Prof. Antonio Plaza

Antonio Plaza

Professor, University of Extremadura

#1 University in Europe for Remote Sensing (#11 worldwide) according to the Shanghai Ranking

IEEE Fellow | Member of Academia Europaea | Highly Cited Researcher (2018-2025)

76,000+ citations | h-index 124 | 1,000+ publications

Head of the Hyperspectral Computing Laboratory | Dept. Technology of Computers and Communications

E-mail: aplaza@unex.es

Research Profiles: Google Scholar - Scopus - Web of Science - Orcid - DBLP - ResearchGate - ScholarGPS - AlphaXiv - Scilit - OpenAlex - OpenData@UEx

Bio and research interests

Antonio Plaza is a Full Professor in the Department of Technology of Computers and Communications at the University of Extremadura, Spain, where he leads the Hyperspectral Computing Laboratory (HyperComp), an internationally recognized research group focused on the intersection of hyperspectral imaging, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing for Earth observation.
Prof. Plaza has authored or co-authored more than 1,000 scientific publications, including 579 JCR-indexed journal papers, 28 international book chapters, and 334 peer-reviewed international conference papers. He has also served as Guest Editor for 29 special issues of JCR-indexed journals in remote sensing and data processing.
He has been included in the Web of Science/Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researchers list for eight consecutive years (2018–2025). Through his research, supervision, international collaborations, and scientific leadership, Prof. Plaza has contributed to the development of hyperspectral imaging as a major research area at the intersection of remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and advanced computing.

Scientific impact and research leadership

Prof. Antonio Plaza is a pioneer and internationally recognized leader in hyperspectral imaging, with research contributions spanning more than 25 years (1999–2026). His work has advanced the development and application of hyperspectral technologies to major scientific and societal challenges, including land-cover classification, precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, and water-quality assessment.
His research has contributed significantly to establishing the University of Extremadura as a leading institution in remote sensing worldwide. According to the 2026 Shanghai's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS), the University of Extremadura ranks #1 in Europe for Remote Sensing (#11 worldwide), with the highest Research Impact score among the world's top 11 institutions.
Prof. Plaza is also one of the world's most highly cited scientists in his field. According to ScholarGPS, he is currently ranked among the world's leading scientists in hyperspectral imaging (#2), Earth observation (#2), and remote sensing (#3). He is currently the most highly cited Spanish scientist in remote sensing, electrical and electronic engineering, and imaging science and photographic technology, and ranks #4 in computer science according to Research.com.
He has also been recognized repeatedly among the world's most influential researchers. Prof. Plaza was included in the Clarivate Analytics/Web of Science Highly Cited Researchers list from 2018 through 2025 and has consistently been recognized among the World's Top 2% Scientists, based on the Stanford University rankings.
A major component of Prof. Plaza's international impact has been his leadership in large-scale research and training initiatives. He coordinated the Hyperspectral Imaging Network (Hyper-I-Net), a four-year Marie Curie Research Training Network with a budget of €2.8 million, created to establish an interdisciplinary European research community in hyperspectral imaging. The network brought together 15 European partners, including nine universities, three research institutes, and three SMEs. It supported 15 PhD dissertations and played an important role in consolidating Europe's position as a global leader in hyperspectral imaging research.
Through the European projects TOLOMEO and EOXPOSURE, Prof. Plaza also contributed to strengthening hyperspectral imaging research and training in Latin America, establishing a broad network of scientific collaborations across several countries and enhancing European research presence in this strategically important region. He has likewise developed extensive scientific collaborations in China, where he has been recognized as a Visiting Professor by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a Changjiang Scholar by Hunan University, and a Chair Professor by Nanjing University.
Prof. Plaza has held numerous leadership positions within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He served as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (2013–2017) and Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal on Miniaturization for Air and Space Systems (2020–2021). Within the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS), he has served as Chair of the Publication Awards Committee (2018–present), Vice-Chair of the Fellow Evaluation Committee (2019–2022), and Chair of the Fellow Evaluation Committee (2023–2025).
His commitment to education and capacity building has also had a lasting international impact. As International Education Director of IEEE GRSS (2011–2012), Prof. Plaza initiated and founded the highly successful IEEE GRSS Summer School series. He also organized four summer schools as part of the Marie Curie Hyper-I-Net project, together with numerous additional educational and training activities in hyperspectral imaging across Europe. These initiatives have contributed to training and inspiring a new generation of researchers in remote sensing and computational imaging.
Prof. Plaza's scientific and professional contributions have received numerous international distinctions. He was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2015 for “contributions to hyperspectral data processing and parallel computing of Earth observation data.” He was subsequently elected Fellow of the International Academy of Artificial Intelligence Science and, in 2020, a Member of Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe).
Through his research, scientific leadership, international collaborations, editorial service, and educational initiatives, Prof. Plaza has played a significant role in the development of hyperspectral imaging as a global research discipline, while contributing to the international visibility and scientific standing of the University of Extremadura.

Positioning in research rankings

Personal impact:

#2 highly ranked scholar worldwide in hyperspectral imaging (lifetime) according to ScholarGPS (source).
#2 highly ranked scholar worldwide in earth observation (lifetime) according to ScholarGPS (source).
#3 highly ranked scholar worldwide in remote sensing (lifetime) according to ScholarGPS (source).
#4 highly ranked researcher in computer science in Spain according to research.com (source).

University impact:

The University of Extremadura ranks #11 worldwide for remote sensing (#1 in Europe) according to the Shanghai's Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS), with the highest Research Impact score among the world's top 11 institutions (source).
The University of Extremadura ranks #9 worldwide in hyperspectral imaging (lifetime) according to ScholarGPS (source).

Bibliometric indicators

Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher: 2018-2025 (eight consecutive years)
51 papers currently labeled as “Essential Science Indicators” (ESI) by Web of Science/Clarivate Analytics (source).
Google Scholar: 76,000+ citations, h-index: 124 (source).
Scopus: 830+ documents, 59,000+ citations, h-index: 110 (source).
Web of Science: 880+ documents, 50,000+ citations, h-index: 103, 27,000+ citing articles, 140+ citing patents, 430+ verified peer reviews, 6,800+ verified editor records (source).
ResearchGate: 940+ publications, 67,000+ citations, h-index: 117 (source).
ScholarGPS: 780+ publications, 75,000+ citations, h-index: 126 (source).
AlphaXiv: 1,000+ publications, 75,000+ citations, h-index: 122 (source).
OpenAlex: 900+ publications, 58,000+ citations, h-index: 106 (source).
Listed among the 2% top cited researchers in the world according to Stanford University (source).

ESI Highly Cited Papers

D. Hong, C. Y. Li, N. Yokoya, B. Zhang, X. P. Jia, A. Plaza, P. Gamba, J. A. Benediktsson, and J. Chanussot, “Hyperspectral imaging,” Nature Reviews Methods Primers, vol. 6, Art. no. 19, 2026. ESI Highly Cited Paper (ESI Hot)
P. Duan, S. Y. Jin, X. T. Lu, L. H. Liang, X. D. Kang, and A. Plaza, “Domain-adaptive Mamba for cross-scene hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 35, pp. 1206–1217, 2026. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
L. Shi, C. Li, Z. Zeng, P. Duan, B. Rasti, and A. Plaza, “Masked Self-Attention Fusion Network for Joint Classification of Hyperspectral and LiDAR Data,” IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 35, pp. 346–360, 2026. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
Z. Zhao, X. Xu, C. Deng, J. Li, and A. Plaza, “Spectral Selection Convolution and Overlapped-Centering Mamba Network for Hyperspectral Image Classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 64, 2026. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
B. Tu, T. Zhou, B. Liu, Y. He, J. Li, and A. Plaza, “Multi-scale autoencoder suppression strategy for hyperspectral image anomaly detection,” IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, vol. 34, pp. 5115–5130, 2025. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
Y. Zhang, P. H. Duan, L. H. Liang, X. D. Kang, J. Li, and A. Plaza, “PFS3F: Probabilistic fusion of superpixel-wise and semantic-aware structural features for hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, vol. 35, no. 9, pp. 8723–8737, Sep. 2025. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
C. L. Zhou, Z. He, J. Dong, Y. F. Li, J. C. Ren, and A. Plaza, “Low-rank and sparse representation meet deep unfolding: A new interpretable network for hyperspectral change detection,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 63, 2025. ESI Highly Cited Paper
B. Tu, X. C. Yang, B. L. He, Y. Y. Chen, J. Li, and A. Plaza, “Anomaly detection in hyperspectral images using adaptive graph frequency location,” IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 36, no. 7, pp. 12565–12579, Jul. 2025. ESI Highly Cited Paper
C. Y. Li, B. Zhang, D. F. Hong, X. P. Jia, A. Plaza, and J. Chanussot, “Learning disentangled priors for hyperspectral anomaly detection: A coupling model-driven and data-driven paradigm,” IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 6883–6896, Apr. 2025. ESI Highly Cited Paper
Z. J. Pan, C. Y. Li, A. Plaza, J. Chanussot, and D. F. Hong, “Hyperspectral image classification with Mamba,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 63, 2025. ESI Highly Cited Paper
G. Vivone, L. J. Deng, S. Q. Deng, D. F. Hong, M. H. Jiang, C. Y. Li, W. Li, H. F. Shen, X. Wu, J. L. Xiao, M. M. Zhang, J. Chanussot, S. García, and A. Plaza, “Deep learning in remote sensing image fusion: Methods, protocols, data, and future perspectives,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 269–310, Mar. 2025. ESI Highly Cited Paper
Y. Su, L. Gao, A. Plaza, X. Sun, J. Mengying, and G. Yang, “SRViT: Self-Supervised Relation-Aware Vision Transformer for Hyperspectral Unmixing,” IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, 2025. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
L. Liang, P. Xie, Y. Zhang, J. Li, Z. Zhang, J. Li, and A. Plaza, “DBMLLA: Double-Branch Mamba-Like Linear Attention Network for Hyperspectral Image Classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 63, 2025. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
D. Hong, B. Zhang, X. Y. Li, Y. X. Li, C. Y. Li, J. Yao, N. Yokoya, H. Li, P. Ghamisi, X. P. Jia, A. Plaza, P. Gamba, J. A. Benediktsson, and J. Chanussot, “SpectralGPT: Spectral remote sensing foundation model,” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 46, no. 8, pp. 5227–5244, Aug. 2024. ESI Highly Cited Paper (ESI Hot, Research Front)
Y. He, B. Tu, B. Liu, J. Li, and A. Plaza, “3DSS-Mamba: 3D-spectral-spatial Mamba for hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 62, 2024. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
Y. He, B. Tu, P. Z. Jiang, B. Liu, J. Li, and A. Plaza, “IGroupSS-Mamba: Interval group spatial-spectral Mamba for hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 62, 2024. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
M. Y. Jiang, Y. C. Su, L. R. Gao, A. Plaza, X. L. Zhao, X. Sun, and G. Z. Liu, “GraphGST: Graph generative structure-aware transformer for hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 62, 2024. ESI Highly Cited Paper
H. Y. Yu, H. Yang, L. R. Gao, J. C. Hu, A. Plaza, and B. Zhang, “Hyperspectral image change detection based on gated spectral-spatial-temporal attention network with spectral similarity filtering,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 62, 2024. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
Y. C. Su, Z. Q. Zhu, L. R. Gao, A. Plaza, P. F. Li, X. Sun, and X. Xu, “DAAN: A deep autoencoder-based augmented network for blind multilinear hyperspectral unmixing,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 62, 2024. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
X. W. Tao, M. E. Paoletti, Z. Y. Wu, J. M. Haut, P. Ren, and A. Plaza, “An abundance-guided attention network for hyperspectral unmixing,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 62, 2024. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
Z. Y. Zhao, X. Xu, S. T. Li, and A. Plaza, “Hyperspectral image classification using groupwise separable convolutional vision transformer network,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 62, 2024. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
D. G. Wang, L. N. Zhuang, L. R. Gao, X. Sun, X. B. Zhao, and A. Plaza, “Sliding dual-window-inspired reconstruction network for hyperspectral anomaly detection,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 62, 2024. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
B. Tu, Q. Ren, J. Li, Z. L. Cao, Y. Y. Chen, and A. Plaza, “NCGLF2: Network combining global and local features for fusion of multisource remote sensing data,” Information Fusion, vol. 104, 2024. ESI Highly Cited Paper
S. K. Roy, A. Deria, C. Shah, J. M. Haut, Q. Du, and A. Plaza, “Spectral-spatial morphological attention transformer for hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 61, 2023. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
S. K. Roy, A. Deria, D. F. Hong, B. Rasti, A. Plaza, and J. Chanussot, “Multimodal fusion transformer for remote sensing image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 61, 2023. ESI Highly Cited Paper
L. R. Gao, D. G. Wang, L. N. Zhuang, X. Sun, M. Huang, and A. Plaza, “BS3LNet: A new blind-spot self-supervised learning network for hyperspectral anomaly detection,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 61, 2023. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
Y. X. Sun, Y. M. Ye, J. Kang, R. Fernandez-Beltran, S. S. Feng, X. T. Li, C. Y. Luo, P. Z. Zhang, and A. Plaza, “Cross-view object geo-localization in a local region with satellite imagery,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 61, 2023. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
D. G. Wang, L. A. Zhuang, L. R. Gao, X. Sun, M. Huang, and A. Plaza, “BOCKNet: Blind-block reconstruction network with a guard window for hyperspectral anomaly detection,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 61, 2023. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
D. G. Wang, L. A. Zhuang, L. R. Gao, X. Sun, M. Huang, and A. Plaza, “PDBSNet: Pixel-shuffle downsampling blind-spot reconstruction network for hyperspectral anomaly detection,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 61, 2023. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
Y. C. Su, L. R. Gao, M. Y. Jiang, A. Plaza, X. Sun, and B. Zhang, “NSCKL: Normalized spectral clustering with kernel-based learning for semisupervised hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, vol. 53, no. 10, pp. 6649–6662, Oct. 2023. ESI Highly Cited Paper
D. F. Hong, Z. Han, J. Yao, L. R. Gao, B. Zhang, A. Plaza, and J. Chanussot, “SpectralFormer: Rethinking hyperspectral image classification with transformers,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 60, 2022. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
S. Minaee, Y. Y. Boykov, F. Porikli, A. Plaza, N. Kehtarnavaz, and D. Terzopoulos, “Image segmentation using deep learning: A survey,” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 44, no. 7, pp. 3523–3542, Jul. 2022. ESI Highly Cited Paper
L. Lv, T. Chen, J. Dou, and A. Plaza, “A hybrid ensemble-based deep-learning framework for landslide susceptibility mapping,” International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, vol. 108, 2022. ESI Highly Cited Paper
H. C. Li, W. S. Hu, W. Li, J. Li, Q. Du, and A. Plaza, “A3CLNN: Spatial, spectral and multiscale attention ConvLSTM neural network for multisource remote sensing data classification,” IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 747–761, Feb. 2022. ESI Highly Cited Paper
B. Tu, X. L. Liao, Q. M. Li, Y. S. Peng, and A. Plaza, “Local semantic feature aggregation-based transformer for hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 60, 2022. ESI Highly Cited Paper
M. Xu, F. R. Deng, S. Jia, X. P. Jia, and A. Plaza, “Attention mechanism-based generative adversarial networks for cloud removal in Landsat images,” Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 271, 2022. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
L. J. Deng, G. Vivone, M. E. Paoletti, G. Scarpa, J. He, Y. J. Zhang, J. Chanussot, and A. Plaza, “Machine learning in pansharpening: A benchmark, from shallow to deep networks,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 279–315, Sep. 2022. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
D. F. Hong, L. R. Gao, J. Yao, B. Zhang, A. Plaza, and J. Chanussot, “Graph convolutional networks for hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 59, no. 7, pp. 5966–5978, Jul. 2021. ESI Highly Cited Paper (Research Front)
M. E. Paoletti, J. M. Haut, R. Fernandez-Beltran, J. Plaza, A. Plaza, and F. Pla, “Deep pyramidal residual networks for spectral-spatial hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 740–754, Feb. 2019. ESI Highly Cited Paper
M. E. Paoletti, J. M. Haut, R. Fernandez-Beltran, J. Plaza, A. Plaza, J. Li, and F. Pla, “Capsule networks for hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 2145–2160, Apr. 2019. ESI Highly Cited Paper
M. E. Paoletti, J. M. Haut, J. Plaza, and A. Plaza, “Deep learning classifiers for hyperspectral imaging: A review,” ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, vol. 158, pp. 279–317, Dec. 2019. ESI Highly Cited Paper
Y. C. Su, J. Li, A. Plaza, A. Marinoni, P. Gamba, and S. Chakravortty, “DAEN: Deep autoencoder networks for hyperspectral unmixing,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 57, no. 7, pp. 4309–4321, Jul. 2019. ESI Highly Cited Paper
N. J. He, M. E. Paoletti, J. M. Haut, L. Y. Fang, S. T. Li, A. Plaza, and J. Plaza, “Feature extraction with multiscale covariance maps for hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 57, no. 2, pp. 755–769, Feb. 2019. ESI Highly Cited Paper
J. M. Haut, M. E. Paoletti, J. Plaza, A. Plaza, and J. Li, “Visual attention-driven hyperspectral image classification,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 57, no. 10, pp. 8065–8080, Oct. 2019. ESI Highly Cited Paper
L. He, Y. Rao, J. Li, J. Chanussot, A. Plaza, J. Zhu, and B. Li, “Pansharpening via detail injection based convolutional neural networks,” IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 1188–1204, Apr. 2019. ESI Highly Cited Paper
M. E. Paoletti, J. M. Haut, J. Plaza, and A. Plaza, “A new deep convolutional neural network for fast hyperspectral image classification,” ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, vol. 145, pp. 120–147, Nov. 2018. ESI Highly Cited Paper
N. J. He, L. Y. Fang, S. T. Li, A. Plaza, and J. Plaza, “Remote sensing scene classification using multilayer stacked covariance pooling,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 56, no. 12, pp. 6899–6910, Dec. 2018. ESI Highly Cited Paper
P. Ghamisi, N. Yokoya, J. Li, W. Z. Liao, S. C. Liu, J. Plaza, B. Rasti, and A. Plaza, “Advances in hyperspectral image and signal processing: A comprehensive overview of the state of the art,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 37–78, Dec. 2017. ESI Highly Cited Paper
P. Ghamisi, J. Plaza, Y. S. Chen, J. Li, and A. Plaza, “Advanced spectral classifiers for hyperspectral images: A review,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 8–32, Mar. 2017. ESI Highly Cited Paper
M. M. Chi, A. Plaza, J. A. Benediktsson, Z. Y. Sun, J. S. Shen, and Y. Y. Zhu, “Big data for remote sensing: Challenges and opportunities,” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 104, no. 11, pp. 2207–2219, Nov. 2016. ESI Highly Cited Paper
Y. Xu, Z. B. Wu, J. Li, A. Plaza, and Z. H. Wei, “Anomaly detection in hyperspectral images based on low-rank and sparse representation,” IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 54, no. 4, pp. 1990–2000, Apr. 2016. ESI Highly Cited Paper

Selected publications

A. Plaza, P. Martínez, R. Pérez and J. Plaza.
A Quantitative and Comparative Analysis of Endmember Extraction Algorithms From Hyperspectral Data. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 650–663, 2004 (pdf).
A seminal quantitative evaluation of endmember extraction algorithms that established rigorous experimental benchmarking practices for hyperspectral unmixing and remains a reference work in the area.
A. Plaza, J. A. Benediktsson, J. W. Boardman, J. Brazile, L. Bruzzone, G. Camps-Valls, J. Chanussot, M. Fauvel, P. Gamba, J. A. Gualtieri, M. Marconcini, J. C. Tilton and G. Trianni.
Recent Advances in Techniques for Hyperspectral Image Processing. Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 113, Supplement 1, pp. S110–S122, 2009 (pdf).
A landmark review of hyperspectral image processing that synthesized major methodological developments and helped establish a comprehensive framework for this rapidly evolving field.
A. Plaza, J. Plaza, A. Paz and S. Sánchez.
Parallel Hyperspectral Image and Signal Processing. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 119–126, 2011 (pdf).
A seminal overview of parallel processing for hyperspectral data that highlighted the importance of high-performance computing for addressing the computational demands of large-scale hyperspectral analysis.
M. D. Iordache, J. Bioucas-Dias and A. Plaza.
Sparse Unmixing of Hyperspectral Data. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 49, no. 6, pp. 2014–2039, 2011 (pdf).
A seminal contribution that established sparse regression as a powerful paradigm for hyperspectral unmixing, enabling abundance estimation from large spectral libraries and influencing a broad body of subsequent research.
J. M. Bioucas-Dias, A. Plaza, N. Dobigeon, M. Parente, Q. Du, P. Gader and J. Chanussot.
Hyperspectral Unmixing Overview: Geometrical, Statistical and Sparse Regression-Based Approaches. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 354–379, 2012 (pdf).
One of the most influential comprehensive reviews of hyperspectral unmixing, providing a unified framework for geometrical, statistical, and sparse regression-based approaches and becoming a major reference for research in this fundamental area.
J. M. Bioucas-Dias, A. Plaza, G. Camps-Valls, P. Scheunders, N. Nasrabadi and J. Chanussot.
Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Data Analysis and Future Challenges. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 6–36, 2013 (pdf).
A highly influential synthesis of hyperspectral data analysis methodologies that identified major open challenges and helped shape subsequent research directions in the field.
M. Chi, A. Plaza, J. A. Benediktsson, Z. Sun, J. Shen and Y. Zhu.
Big Data for Remote Sensing: Challenges and Opportunities. Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 104, no. 11, pp. 2207–2219, 2016 (pdf).
A highly visible analysis of the big-data paradigm in remote sensing, identifying fundamental computational, data-management, and analytical challenges associated with next-generation remote sensing systems.
P. Ghamisi, J. Plaza, Y. Chen, J. Li and A. Plaza.
Advanced Supervised Spectral Classifiers for Hyperspectral Images: A Review. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 8–32, 2017 (pdf).
A comprehensive synthesis of advanced supervised classification techniques that consolidated major developments in spectral and spatial hyperspectral image classification.
P. Ghamisi, N. Yokoya, J. Li, W. Liao, S. Liu, J. Plaza, B. Rasti and A. Plaza.
Advances in Hyperspectral Image and Signal Processing: A Comprehensive Overview of the State of the Art. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 37–78, 2017 (pdf).
A broad and influential state-of-the-art review covering the principal methodological advances in hyperspectral image and signal processing and identifying important emerging research directions.
M. E. Paoletti, J. M. Haut, J. Plaza and A. Plaza.
Deep Learning Classifiers for Hyperspectral Imaging: A Review. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, vol. 158, pp. 279–317, 2019 (pdf).
A highly influential review of deep learning for hyperspectral image classification that provided a comprehensive framework for understanding the transition from conventional machine learning to deep neural architectures.
D. Hong, L. Gao, J. Yao, B. Zhang, A. Plaza and J. Chanussot.
Graph Convolutional Networks for Hyperspectral Image Classification. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 59, no. 7, pp. 5966–5978, 2021 (pdf).
A pioneering application of graph convolutional networks to hyperspectral classification, demonstrating the value of non-local relationships for spectral–spatial representation learning and influencing subsequent graph-based approaches to hyperspectral analysis.
D. Hong, Z. Han, J. Yao, L. Gao, B. Zhang, A. Plaza and J. Chanussot.
SpectralFormer: Rethinking Hyperspectral Image Classification with Transformers. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol. 60, pp. 1–15, 2022 (pdf).
A pioneering transformer-based approach to hyperspectral image classification that demonstrated the effectiveness of attention mechanisms for learning spectral representations and helped establish transformers as an important paradigm in hyperspectral analysis.
S. Minaee, Y. Boykov, F. Porikli, A. Plaza, N. Kehtarnavaz and D. Terzopoulos.
Image Segmentation Using Deep Learning: A Survey. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 44, no. 7, pp. 3523–3542, 2022 (pdf).
A highly influential survey of deep learning for image segmentation that provides a broad reference for modern AI-based image analysis and connects hyperspectral research with the wider computer vision community.
D. Hong, B. Zhang, X. Li, Y. Li, C. Li, J. Yao, N. Yokoya, H. Li, X. Jia, A. Plaza, P. Gamba, J. A. Benediktsson and J. Chanussot.
SpectralGPT: Spectral Remote Sensing Foundation Model. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 46, no. 8, pp. 5227–5244, 2024 (pdf).
A pioneering foundation model for spectral remote sensing that extends hyperspectral analysis toward large-scale self-supervised learning and general-purpose spectral representations, opening a new direction for foundation models in spectral remote sensing.
D. Hong, C. Li, N. Yokoya, B. Zhang, X. Jia, A. Plaza, P. Gamba, J. A. Benediktsson and J. Chanussot.
Hyperspectral Imaging. Nature Reviews Methods Primers, vol. 6, Article 19, 2026 (pdf).
An authoritative methodological primer providing a comprehensive overview of hyperspectral imaging, from data acquisition and preprocessing to analysis, applications, and emerging research directions.

Awards

Highly Cited Researcher (WoS/Clarivate Analytics) in 2018-2025 (eight consecutive years).
2025 Highest Impact Paper Award of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society for the contribution entitled "Graph Convolutional Networks for Hyperspectral Image Classification" published in the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing in July 2021.
Research Track Record of Excellence Award at University of Extremadura, 2024.
Aritmel Award of the Spanish Computer Science Society (SCIE) and BBVA Foundation, 2023.
2023 Top Cited Paper of the CAAI Transactions on Intelligence Technology journal for the contribution entitled "Spectral-Spatial Sequence Characteristics-Based Convolutional Transformer for Hyperspectral Change Detection".
Fellow of the International Academy of Artificial Intelligence Sciences in 2021.
Elected as a Member of Academia Europaea - The Academy of Europe in 2020.
Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2015.
Distinguished with the 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026 "Computer Science in Spain Leader Award" by research.com (source).
Scilit top cited scholar in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 (source).
2021 Outstanding Paper Award at the IEEE Workshop: Hyperspectral Sensing meets Machine Learning and Pattern Analysis (HyperMLPA), for the contribution entitled "A New Max-Min Convolutional Neural Network for Hyperspectral Image Classification".
2019 Outstanding Paper Award at the IEEE Workshop on Hyperspectral Image Processing: Evolution in Remote Sensing (WHISPERS), for the contribution entitled "Efficient Convolutional Neural Network for Spectral-Spatial Hyperspectral Denoising."
2017 Outstanding Associate Editor Award of the IEEE Access journal.
2015 IEEE Signal Processing Magazine Best Column Paper Award for the contribution entitled "Parallel Hyperspectral Image and Signal Processing" published in the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine in April 2011.
2014 Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Prize Paper Award of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing (JSTARS), for the contribution entitled "A Web-Based System for Classification of Remote Sensing Data" published in JSTARS in August 2013.
Best reviewer of the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing journal in 2010.
Best reviewer of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters journal in 2009.
Co-author of the 2011 Best Student Paper at the IEEE International Conference on Space Technology, entitled "FPGA Design of the N-FINDR Algorithm for Spaceborne Hyperspectral Missions."
Top Cited Article award of Elsevier's Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing (in 2005-2010) for the contribution entitled "Commodity Cluster-Based Parallel Processing of Hyperspectral Imagery."
2008 Best Paper award at the IEEE Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology, for the contribution entitled "Morphological Feature Extraction and Spectral Unmixing of Hyperspectral Images."
Best Ph.D. Dissertation award at University of Extremadura in 2002.
Several of his students received the Best Ph.D. Dissertation award at University of Extremadura, and one of his students has received the Best Ph.D. Dissertation award at Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. His student M. D. Iordache received the recognition as the best Romanian student of the year in 2011. Several of his students have also received best student paper awards at different conferences/symposia.

Editorial activities

Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing journal for five years (appointed in January 2013, finished his term in December 2017). During his term, the journal increased its impact factor from 2.993 to 4.662.
Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal on Miniaturization for Air and Space Systems (2020-2021).
Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (2007-2012, 2018-2021) in the areas of Hyperspectral Image Analysis and Signal Processing.
Associate Editor of IEEE Access (2013-2019), being recognized as Outstanding Associate Editor of the journal in 2017).
Associate Editor of the Journal of Real-Time Image Processing (since February 2009).
Associate Editor of the EURASIP ISRN Signal Processing journal (2010-2012)
Associate Editor of Remote Sensing journal (2009-2012).
Editor of a book on High-Performance Computing in Remote Sensing for CRC Press/Taylor and Francis (the first book on this topic in the published literature).
Guest Editor of 26 JCR journal special issues on remote sensing data processing and analysis.
Editor of 9 proceeding volumes for different conferences for which he served as Chair.
Served as a member of the steering committee of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing (2011-2012).
Member of the Editorial Board of the Spanish Remote Sensing journal.
Associate Editor for Education Activites for the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Newsletter (2011-2012).

Involvement in technical societies

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) - Member (2005), Senior Member (2007), Fellow (2015).
Member of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) since 2005.
Elected voting member of the Administrative Committee (AdCom) of IEEE GRSS since 2011.
International Director of Education of IEEE GRSS (2011-2012).
President of the Spanish Chapter of IEEE GRSS (2013-2016).
Chair of the Ad-Hoc Plagiarism Committee of IEEE GRSS (2018).
Chair of the History Committee of IEEE GRSS (2018).
Vice-Chair of the Fellow Evaluation Committee of IEEE GRSS (2019-2022).
Chair of the Fellow Evaluation Committee of IEEE GRSS (2023-2025).
Chair of the Publications Awards Committee of IEEE GRSS (since 2019).
Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Strategic Industry Engagement and Impact of IEEE GRSS (since 2026).

Coordination of international research projects

Coordinator of the Hyperspectral Imaging Network (Hyper-I-Net), a four-year Marie Curie Research Training Network with a total budget of €2.8 million, established to build an interdisciplinary European research community in hyperspectral imaging. The project made a significant contribution to the development and consolidation of hyperspectral imaging research in Europe, fostering collaboration, researcher training, and knowledge exchange across institutions and countries.
Member of the Management Committee and Coordinator of a Working Group on Applications of Hierarchical-Heterogeneous Systems within ComplexHPC, the Open European Network for High Performance Computing on Complex Environments, funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) programme.
Partner in the Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES) project TOLOMEO (Tools for Open Multi-Risk Assessment Using Earth Observation Data), promoting research collaboration and staff exchange among universities and research institutions in Europe and South America.
Partner in the HOST project, funded under the European Commission's Research Potential (REGPOT) programme, with a total budget of €2.23 million, aimed at strengthening research capacity and international collaboration.
Partner in the EOXPOSURE IRSES project, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 framework, supporting international research collaboration and knowledge exchange in Earth observation.
Coordinator of several national research projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, covering fundamental research, research infrastructures, and related strategic areas, and participant in major Spanish research networks and collaborative initiatives.

Visiting researcher/professor positions

Microsystems Laboratory at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park (2001).
AVIRIS group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California (2002).
Computational and Information Sciences and Technology Office (CISTO) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland (2003).
Remote Sensing, Signal and Image Processing Laboratory (RSSIPL) at the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (2004).
Telecommunications & Remote Sensing Laboratory, University of Pavia, Italy (2010).
GIPSA-Laboratory, Grenoble Institute of Technology, Grenoble, France (2011).
Center for Earth Observation and Digital Earth (CEODE), Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (2013).
School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China (multiple times in between 2014 and 2019).
Department of Electrical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, China, funded by the prestigious ChangJiang Scholar grant to serve as visiting professor (part-time) in 2017-2019.
Visiting scholar with many Chinese universities in different cities, including (among others) Nanjing, Wuhan, Xi’an, Beijing or Shanghai.

Educational activities

Dr. Plaza has supervised 20 PhD dissertations in hyperspectral imaging, involving researchers from a wide range of institutions and countries: D. Valencia, C. González, A. Paz, J. Li, D. Iordache, S. Sanchez, G. Martín, S. Bernabé, I. García, M. Khodadadzadeh, J. Sevilla, L. I. Jiménez, Y. Liu, J. M. Molero, J. M. Haut, M. E. Paoletti, X. Tao, E. C. Rodriguez-Garlito, L. Han, and Z. Wu.
He was nominated for the University of Extremadura Excellence in Teaching Award in 2015 and 2018, and was the recipient of the University of Extremadura Excellence in Teaching Award in 2019.
He served as Director of Education of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) from 2011 to 2012, contributing to the development and coordination of educational activities within the Society.
He served as a member of the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) Student Prize Paper Award Committee from 2011 to 2019. As GRSS Director of Education, he was also responsible for coordinating the allocation of IGARSS Travel Grants in 2011 and 2012.
He served as Associate Editor for Education Activities of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Newsletter (2011–2012), contributing to the dissemination and promotion of educational initiatives within the remote sensing community.
He served as Vice-Chair and one of the main organizers of the First IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Summer School (RSSS12), held in conjunction with IGARSS 2012 in Munich, Germany. He also served as a lecturer at the Summer School, contributing directly to the training of early-career researchers and students.
He has delivered keynote and invited talks at numerous international conferences, symposia, and scientific events, addressing topics related to hyperspectral imaging, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing.

Proposal evaluation and reviewer activities

Dr. Plaza has extensive experience in research proposal evaluation, academic selection, and peer review at national and international levels. He has served as a proposal evaluator for the European Commission, including Marie Curie Actions, the Engineering Panel, FP7, and the H2020 Space Program, as well as for the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the European Space Agency (ESA), Belgium Science Policy, the Israel Science Foundation, and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
He has participated in Tenure-Track Selection Committees at universities in the United States, China, Australia, and Europe. In Spain, he has reviewed numerous research proposals for the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education, including proposals submitted to the prestigious Juan de la Cierva and Ramón y Cajal programs, and has served on evaluation committees for fundamental research projects submitted to the TIN (Information Technology) program of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
He has also served as a collaborator of the Spanish Research Agency (AEI), contributing to the evaluation of research proposals submitted to multiple national funding calls in Spain.
In addition, Dr. Plaza has served as a reviewer for more than 60 international scientific journals. According to Web of Science, he has 429 verified peer reviews and 6,814 editor records, corresponding to manuscripts handled as Editor-in-Chief or Associate Editor. His extensive editorial and reviewing activities reflect sustained international recognition and service to the scientific community.
Specifically, Prof. Plaza has served as a reviewer for the following journals:

IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters
IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence
IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics
IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems
IEEE Transactions on Computers
IEEE Transactions on Computational Imaging
IEEE Transactions on Image Processing
IEEE Signal Processing Magazine
IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks
IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing
IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement
IEEE Transactions on Information Theory
IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration Systems
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing
IEEE Signal Processing Letters
IEEE Sensors Journal
IEEE Computer Journal
Proceedings of the IEEE
Science
The Innovation
Remote Sensing of Environment
Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing
International Journal of High-Performance Computing Applications
Concurrency & Computation: Practice and Experience
Information Fusion
Information Sciences
International Journal of Remote Sensing
ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation
Computer Vision and Image Understanding
Cluster Computing
Neurocomputing
Journal of Real-Time Image Processing
Signal Processing
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Optical Engineering
Journal of Electronic Imaging
Journal of the Optical Society of America
Environmental Modeling
EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing
IET Image Processing
Optics and Lasers in Engineering
Journal of Systems and Software
SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences
Sensors
Remote Sensing
Computers in Biology and Medicine
Pattern Recognition Letters
Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation
Journal of Real-Time Image Processing
Computers & Geosciences
Journal of Computational Physics
The Computer Journal
GeoInformatica
Applied Optics
Remote Sensing Letters
Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing

Full list of publications

Last update: October 2026

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