Josiane Zerubia
Josiane Zerubia is an Inria research director who applies stochastic models and artificial intelligence to remote-sensing images. She studied electrical engineering, worked at Hewlett Packard and LASSY, and later led Inria research teams on remote sensing. In 2020, she became an IAPR Fellow for her work on stochastic image models and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Szeged. She serves as an IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Distinguished Lecturer through 2027 and became an IEEE Life Fellow in 2026. As of October 2026, she leads Ayana, an Inria project that combines AI, image processing, remote sensing and embedded computing.
Timeline
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1981–1994
Electrical engineering and a doctorate
She earns an electrical-engineering MSc from ENSIEG in 1981, followed by a Doctor of Engineering degree in 1986, a PhD in 1988, and a Habilitation in 1994.
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1982–1988
Research at Hewlett Packard and LASSY
She works as a researcher at Hewlett Packard laboratories in France and Palo Alto from 1982 to 1984, then at LASSY, the University of Nice and CNRS laboratory, from 1984 to 1988.
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1989–2011
Leading Inria remote-sensing teams
She joins Inria as a permanent research scientist in 1989. From 1995 to 1997, she heads the PASTIS remote-sensing laboratory; from 1998 to 2011, she leads the Ariana research group on inverse problems in remote sensing.
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2012–2018
Ayin and remote-sensing models
She leads Ayin from 2012 to 2016 on hierarchical and stochastic models for remote sensing and skin-care imaging. In 2018, she publishes Mathematical Models for Remote Sensing Image Processing. Her broader work uses probabilistic and artificial-intelligence models for remote sensing.
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2020
An IAPR fellowship and doctorate
The IAPR names her a Fellow in 2020 for contributions to stochastic image modeling for remote-sensing classification, segmentation and object detection. The University of Szeged awards her a Doctor Honoris Causa in 2020.
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2025–2027
IEEE Distinguished Lecturer
She serves as an IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Distinguished Lecturer from 2025 to 2027.
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2026
IEEE Life Fellow
She becomes an IEEE Life Fellow in 2026.
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Since 2020
Leading the Ayana project
As of October 2026, she is an Inria research director (DRCE) and leads the Ayana exploratory action, which runs through 2027. Ayana combines stochastic modeling, image processing, artificial intelligence, remote sensing and embedded computing for the New Space.
Sources and credits
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