Elza Erkip is listed among the 2014 Thomson Reuters “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds”. She earned the distinction by being one of the 117 Highly Cited Researchers in Computer Science between 2002-2012.  Thomson Reuters compiled the 2014 list of Highly Cited Researchers by using the company’s Web of Science platform, the premier search and discovery environment for the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities, alongside InCites, its web-based scientific evaluation and benchmarking platform. Elza Erkip became a Highly Cited Researcher by writing the greatest number of papers officially designated by Essential Science Indicators as Highly Cited Papers—ranking among the top 1% most cited for Computer Science between 2002 and 2012. The complete list, which can be found on http://highlycited.com/ contains more than 3,000 authors in 21 main fields of science and the social sciences.

Elza Erkip works on wireless networks, with a particular emphasis on information theoretic and communication theoretic aspects. She is a Distinguished Lecturer and a Member of the Board of Governors of IEEE Information Theory Society. Among her many honors is the 2013 IEEE Communications Society Award for Advances in Communication, given to recognize an outstanding paper published in any IEEE Communications Society publication in the past 15 years.