Michèle Wigger and Nicole El Karoui honored by the French Academy of Sciences
Michèle Wigger, professor at the Information Processing and Communication Laboratory (LTCI*) at Télécom Paris, and Nicole El Karoui, a mathematician who has conducted much of her work as part of a chair held by the Center for Applied Mathematics at École Polytechnique (CMAP**), were honored by the French Academy of Sciences on October 30, 2025.
Michèle Wigger wins the Michel Montpetit Prize
Michèle Wigger receives the Michel Montpetit – INRIA Prize from the French Academy of Sciences 2025 for her work in information theory. The LTCI professor is interested in characterizing fundamental performance limits. She designs efficient algorithms to achieve these limits in distributed systems such as sensor networks, distributed computing and storage, and communications in emerging standards.
Nicole El Karoui, winner of the Science Applications Medal
Nicole El Karoui receives the 2025 Science Applications Medal. Professor Emeritus at Sorbonne University (Laboratory of Probability, Statistics, and Modeling), she created a research group in mathematical finance, combining theoretical and applied work. Throughout her career, Nicole El Karoui has been interested in the study of random phenomena evolving over time. Stochastic differential equations create a link between theory and applications, whether in the modeling of physical phenomena or financial markets. She is the founder of the Master's program in Probability and Finance offered by École Polytechnique and Sorbonne University.
About the Academy of Sciences awards
Each year, the Academy of Sciences awards nearly 80 prizes to outstanding researchers of all ages and from all scientific backgrounds. With the generosity of private and public donors, it promotes French scientific life.
About Michèle Wigger
Michèle Wigger earned a master's degree in electrical engineering with honors and a doctorate in electrical engineering from ETH Zurich in 2003 and 2008, respectively. She received two ETH medals, one for her master's thesis and the other for her doctoral thesis. In 2009, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego, USA, before joining Télécom Paris, where she has been a full professor since 2018. She has been a visiting professor at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, the University of Zurich, and ETH Zurich. She is co-chair of the ISIT2025 TPC, has served on the TPC of numerous other conferences on information theory and communications, and on various committees of the IEEE Information Theory Society, including its board of directors. Her funding achievements include an Emergences grant from the City of Paris, a Discruptive-ICT grant from Huawei, a Collaborative Project Grant from the French National Research Agency (ANR), and two ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants.
>> Michèle Wigger on the IP Paris research portal
About Nicole El Karoui
Nicole El Karoui is professor emeritus at Sorbonne University and former professor at École Polytechnique. She held the Chair in Financial Risk at École Polytechnique's Center for Applied Mathematics and founded the Master's program in Probability and Finance, offered jointly by École Polytechnique and Sorbonne University. She is considered a pioneer in the development of financial mathematics and, as a probability specialist, has focused on modeling uncertainty as applied to finance. Nicole El Karoui was named an Officer of the Legion of Honor in 2019.
>> Nicole El Karoui on Google Scholar
Photo Credits: Collections EP.
*LTCI: a research lab Télécom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 91120 Palaiseau, France
**CMAP: a joint research unit CNRS, Inria, École Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, 91120 Palaiseau, France