Who am I

I am a Ramón y Cajal senior researcher at the Universidad de Oviedo and ICTEA, and Adjunct Professor at IITM. Previously I have been a postdoc at Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium, IISN postdoc and then FNRS chargé de recherche, 2018-2022), Universidad de Oviedo (2016-2018), and I got my PhD from Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisboa, Portugal) in 2016. I got my bachelor and master’s degrees from Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy).

My research focuses on the exploration of high-dimensional spaces via gradient descent, eventually powered by quantum algorithms, and on the extension of machine learning methods to realistic neurons with spiking networks, to be then implemented in neuromorphic hardware devices. I have created my research group in Universidad of Oviedo and ICTEA, focussed on this main research avenue.

I co-founded and am part of the steering committee of the MODE Collaboration, where we focus on experiment design powered by machine-learning-based optimization.

Within ICTEA, I aim at bridging and promoting cross-contamination between different disciplines by the development and application of state-of-the-art and novel artificial intelligence techniques.

I also apply machine learning algorithms to LHC data, within the CMS Collaboration, to study the associated production of the Higgs boson with a top quark pair (ttH) in final states with many leptons, the properties of the associated production of a W and a Z boson, and the search production of a pair of Higgs boson.

My CMS-related responsibilities include being the coordinator of the Machine Learning Group of the CMS Experiment for the years 2024-2026, member of the CMS Statistics Committee (an advisory committee on topics concerning statistics), plus other responsibilities (e.g. HWW convener) within the CMS Collaboration. Until 2024.09, I have been thecoordinator of the CERN IML (Interexperimental Machine Learning) Working Group.

For what concerns my activities in the CMS Collaboration, I joined the excellent UniOviHEP-ICTEA CMS group.

My Research Group

NeuroModelling (my main project): I am currently building my own research group. If you would like to work with me, either at the bachelor, master’s, PhD, or postdoc level, please write me an email at the address below.

I may have smaller projects to offer, suitable to interested students who want to acquire some experience or try out research work without (yet?) committing to a bachelor, master’s, or PhD thesis. Again, if you are interested please write me an email at the address below.

Current Postdocs

If you got your PhD between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2023, and you are interested in a postdoc with me, please contact me a.s.a.p. (there’s a public call closing on February 7th, 2024) using the email address at the bottom of the page.

Current PhD students

If you are interested in applying to Spanish funding agencies for funding for a PhD with me, please contact me (email address at the bottom of the page).
2024.09-present: María Pereira Martínez, PhD thesis in Physics: “Use of machine learning techniques for the optimization of a neutron tomography system” (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, co-supervised with Xabier Cid Vidal).
2023.06-present: Sadhana Verma, PhD thesis in Physics: “Off-Shell Higgs to WW production” (IIT Madras, co-supervised with Arul Lakshminarayan)

Current Master students

Current Bachelor students

2024.09-present: Marta de la Puente Santos, BSc in Physics, “Bias Reduction via Expectation Maximization in Artificial-Intelligence Based Optimization of a Muon Tomography System” (UniOvi, with Zahraa Zaher, Université catholique de Louvain).
2024.09-present: Paula Granda Gutiérrez, Double BSc in Physics and Mathematics, Optimization of the response of Hodgkins-Huxley neuronal simulators with Automatic Differentiation (UniOvi).
2024.09-present: Jimena Gómez Fernández, BSc in Physics: Artificial-Intelligence Based Study of Advanced Optimization Problems in Muon Tomography Imaging” (UniOvi, with Carlos Díez González, Muon Tomography Systems s.l.).
2024.09-present: Álvaro Sánchez Fernández, Double BSc in Mathematics and Physics Study of equivariant neural networks for robust CP observables (UniOvi, with Clara Ramón Álvarez, University of Virginia).
2024.09-present: Juan Pérez Barrero, Double BSc in Mathematics and Physics, Study of equivariant neural networks for CP robust observables implemented in quantum circuitsÇ (UniOvi).
2024.09-present: Alberto Nieto Cardoso, Double BSc in Mathematics and Physics, Analysis of Cosmological Data Using Artificial Intelligence Techniques (UniOvi, with George Alestas, IFT).
2023.03-present: Adrián Fernández Alonso, BSc in Informatics: “Optimization of a Muon Tomography Experiment for Border Control” (UniOvi, with María José Pérez Fernández).

Current interns

2024.09-present: Pablo Canteli Morales (Universidad de Salamanca), external collaboration (BSc alumni)

Alumni

Master

2023.12-2024.07: María Pereira Martínez, MSc thesis in Physics: “Use of machine learning techniques for the optimization of a neutron tomography system” (Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, co-supervised with Xabier Cid Vidal).

Bachelor

2023.12-2024.07: Pablo Canteli Morales, BSc in Physics: “Artificial-Intelligence Based Study of Optimization Problems in Muon Tomography Imaging” (UniOvi, with Carlos Díez González, Muon Tomography Systems s.l.)
2023.12-2024.07: Samuel Álvarez Lueje, BSc in Physics: “Artificial-Intelligence Based Optimization of a Muon Tomography System for the Detection of Smuggled Material in Containers” (UniOvi, with Maxime Lagrange from UCLouvain).
2023.12-2024.07: Pablo Fernández Valdés, BSc in Informatics: “Simulation of Neurons with Spatial Extension and Study of their Response Function” (UniOvi, with María José Pérez Fernández).
2023.12-2024.07: Manuel Uría García, BSc in Physics: “Sentiment Analysis with Quantum Natural Language Processing” (UniOvi, with José Manuel Uría González from UriaXait s.l.).
2023.12-2024.07: Santiago Vila Domínguez, BSc in Physics: “Study of CP Violation in High-Energy Physics Collisions…” (UniOvi, with Sergio Sánchez Cruz from UZH). Internships
2023.01-2023.04: Mariam Safieldin (American University of Beirut), internship: “Development of an Expectation Maximization Algorithm for muon tomography detector optimization” (UCLouvain/UniOvi, cosupervised and funded by UCLouvain’s muon tomography group)