Tribute to Marie-Lise Flottes

We were deeply saddened to learn of the sudden death of our friend from the Microelectronics Department at LIRMM, Marie-Lise Flottes, on December 22, 2025.

Marie-Lise completed her studies at the Faculty of Sciences of Montpellier before defending her PhD thesis in 1990 at the LAM (Laboratory of Automation and Microelectronics) on the testing of CMOS integrated circuits.

She then joined the CNRS as a researcher within the Microelectronics Department of the LIRMM. For nearly 35 years, she made significant contributions to the field of Test, and more recently to Hardware Security. A pioneer in France in the field of trusted electronic systems, her work gained widespread international recognition through major conferences and journals in her discipline, particularly regarding vulnerabilities and attacks on test structures, and more recently on Logic Locking.

She co-supervised numerous PhD students throughout her career, the last of whom defended his thesis just recently, this past December. Always available, Marie-Lise gave of her time tirelessly to help her students analyze results or finalize papers. She also distinguished herself through her innovative work on the HERMES project, dedicated to developing a reliable and ergonomic communication system aimed at improving the autonomy of dependent individuals at home.

Marie-Lise was also deeply involved in community leadership, training, and scientific outreach. She served as Head of the Microelectronics Department at LIRMM from 2005 to 2008, and as Deputy Head from 2008 to 2011. She had been serving as Deputy Head of the Test team for the past few months.

At the national level, she held various responsibilities over several years within the GDR SoC SiP, GDR SOC2, and GDR Security. Internationally, she was actively involved in numerous conference committees and research programs. She taught at Polytech Montpellier, the Faculty of Sciences, and the IUT of Montpellier-Sète, focusing on Industrial Test for instance. She knew how to transmit her knowledge with passion, always ready to welcome students, colleagues, or high schoolers to demonstrate the CNFM tester or the HERMES system.

Finally, Marie-Lise was strongly committed to issues of equality and parity. She served as the referent for the laboratory, leading strong awareness and training initiatives, such as the poster campaign on sexual and gender-based violence. She created or contributed to the creation of shared resources that have become a reference within the framework of the CNRS Mission for Women (Mission pour la Place des Femmes).

We have lost a great lady, a pillar of the Microelectronics Department, a recognized researcher, and a deeply committed colleague of rare humanity who was appreciated by all and who always gave of her time selflessly.