Elsa Dupraz, winner of the Prix Espoir IMT-Académie des Sciences 2024
A rich academic background
After graduating from ENS Paris-Saclay, Elsa Dupraz turned to information theory and telecommunications, specializing in information processing. Her years at the École enabled her to forge a multi-disciplinary expertise combining scientific rigor and openness to new technologies.
She then pursued her career with a PhD in signal processing, during which she discovered the multiple applications of channel coding. This technique, used to correct errors in data transmissions, quickly became her field of choice. Her thesis, which focused on data compression and transmission reliability, revealed the unexpected potential of channel coding, particularly in areas such as in-memory computing and data storage.
After completing her doctorate, Elsa Dupraz chose to continue exploring new horizons by undertaking a post-doctorate at the University of Arizona, USA. This stay enabled her to deepen her research in an international context, and to discover the scope of channel coding applications beyond telecommunications. She immersed herself in the fields of information storage and in-memory computing, sectors less explored in France, but with a strong potential for innovation.
Her time in the USA broadened her field of research and marked the start of international collaborations with world-renowned research teams, notably at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Polytechnique Montréal. These fruitful partnerships led her to focus on channel coding applications in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, with projects supported by international programs such as the Transatlantic Research Partnership.
Innovative research and international impact
Since 2015, Elsa Dupraz has been a researcher at IMT Atlantique (formerly Télécom Bretagne), where she continues to push the boundaries of channel coding applications. In addition to her work in telecommunications, she is exploring emerging sectors such as DNA storage. This promising field could revolutionize data storage by enabling the creation of extremely compact and durable molecular hard disks. Thanks to her expertise in error correction, Elsa plays a key role in the development of these new technologies.
Between 2019 and 2024, it will be supported by various research programs, enabling it to develop statistical models to improve the reliability of in-memory computing and DNA storage. Today, its research is paving the way for innovations that could transform both the telecoms and data center industries, which face growing energy challenges.
A model for the new generation
With this IMT-Académie des Sciences 2024 Espoir award, Elsa Dupraz's efforts have been rewarded, but her journey has only just begun. Her ability to navigate between different disciplines and develop solutions for concrete problems makes her a rising star in technological research.
Did you know?
Elsa Dupraz's research into channel coding is finding revolutionary applications, such as information storage on DNA, a promising alternative to today's data centers. Thanks to its exceptional density and robustness, synthetic DNA could become a sustainable, energy-efficient information storage medium.
Find out more about the careers of ENS Paris-Saclay alumni on the Réseau normalien.