Ramón López de Mántaras

Dr. Mantaras is a Research Professor (Emeritus) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Founder and former director of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA). Electrical Engineer from Mondragon University (Spain), Master of Sciences in Computer Science from the University of California Berkeley, PhD in Physics from the University of Toulouse (France), and PhD in Computer Science from the Technical University of Barcelona. A pioneer of Artificial Intelligence in Spain, with contributions, since 1976, in Pattern Recognition, Approximate Reasoning, Expert Systems, Machine Learning, Case-Based Reasoning, Autonomous Robots, and AI & Music. Author of nearly 300 papers. Invited plenary speaker at numerous international conferences. Former Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Intelligence Communications, and editorial board member of several top international journals. Fellow of the European Association for Artificial Intelligence. Co-recipient of five best paper awards at international conferences. Recipient, among other awards, of the “City of Barcelona” Research Prize in 1981, the “2011 American Association of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) Robert S. Engelmore Memorial Award”, the “2012 Spanish National Computer Science Award” from the Spanish Computer Society, the “2016 Distinguished Service Award of the European Association of Artificial Intelligence”, the “2017 IJCAI Donald E. Walker Distinguished Service Award” of IJCAI, and the “2018 National Research Award in Mathematics and ICT” of the Spanish Government. Member of the “Institut d’Estudis Catalans” (Catalan Academy of Sciences and Humanities). He serves on a variety of panels and advisory committees for public and private institutions based in the USA and Europe on AI related issues.

David Peris Navarro

Scientific contributions

David Peris has a PhD in Biotechnology (University of Valencia, 2012). He is Principal Investigator at University of Oslo and Tenured Researcher (Científico Titular) at Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA)-CSIC. He has developed his research in four different countries: Spain, UK, US and Norway. He is leading the UiO/IATA FunGIA lab (Fungal Genomics & Industrial Applications Lab), where his team implements bioinformatic tools to study evolution and adaptation of fungi (mushroom-like and yeasts) through population and comparative genomics methods, high througput microbial phenotyping; and they develop new molecular methods for generating new strains with applications in food.

Contribution to society

Peris’ research has been transferred to society by 3 intellectual disclosure reports and 2 patents. He developed molecular methods to generate yeast diversity that can offer new traits of industrial interest. Heineken® has used their strains to generate a new line of beers, the “Wild Lager”.

Other contributions in ECUSA and other non-profit associations

He was president of Spanish Scientist in US-Midwest (2015-2017), developing mentoring and outreach programs, and he participated actively in outreach events organized by SFNO (Spanske Forskere i Norge) IENO (2021).

Important prizes and fellowships

In 2017, he received the postdoctoral Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship; in 2018, he was recipient of the DeLill Nasser Award of Genetics Society of America; and in 2024, he received the 1st Maria Blasco Award by the Spanish Embassy in Norway and SFNO.IENO.

Stela Álvarez Fernández

Was born in Leon, Spain. From a young age, she aspired to be a doctor and a dancer. She pursued a degree in Biology at the University of Vigo and, during her final year as an Erasmus student in Sunderland, UK, she discovered a passion for working with international people. After graduating, Stela explored various laboratories to find her true calling. She spent a year studying plant resistance in Tenerife, researched rare diseases at a public hospital, and worked for two years on obesity and diabetes treatment pathways. Eventually, she found her niche in Cell and Molecular Biology of Cancer at the Center for Cancer Research (CIC) in Salamanca, Spain, where she completed her PhD in signaling pathways to target Multiple Myeloma.

After her PhD, Stela moved to San Diego, California, to work in biotech companies. There, she discovered ECUSA and helped establish a San Diego team, which complemented the existing California chapter in the Bay Area. Stela became actively involved in the Career Development and E-visibility programs, co-directing the latter from 2016 to 2020. She also served as the treasurer of the California chapter from 2016 to 2017 and as its president from 2017 to 2019, enhancing the chapter's visibility and growth within ECUSA. From 2019 to 2021, she was the Vice President of ECUSA. Stela has since returned to Spain, where she has worked as a Product Manager. She is passionate about communication, education, entrepreneurship and networking.

Santiago Cuevas

I have 22 years of experience in the academy and industry in basic, translational and clinical research studying the pathways involved in the regulation of oxidative stress and inflammation in the pathogenesis of hypertension and renal diseases, with ten years of experience in the United States in this same field of research.

At present, I am a Principal Investigator Miguel Servet in the Institute of Biomedical Research in Murcia (IMIB). I am a team leader in the Unit of Molecular Inflammation at the IMIB, where we study the molecular mechanism involved in inflammasome regulation and its role in the pathogenesis of several renal and cardiovascular diseases, and determine the protective effects of new anti-inflammatory pharmacological approaches in diabetic nephropathy.

Eva Campo

Física teórica e Ingeniera de Materiales, Miembro de ECUSA. Eva Campo estudia interfaces de sistemas tecnológicos: semiconductores, compuestos poliméricos de nanopartículas, y herramientas biomédicas. Como directora en la National Science Foundation ha co-dirigido programas (en exceso de $80 millones) promoviendo ciencia de datos abierta (imprescindible para la inteligencia artificial) y promocionando la participación de minorías; en particular mujeres, Hispanos, Afroamericanos, y el Pueblo Navajo. 

Su labor como Embajadora de Ciencia Abierta ha generado la consolidación de Latinoamérica, Estados Unidos y Canadá dentro del Research Data Alliance y habitualmente participa en discusiones con las National Academies of Science and Engineering en Washington, DC.  

Eva es Senior Scientist y Fellow de SPIE, profesora adjunta del departamento de Materiales en Ingeniería en la Universidad de Maryland, fundadora de Campostella Research & Consulting, y contribuye a ECUSA en los ámbitos de Inteligencia Artificial y política científica.