Marie-Paule Cani

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Marie-Paule Cani
Born1965 (age 60–61)
OccupationProfessor of computer science

Marie-Paule Cani (born 1965) is a French computer scientist conducting advanced research in the fields of shape modeling and computer animation. She has contributed to over 300 research publications having around 15000 citations.[1]

Her work addresses topics such as the use of implicit surfaces in graphic modeling, multi-layered animation models, interactive tools for expressive modeling and the design of virtual worlds to help scientific research.[2][3]

Education and early career

She completed a M.Sc. in mathematics at Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1987 then a doctorate in computer graphics at University Paris XI, France in 1990.[4]

After some years as an assistant professor at Ecole Normale Supérieure she joined Grenoble Alpes University (INP-ENSIMAG) where she completed an habilitation to lead researchs in 1995 and became a full professor in 1997.[4]

In 1997 she was a contributor to Introduction of Implicit Surfaces[5] a fundamental book in her field (more than a thousand citations).

In 1999, Institut Universitaire de France awarded her with junior membership.

Positions held

In 2014-2015, Cani became the annual chair of computer science at the Collège de France.[6]

Since May 2017, Cani has been professor of computer science at Ecole Polytechnique, Paris-Saclay, France. Prior to this, she held the same position at Grenoble INP from 1997 where she was the head of the INRIA research groups EVASION and IMAGINE, part of Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann, a joint lab of CNRS and Grenoble Université Alpes. She became a full Professor in 1997. For a period of five years, from 1993 to 1997, she served as an assistant professor at Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble. She started her academic career in 1990, as a lecturer at Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris.

She was part of the executive comity of Siggraph from 2011 to 2014 and of the editorial board of the ACM from 2014 to 2017. She has been vice-president of the Eurographics Association from 2013 to 2016, then president in 2017 and 18.[7]

In 2019 she is elected at the French Academy of sciences.[7]

Prizes

In 2007, Cani received the national Irène Joliot-Curie Prize to acknowledge her actions in mentoring women in computer science.[8] She wants to strengthen the presence of women in scientific careers and mentors doctoral students.

She won the Outstanding Technical Contributions Eurographics Award in 2011 for her work in the creation of 3D content.[4] Eurographics also awarded her a Distinguished Carreer Award in 2022[9] and their Gold Medal in 2025.[7]

In 2022 she won the Tosiyasu Kunii Achievement Award from Shape Modeling International[10]

In 2023 she won the ACM Siggraph Steven Anson Coons Award for "outstanding contributions to computer graphics".[11]

French Republic granted her a commander rank in ordre national du mérite in 2021 and an officier rank in légion d'honneur in 2024.[12]

References

  1. "Marie-Paule Cani". www.journals.elsevier.com. Retrieved 2018-03-08.
  2. Odot, Loraine; Cani, Marie-Paule (2024-06-26). "Modelling virtual worlds for scientific research". Polytechnique Insights. Retrieved 2026-05-31.
  3. "Marie-Paule Cani, chercheuse en informatique, donne vie à des mondes imaginaires". Le Monde.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 2024-12-11. Retrieved 2026-05-31.
  4. "People of ACM - Marie-Paule Cani". ACM. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
  5. Bloomenthal, Jules; Bajaj, Chandrajit; Bajaj, Chandrajit, eds. (1997). Introduction to implicit surfaces. The Morgan Kaufmann series in computer graphics and geometric modeling. San Francisco, California: Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN 978-1-55860-233-5.
  6. "Marie-Paule Cani nommée à la chaire d'informatique du Collège de France". Association Femmes & Sciences (in French). 27 October 2014. Retrieved 2018-11-23.
  7. "Eurographics Medal 2025: Marie-Paule Cani – Eurographics". Retrieved 2026-05-31.
  8. 2007 Irène Joliot-Curie Prize.
  9. "Distinguished Career Award 2022 – Marie-Paule Cani – Eurographics". Retrieved 2026-06-10.
  10. "Shape Modeling International (SMI) 2022 Awards: Interviews with SMI'2022 Award Winners". Computers & Graphics. 137 104611. 2026-06-01. doi:10.1016/j.cag.2026.104611. ISSN 0097-8493.
  11. Rollinson, Alex (2023-06-11). "Announcing ACM SIGGRAPH Award Winners". ACM SIGGRAPH. Retrieved 2026-05-31.
  12. decrees published in Journal Officiel (fr) n°0118 issued the 05-22-2021 and n°0162 issued the 07-09-2024 (links on french page)