Ravi Kannan is a principal researcher at Microsoft Research India, where he leads the algorithms research group. He also holds an adjunct faculty position in the computer science and automation department at the Indian Institute of Science. Before joining Microsoft, Kannan was the William K. Lanman, Jr. Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Yale University. He has also taught at MIT and CMU. 

Kannan's research interests include algorithms, theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics, as well as optimization. His work has mainly focused on efficient algorithms for problems of a mathematical (often geometric) flavor that arise in computer science. He has worked on algorithms for integer programming and the geometry of numbers, random walks in n-space, randomized algorithms for linear algebra, and learning algorithms for convex sets.

He was awarded the Knuth Prize in 2011 for developing influential algorithmic techniques aimed at solving long-standing computational problems, the Fulkerson Prize in 1991 for his work on estimating the volume of convex sets, and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1999.