His research interests include artificial intelligence and machine learning, spanning topics such as sequential decision making, multi-agent learning, multi-armed bandits, and humanoid robotics. Kalyanakrishnan received a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin. Subsequently was a Research Scientist at Yahoo Labs Bangalore and an INSPIRE Faculty Fellow at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His contributions to robot soccer have received two Best Student Paper awards at the annual RoboCup competitions. Kalyanakrishnan was also a member of the first study panel of the One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100), which in 2016 released its report titled "Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030".