat, fishing, skiing black

diamonds, and heading off to Nielsen Beach. He would ride his bike all over the neighborhood.

His four years in Boston at MIT were some of his best ever. He loved being a Burton Third

Floor Bomber and made lifelong friends.

With Amy he became content with life, finally finding his love and own family. He was deeply

committed to their children and grandchildren. They will always remember and appreciate,

though they did not always at the time, Brett’s math games and logic challenges. Brett and Amy

were part of a trivia team and spent many evenings testing their knowledge of obscure things.

Brett loved fishing, cruising, and was obsessively serious about playing cards and Cape Hatteras

was one of his favorite places. He also could eat more than his body weight (which was

considerable!) of any food, although he was strangely particularly fond of fruit (LOL). Most of

all he loved to hang out with family and friends, whether at home in Maryland or with his mom

and dad in Colorado or Connecticut. He was at heart a loving and loyal family man and friend.

The family will be holding a memorial service some time in the future when COVID will allow.

If you would like to leave a message, story, or pictures, there is a Caring Bridge site set up at

https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/brettlapin In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Brett D.

Lapin Memorial Scholarship Fund at https://bit.ly/BrettLapinFund which will provide

scholarships to deserving high school students in the field of robotics or related science.