Michael Littman

Michael L. Littman is a University Professor of Computer Science at Brown University, specializing in machine learning and decision-making under uncertainty. He previously served at Rutgers University as department chair. His research focuses on reinforcement learning, probabilistic planning, and algorithms for uncertainty management. Littman holds a PhD from Brown University (1996) and degrees from Yale University (BS and MS, 1988). He has received multiple awards, including the Warren I. Susman Award for Teaching and induction into AAAI and ACM Fellowships. His work includes contributions to POMDPs, reinforcement learning frameworks, and applications in robotics and human-AI interaction.

Education:

• PhD in Computer Science, Brown University, 1996
• BS & MS in Computer Science, Yale University, 1988

Research emphasizes reinforcement learning, algorithmic decision-making, and applications in smart systems. Notable contributions include the Proverb crossword solver and foundational work on partially observable Markov decision processes. He has served as program chair for ICML and co-founded Oneacross.com. Teaching includes courses on machine learning and discrete structures.

Awards:

• Classic Paper Award (AAAI-13)
• Fellow of AAAI and ACM
• Best Paper Awards (ICML, UAI, IJCAI)

Collaborations include roles as adjunct professor at Rutgers and Georgia Tech, and affiliations with robotics initiatives at Brown. Current work explores human-AI interaction and end-user programming via reinforcement learning.