Michael L. Littman

{{short description|American computer scientist (born 1966)}} {{more footnotes|date=August 2018}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Michael L. Littman | image = Michael L. Littman 2023 (cropped).png | caption = Littman in 2023 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1966|8|30|mf=y}} | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | death_date = | death_place = | residence = | field = Computer Science | work_institution = Brown University Rutgers University Georgia Institute of Technology AT&T Duke University National Science Foundation | alma_mater = Brown University Yale University | doctoral_advisor = Leslie P. Kaelbling | thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/304239223/ | thesis_title = Algorithms for sequential decision-making | thesis_year = 1996 | awards = AAAI Fellow ACM Fellow<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.acm.org/media-center/2018/december/fellows-2018 | title=2018 ACM Fellows Honored for Pivotal Achievements that Underpin the Digital Age }}</ref> | website = {{URL|https://cs.brown.edu/~mlittman/}} }}

'''Michael Lederman Littman''' (born August 30, 1966) 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Michael Littman {{!}} College of Computing|url=https://www.cc.gatech.edu/people/michael-littman|access-date=2020-08-19|website=www.cc.gatech.edu}}</ref> Littman served as the Division Director for Information and Intelligent Systems (the AI division) at the National Science Foundation from 2022-2025.<ref>{{cite web|title=Michael Littman {{!}} NSF Division Director|url=https://www.nsf.gov/staff/staff_bio.jsp?from_org=IIS&lan=mlittman&org=IIS}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|title= Michael Littman Appointed as Brown's Inaugural Associate Provost for Artificial Intelligence|url= https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/provost/communications/michael-littman-appointed-brown’s-inaugural-associate-provost-artificial-intelligence}}</ref>

== 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.<ref>{{citation|url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262546393/code-to-joy/|title=Code to Joy|date=3 October 2023 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-54639-3 }}</ref>

== Leadership and Service ==

Littman has chaired the panel for The One Hundred‑Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100) 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.

== Personal Notes ==

* Littman is also known for his playful approach to communication. He has produced multiple education and parody videos (for example a machine-learning version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller with his oft-collaborator Charles Lee Isbell, Jr.) as part of his teaching outreach.<ref>{{cite web|title= Michael Littman Receives The AAAI/EAAI Patrick Henry Winston Outstanding Educator Award|date= 21 December 2023|url= https://cs.brown.edu/news/2023/11/16/michael-littman-co-winner-aaaieaai-outstanding-educator-award/}}</ref>

* Among his hobbies, he has been noted riding an electric unicycle to his office at the NSF.

== Awards == * Elected as an ACM Fellow in 2018 for "contributions to the design and analysis of sequential decision-making algorithms in artificial intelligence".<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.acm.org/media-center/2018/december/fellows-2018|title=2018 ACM Fellows Honored for Pivotal Achievements that Underpin the Digital Age|publisher=Association for Computing Machinery|date=December 5, 2018}}</ref> * Winner of the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160325083640/http://aamas2014.lip6.fr/proceedings/forms/awards.htm#2 IFAAMAS Influential Paper Award] (2014) * * Winner of the AAAI “Shakey” Award for [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQWI1kvmwRg Overfitting: Machine Learning Music Video] (2014) * * Elected as a AAAI Fellow in 2010 for "significant contributions to the fields of reinforcement learning, decision making under uncertainty, and statistical language applications".<ref>{{citation|url=https://aaai.org/about-aaai/aaai-awards/the-aaai-fellows-program/elected-aaai-fellows/|title=AAAI Fellows|publisher=Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence}}</ref> * * Winner of the AAAI “[http://www.aaai.org/Conferences/AAAI/2007/aaai07videos.php Shakey]” Award for Short Video for [http://videolectures.net/aaai07_littman_ai/ Aibo Ingenuity] (2007) * * Winner of the [http://news.rutgers.edu/issue.2011-04-28.9773704632/article.2011-05-09.8221511139#.WKMy33eZOu5 Warren I. Susman Award for Excellence in Teaching] at Rutgers (2011) * * Winner of the [https://trinity.duke.edu/faculty/award-winners Robert B. Cox Award] at Duke (1999) * * Winner of the [http://www.aaai.org/Awards/paper.php AAAI Outstanding Paper Award] (1999)

==References== {{reflist|1}}

== Bibliography == * {{cite conference | last1 = Littman | first1 = Michael L. | author-link1 = Michael L. Littman | first2=Richard S. |last2=Sutton | author-link2 = Richard S. Sutton | first3=Satinder |last3=Singh | title = Predictive Representations of State | book-title = Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 14 (NIPS) | pages = 1555–1561 | year = 2002 | url = http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~baveja/Papers/psr.pdf }} * {{cite conference |last1=Littman |first1=Michael L. |author-link1=Michael L. Littman |first2=Greg A. |last2=Keim |first3=Noam M. |last3=Shazeer |author-link3=Noam M. Shazeer |title=Solving crosswords with PROVERB |book-title=Proceedings of the Sixteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) |year=1999 |pages=914–915 |publisher=American Association for Artificial Intelligence |url=http://www.cs.duke.edu/research/AI/PAPERS/1999/aaai99-demo.ps |conference=}} *{{cite journal |last1 = Kaelbling |first1 = Leslie P. |author-link1 = Leslie P. Kaelbling |first2 = Michael L. |last2=Littman | author-link2 = Michael L. Littman |first3 = Andrew W. |last3=Moore |author-link3 = Andrew W. Moore |title = Reinforcement Learning: A Survey |journal = Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research |volume = 4 |pages = 237–285 |year = 1996 |doi = 10.1613/jair.301 |doi-access= free }} * {{cite conference | last = Littman | first = Michael L. | author-link = Michael L. Littman | title = Markov Games as a Framework for Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning | book-title = International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) | pages = 157–163 | year = 1994 | url =http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~mlittman/papers/ml94-final.ps}}

== External links == *{{MathGenealogy |id=91913 }} * [https://cs.brown.edu/~mlittman/ Michael Littman's Homepage] * [https://www.youtube.com/mlittman YouTube page] * [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrpsa0hmc1hxDIJZnB0umnmCvofPGj6IA Music Videos]

=== Press references === * [http://www.science20.com/news_articles/smart_home_programming_ifthen_statements_make_a_comeback-135118 Smart Home Programming: If-Then Statements Make A Comeback]- Science 2.0 * [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/business/computer-science-for-non-majors-takes-many-forms.html?_r=0%20. Computer Science for the Rest of Us]- New York Times * [http://fortune.com/2015/03/05/forget-the-naysayers-robots-pose-no-threat-to-humanity-these-experts-say/ Many Scientists Dismiss the Fear of Robots]- Fortune * [http://njtechweekly.com/art/1404-celebrating-the-20th-anniversary-of-mime-email-attachments/ Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of MIME Email Attachments]- NJ Tech Weekly * [http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2007/07/25/4350453-humans-beat-poker-bot-barely Humans Beat Poker Bot… Barely] - NBC News * [http://www.crosswordtournament.com/1999/art9.htm Duke Researchers Pit Computer Against Human Crossword Puzzle Players] * [http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/going-cruciverbalistic Going Cruciverbalistic]- American Scientist

=== Udacity Courses === * [https://www.udacity.com/course/intro-to-algorithms--cs215 Intro to Algorithms] * [https://www.udacity.com/course/machine-learning--ud262 Machine Learning] * [https://www.udacity.com/course/reinforcement-learning--ud600 Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Littman, Michael L.}} 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