[ENGLISH] Professor of Computer Architecture at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), has been engaged in teaching, management, technology transfer, and research in his long academic career. He is author and co-author of more than 200 research publications and books on high performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI). He presently teaches in the Artificial Intelligence degree and masters courses at the UPC. In 2005 he joined the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) as part of the founding team and became research manager in the Computer Science Department. In addition to being a senior researcher, his experience and teaching abilities have also led him to occupy the position of expert adviser in HPC and IA to the management at BSC with the aim of strengthening communication about and popularisation of the BSC’s research and innovation projects. He regularly appears in a range of mass media outlets, speaking about the social impact of HPC and AI. He is scientific adviser to the “Artificial Intelligence” exhibition at the CCCB and has recently published the book La intel.ligència artificial explicada als humans (“Artificial Intelligence Explained to Humans”, Plataforma Editorial).
[ESPAÑOL] Catedrático de la Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (UPC) con una larga trayectoria académica en docencia, gestión, transferencia de la tecnología e investigación. Es autor y coautor de más de doscientas publicaciones de investigación, así como de libros sobre computación de alto rendimiento (HPC) e inteligencia artificial (IA). Actualmente es profesor del grado en IA y de cursos de máster de la UPC. En 2005, se unió al Centro de Supercomputación de Barcelona (BSC) como parte del equipo fundador y responsable de investigación en el Departamento de Ciencias de la Computación. Además de ser investigador senior, su experiencia y capacidad pedagógica lo han llevado a ocupar, también, el cargo de asesor en HPC e IA en la dirección del BSC, con la misión de reforzar la comunicación y la divulgación de la investigación y la innovación que se llevan a cabo en el BSC. Colabora habitualmente en medios de comunicación para hablar del impacto social de la HPC y la IA. Es asesor científico de la exposición «Inteligencia Artificial» del CCCB y acaba de publicar el libro La inteligencia artificial explicada a los humanos (Plataforma Editorial).
[CATALÀ] Catedràtic de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) amb una llarga trajectòria acadèmica en docència, gestió, transferència de la tecnologia i recerca. És autor i coautor de més de dues-centes publicacions d’investigació, com també de llibres sobre computació d’alt rendiment (HPC) i intel·ligència artificial (IA). Actualment és professor del grau en IA i de cursos de màster de la UPC. El 2005 es va unir al Centre de Supercomputació de Barcelona (BSC) com a part de l’equip fundador i responsable de recerca al Departament de Ciències de la Computació. A més d’investigador sènior, la seva experiència i capacitat pedagògica l’han portat a ocupar, també, el càrrec d’assessor en HPC i IA a la direcció del BSC, amb la missió d’enfortir la comunicació i la divulgació de la recerca i la innovació que es duen a terme al BSC. Col·labora habitualment en mitjans de comunicació per parlar de l’impacte social de la HPC i la IA. És assessor científic de l’exposició «Intel·ligència Artificial» del CCCB i acaba de publicar el llibre La intel·ligència artificial explicada als humans (Plataforma Editorial).
[Brief CV]
He has a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC Barcelona Tech, 1988). He also holds a Ph. D. from the same institution (Best UPC Computer Science Thesis Award, 1993). Currently, He is a Professor in the Computer Architecture Department at UPC Barcelona Tech. As a visiting researcher, I did a stage at the Center for Supercomputing Research & Development at Urbana-Champaign (Illinois, USA, 1992). He has published more than 200 research publications in journals, conferences, and book chapters. He was involved in the management of many conferences organized by IEEE and ACM associations. He also served as a reviewer for relevant journals in the area. He has acted as a supervisor of 12 Ph.D. Thesis.
In 2005 the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC) was founded, and as one of the founder members, He was assigned as a Research Manager for Autonomic Systems and eBusiness Platforms research line in BSC. The research group produced a large number of research publications and 18 Ph.D. Thesis, as well as software components that can be applied at the HPC middleware level to improve their adaptability, efficiency, and productivity. The research group targets Supercomputing execution platforms composed of high-productivity heterogeneous multi-core systems with accelerators and advanced storage architectures deployed in large-scale distributed environments. The group grew up, and it was divided into new groups created at the Computer Science Department at BSC. Then He has been responsible for exploring new opportunities to apply Supercomputing technology to the Artificial Intelligence arena. Thus, a new research group named Emerging Technologies for Artificial Intelligence has been created. During this time, his Technology Transfer activity in this area was mainly centered on a project that applies Cognitive Computing to the banking sector and European projects that use Deep Learning and Supercomputing applied to computer vision problems. Previously, with their research group at BSC, He has participated in about thirty projects in competitive calls, and a lot of them involve University-Industry Technology Transference. He is currently a Senior Researcher at the Computing Resource Orchestration and Management for Artificial Intelligence research group, working in the HPC & AI research line for the INCISIVE, SECURED, and NEARDATA European projects.
He has done other management activities before besides being a manager at BSC. He was a member of the European Center for Parallelism of Barcelona (CEPBA) and a member of the board of managers of CEPBA-IBM Research Institute (CIRI). I have been Vice-dean of Institutional Relations at the Computer Science School, a member of the University Senate (Claustre) for many periods, and a member of the Board of Governors (Junta de Govern). He has also participated in numerous academic management activities and institutional representation at UPC Barcelona Tech.
He has been lecturing on Computer Networks, Operating Systems, Computer Architecture, and Systems Performance Evaluation at the UPC Barcelona Tech. At the moment, He is lecturing on Cloud Computing and Supercomputing in the Master in Informatics Engineering in the Master in Innovation and Research in Informatics. He is also currently teaching Deep Learning and Artificial Intelligence knowledge included in these courses. He will start the next course to teach in the Artificial Intelligence degree courses at the UPC. He also collaborates many times in training centers such as UPC School of Professional & Executive Development and ESADE.
He has a consultative and strategy role with academic tasks related to next-generation technology and its impact. He is both a creative thinker and an influential collaborator; He has worn many hats, so to speak, throughout his long career. He acts as an expert on these topics for various organizations, companies, and mentoring entrepreneurs. For example, He was a member of the UPCnet+IThinkUPC management board, a member of the advisory board at Barcelona Big Data Center of Excellence, and a member of the BSC Access Committee core team, among many others. He holds several appointments as an independent expert by the European Commission (Information Society and Media Directorate), by Friends of Europe’s Greening Europe Forum, and was elected as an Expert of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Science. Moreover, He was elected many times as an evaluator by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain, by the Dirección General de Investigación de la Comunidad de Madrid (Spain), by the Universitat Jaume I of Castelló (Spain), by the Departament d’Universitat i Recerca of the Generalitat de Catalunya, by La Caixa Foundation, and the Science Foundation (Ireland) among other institutions. I was elected by the Fundació Centre Tècnològic de Catalunya as a member of the board of experts for elaborating on the white paper ―The contribution of ICT to the transition to a more sustainable energy model. I was invited by the European Commission to contribute to the Digital Assembly Agenda.
In addition to being a senior researcher at BSC, his experience and teaching abilities have also led him to occupy the position of Expert Adviser in HPC and IA to the management at BSC with the aim of strengthening communication about and popularisation of the BSC’s research and innovation projects. He regularly appears in a range of mass media outlets, speaking about the social impact of HPC and AI. He is the scientific adviser to the “Artificial Intelligence” exhibition at the CCCB and has recently published the book La inteligencia artificial explicada a los humanos in Spanish and Catalan (“Artificial Intelligence Explained to Humans”, Plataforma Editorial).
He currently has the recognition of 5 “Research Tracts” (Tramos de investigación) conceded by the “National Commission for the Evaluation of research activity” (CNEAI). During my career, He has received some Best Paper Awards, an IBM Faculty Award, “Menció FIBER”, some grant awards during my stage as a doctoral student, etc.
As for hobbies, Mountain biking and running are some outdoor activities that I love. He has created and designed many artworks since He started to paint many years ago.