Lo received his Bachelor of Science in mathematics in 1975 from the
California Institute of Technology and his PhD in mathematics in 1980 from
Cornell University under the supervision of
Richard S. Hamilton and George Roger Livesay. He has been a research scientist in the Navigation and Mission Design Section at the JPL since 1986. In 2000, Lo,
Kathleen Howell, and other scientists from the JPL developed the LTool program to calculate paths near Lagrange points (ITN paths). Compared with previous methods, LTool is capable of predicting orbits up to 50 times faster. They used this tool to calculate the trajectory for the
Genesis mission (2001, NASA) trajectory, which took days rather than 8 weeks. The trajectory makes use of gravitational tugs of objects in the way of the spacecraft, ensuring minimal fuel use on the return journey. They called this trajectory the
Interplanetary Superhighway. He also designed the trajectory for
SpaceDev's SmallTug. LTool was nominated for the Discover Innovation Award. He is the leader of the Lagrange Group, which is an interdisciplinary and international group of researchers and STEM experts from universities,
NASA centers, and industry. Their focus is on developing nonlinear astrodynamics techniques with applications to space missions and dynamical astronomy. Lo appeared in
Werner Herzog's film
The Wild Blue Yonder in 2005. ==Awards and recognition==