PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Karen Egiazarian

Also known as Karen Eguiazarian, Karen O. Eguiazarian

Karen Egiazarian is a signal-processing researcher at Tampere University whose work on image restoration includes the BM3D denoising algorithm and a 2022 overview of deep unfolding for phase retrieval. After an MSc in mathematics at Yerevan State University in 1981 and a PhD at Moscow State University in 1986, he earned a Doctor of Technology at Tampere University of Technology in 1994. In 2007 he coauthored the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing paper on BM3D with Kostadin Dabov, Alessandro Foi and Vladimir Katkovnik, and in 2011 he co-founded the spin-off Noiseless Imaging Oy. He became editor-in-chief of the Journal of Electronic Imaging in 2016, was elected an IEEE Fellow in 2018, received the Order of the White Rose of Finland, 1st class, in 2021, and joined Academia Europaea in 2026. He is a Professor of Signal Processing at Tampere University, where he leads the Computational Imaging Group and serves as CEO of Noiseless Imaging Oy.

Now at
Tampere University and Noiseless Imaging Oy
Born
1959
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1981–1995

    Degrees from Yerevan to Tampere

    He earns an MSc in mathematics from Yerevan State University in 1981 and a PhD in physics and mathematics from Moscow State University in 1986. From 1983 to 1993, he works as a senior researcher at the Armenian Academy of Sciences in Yerevan. He earns a Doctor of Technology in signal processing from Tampere University of Technology in 1994 and becomes an assistant professor there in 1995.

  2. 2007

    BM3D image denoising

    Together with Kostadin Dabov, Alessandro Foi and Vladimir Katkovnik, he publishes "Image denoising by sparse 3D transform-domain collaborative filtering" in IEEE Transactions on Image Processing in 2007. The paper presents BM3D, a 3-D block-matching algorithm used mainly for noise reduction in images.

  3. 2011

    Noiseless Imaging and BM3D frames

    In 2011, he co-founds Noiseless Imaging Oy, a spin-off of Tampere University of Technology, and becomes its CEO and a director of its board. In June 2011, he, Aram Danielyan and Vladimir Katkovnik post an arXiv paper that builds analysis and synthesis frames for BM3D and uses them to develop iterative image-deblurring algorithms.

  4. 2016

    Editor of Journal of Electronic Imaging

    An associate editor of the Journal of Electronic Imaging since 2000, he becomes its editor-in-chief in 2016, succeeding Gaurav Sharma of the University of Rochester. IS&T and SPIE publish the journal.

  5. 2018–2021

    IEEE Fellow and Finnish order

    He is elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 2018 and receives the Order of the White Rose of Finland, 1st class, in 2021.

  6. 2022

    Deep unfolding for phase retrieval

    In March 2022, he and five coauthors, among them Vladimir Katkovnik and Igor Shevkunov, post "Unfolding-Aided Bootstrapped Phase Retrieval in Optical Imaging" on arXiv. The paper gives an overview of deep unfolding, a model-driven network approach to phase retrieval, which recovers a complex signal from phaseless diffraction-pattern data.

  7. 2026

    Election to Academia Europaea

    In 2026, he is elected to Academia Europaea, in its Engineering section.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor at Tampere University

    He is a Professor of Signal Processing at the Department of Computing Sciences of Tampere University, a post he has held since 1999, and leads the Computational Imaging Group, founded in 1998. He is also CEO of Noiseless Imaging Oy.

Career

  1. Since 2011Noiseless Imaging OyCo-founder, CEO
  2. Since 1999Tampere UniversityProfessor of Signal Processing
  3. From 1995Tampere University of TechnologyAssistant Professor
  4. 1983–1993Armenian Academy of SciencesSenior Researcher

Education

  1. 1994Tampere University of TechnologyDoctor of Technology
  2. 1986Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityPhD
  3. 1981Yerevan State UniversityMSc

From the biography.

  1. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes Karen Egiazarian. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Tampere University of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Lomonosov Moscow State University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Lomonosov Moscow State University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Karen Egiazarian yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Karen Eguiazarian | Tampere University tuni.fi. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Academy of Europe: Eguiazarian Karen ae-info.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Block-matching and 3D filtering - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. [1106.6180] BM3D Frames and Variational Image Deblurring arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Karen Egiazarian named editor of Journal of Electronic Imaging spie.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. [2203.01695] Unfolding-Aided Bootstrapped Phase Retrieval in Optical Imaging arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Computational Imaging Group | Tampere University tuni.fi. Checked 21 October 2026.