Michael L. Littman


Michael Lederman Littman is a computer scientist, researcher, educator, and author. His research interests focus on reinforcement learning. He is currently a University Professor of Computer Science at Brown University, where he has taught since 2012. As of July 2025, he is also the university’s inaugural Associate Provost for Artificial Intelligence.

Career

Before graduate school, Littman worked with Thomas Landauer at Bellcore and was granted a patent for one of the earliest systems for cross-language information retrieval. Littman received his Ph.D. in computer science from Brown University in 1996. From 1996 to 1999, he was a professor at Duke University. During his time at Duke, he worked on an automated crossword solver PROVERB, which won an Outstanding Paper Award in 1999 from AAAI and competed in the American [Crossword Puzzle Tournament]. From 2000 to 2002, he worked at AT&T. From 2002 to 2012, he was a professor at Rutgers University; he chaired the department from 2009-12. In Summer 2012 he returned to Brown University as a full professor. He has also taught at Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was listed as an adjunct professor. Littman served as the Division Director for Information and Intelligent Systems at the National Science Foundation from 2022-2025. After serving a term, he returned to Brown University as their first Associate Provost for Artificial Intelligence where he coordinates the intersection of AI with research, teaching, operations, policy, and communication at the university level.

Research

Littman's research interests are varied but have focused mostly on reinforcement learning and related fields, particularly, in machine learning more generally, game theory, computer networking, partially observable Markov decision process solving, computer solving of analogy problems and other areas. He is also interested in computing education more broadly and has authored a book on programming for everyone.

Leadership and Service

Littman has chaired the panel for The One Hundred‑Year Study on Artificial Intelligence 2021 Report and will chair the standing committee for the 2026 report. During his time at the National Science Foundation, he co-led the development of the 2023 National Strategic Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Strategic Plan.

Awards

  • Elected as an ACM Fellow in 2018 for "contributions to the design and analysis of sequential decision-making algorithms in artificial intelligence".
  • Winner of the
  • Winner of the AAAI “Shakey” Award for
  • Elected as a AAAI Fellow in 2010 for "significant contributions to the fields of reinforcement learning, decision making under uncertainty, and statistical language applications".
  • Winner of the AAAI “” Award for Short Video for
  • Winner of the at Rutgers
  • Winner of the at Duke
  • Winner of the

    Press references

  • - Science 2.0
  • - New York Times
  • - Fortune
  • - NJ Tech Weekly
  • - NBC News
  • - American Scientist

    Udacity Courses

Category:Living people
Category:American computer scientists
Category:Machine learning researchers
Category:Brown University alumni
Category:Duke University faculty
Category:Rutgers University faculty
Category:Brown University faculty
Category:1966 births
Category:Fellows of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence
Category:Fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery
Category:Yale University alumni