Catherine Pelachaud is a French computer scientist specializing in

human–computer interaction Human–computer interaction (HCI) is research in the design and the use of computer technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and computers. HCI researchers observe the ways humans interact with computers and design tec ...

and known for her work

virtual assistant An intelligent virtual assistant (IVA) or intelligent personal assistant (IPA) is a software agent that can perform tasks or services for an individual based on commands or questions. The term "chatbot" is sometimes used to refer to virtual ...

s and on recognizing and generating

facial expression A facial expression is one or more motions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. According to one set of controversial theories, these movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers. Facial expressions are a ...

s. She is a director of research for the

French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

(CNRS), affiliated with the Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique (ISIR), a shared research center of CNRS and

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon ...

Education and career

Pelachaud completed a Ph.D. in

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

in 1991, jointly supervised by Norman Badler and

Mark Steedman Mark Jerome Steedman, (born 18 September 1946) is a computational linguist and cognitive scientist. Biography Steedman graduated from the University of Sussex in 1968, with a B.Sc. in Experimental Psychology, and from the University of Edinbur ...

. After postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania and

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...

, she became a professor at the

University Institute of Technology University Institute of Technology, The University of Burdwan is a "NAAC A accredited" Tier-II (under TEQIP) University Department of Engineering & Technology constituent to The University of Burdwan , located in Burdwan, West Bengal. It is th ...

of the

University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis (french: Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis) is a public university in Paris, France. Once part of the historic University of Paris, it is now an autonomous public institution. It is one of the th ...

in 2002. She became a director of research for CNRS in 2008, affiliated with the Information Processing and Communication Laboratory (LTCI) of

Télécom Paris Télécom Paris (also known as ENST or Télécom or École nationale supérieure des télécommunications, also Télécom ParisTech until 2019) is a French public institution for higher education (''grande école'') and engineering research. Loca ...

, and moved to ISIR in 2016.

Recognition

Pelachaud was the 2015 winner of the ACM/SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award, "for her sustained and substantial contributions to the area of intelligent virtual agents". In 2016, the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

gave Pelachaud an honorary doctorate.

References

External links

Home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelachaud, Catherine Year of birth missing (living people) Living people French computer scientists Women computer scientists University of Pennsylvania alumni Research directors of the French National Centre for Scientific Research