Kianté Brantley

(He/Him/His)

Assistant Professor
Kempner Institute and SEAS,
Harvard University

150 Western Av., Allston MA 02134

[kdbrantley@g.harvard.edu] [CV]

Research:

I am an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Kempner Institute and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Harvard University. My research focuses on problems at the intersection of machine learning and sequential decision-making, with the goal of improving the decision-making capabilities of foundation models. This involves studying, building, and improving techniques in reinforcement learning, imitation learning, and natural language processing.

Prospective Lab Members:

I am always seeking candidates with a strong background in applied reinforcement learning, natural language processing, machine learning, and deep learning.
  • Prospective PhD students applying to Harvard, please mention my name in your research statement if you are interested in working with me, and also complete this form.
  • Admitted Harvard PhD students, if you would like to join my group, please email me your CV along with a brief overview of your research interests.
  • Prospective postdoctoral researchers, please email me your CV along with a brief overview of your research interests, and also complete this form.

Recent Publications:

Peng, Nianli and Gordon, Geoffrey J. and Brantley, Kianté
Preprint, 2026
[Paper]
Fan, Jingxuan and Li, Yueying and Qi, Zhenting and Zhang, Dinghuai and Brantley, Kiant'e and Kakade, Sham M and Zhang, Hanlin
Preprint, 2026
[Paper]
Ritter, Daniel and Oertell, Owen and Guo, Bradley and Chang, Jonathan and Brantley, Kiant'e and Sun, Wen
Preprint, 2026
[Paper]
Brantley, Kianté and Chen, Mingyu and Gao, Zhaolin and Lee, Jason and Sun, Wen and Zhan, Wenhao and Zhang, Xuezhou
Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), 2025
[Paper]

Recent Talks:

IMSI Frontiers in Online Reinforcement Learning, 2026
Mid-Atlantic Student Colloquium on AI, Language and Learning, 2026
Power & AI Initiative Research Summit, 2026
University of Maryland, College Park, 2026