Professor of statistics at Sorbonne University and director of SCAI, Gérard Biau has been elected to the Academy of Sciences. This award recognizes his scientific career and his commitment to serving the university community.
Professor since 2007 at the Laboratory of Probabilities, Statistics and Modeling (LPSM, Sorbonne University / CNRS / Université Paris Cité), Gérard Biau is a specialist in statistics and machine learning.
When Sorbonne University was created in 2018, he was appointed head of an internal task force responsible for structuring the institution's activities in the field of artificial intelligence, in line with the national strategy. From this initiative, SCAI was born in June 2019, an institute entirely dedicated to AI. Since then, SCAI has developed by relying on all of the university's science, literature and health laboratories as well as on the members of the Sorbonne University Alliance.
"Being elected to the Academy of Sciences is an immense honour and a great responsibility," says Gérard Biau. "It is a recognition of the scientific work that I have carried out over the years, but also a celebration of the collaborations, teams and institutions with which I have had the chance to evolve. For me, this represents a unique opportunity to contribute even more to the promotion of science, the transmission of knowledge and reflection on the major challenges of our time."
The Academy of Sciences contributes to the progress of science and its applications, and awards nearly 80 prizes each year covering all scientific fields, from fundamental to applied sciences.
A former student of the École des Mines de Paris, an associate professor in mathematics, Gérard Biau obtained a doctorate from the University of Montpellier in 2000. He began his career as a lecturer at Sorbonne University, where he worked from 2001 to 2004. After obtaining his HDR, he was appointed professor at the University of Montpellier. In 2007, he joined the Probability, Statistics and Modeling Laboratory at Sorbonne University. He is currently the director and founding member of SCAI, the Center for Artificial Intelligence at Sorbonne University.
Gérard Biau's research activities focus on the analysis of statistical dynamics at work in modern artificial intelligence algorithms. His recent contributions explore the convergence between physical modeling and machine learning, to exploit their combined potential.
Gérard Biau was a junior member of the Institut universitaire de France from 2012 to 2017 and president of the French Statistical Society from 2015 to 2018. In 2018, he received the Michel Monpetit - Inria Prize from the Academy of Sciences. Since 2024, he has been a senior member of the Institut universitaire de France.