About Me

I am an enthusiastic agronomist and scientist. I am specialized in Multivariate Data Analysis (chemometrics) and the implementation of new technologies the agri-food chain. My research interests focus on Visible, Near Infrared and Mid Infrared spectroscopy, as well as on hyperspectral imaging applications for precision agriculture, food quality assessment and food safety. Curious, enthusiastic and a good communicator, I am experienced in both leading scientific research and in the dissemination and transfer of scientific knowledge.

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Testimonials

  • Wisdom begins in wonder.

    Socrates (470/469 - 399 BC)
  • Si tu diffères de moi mon frère, loin de me léser, tu m'enrichis.
    He who is different from me does not impoverish me, he enriches me.

    Antoine de St Exupéry (1900 - 1944)
  • We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge.

    John Naisbitt (1929)
  • If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

    Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)
  • The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.

    Stephen Hawking (1942-)

Research

Areas of Research

Agronomy, Chemometrics, Viticulture, Spectroscopy, Precision Agriculture, Postharvest, Quality Assessment, Image Analysis (spectral and colour)

Research Interests

My research interests are interdisciplinary and comprise the application of Multivariate data analyses (chemometrics) to agronomical sciences.

Some pertinent examples of my work are: the adaptation of sampling methods to the calibration of spatial models in precision viticulture, (see references SC.6, SC 9, CP.19 on the publications list); the assessment and improvement of NIR model robustness for plant breeding purposes (SC.10, CP.23, CP.24, CP. 25); the development of multispectral indexes for spectral imaging (CP. 21, SC.3, SC.8); and the use UAV-based thermal imagery to monitor instantaneous variations in water status within a vineyard (SC. 11). Throughout these studies I used two kinds of data analyses: chemometrics (SC1. to SC.5, SC.7, SC.8, SC.10); and combinations of chemometrics and geostatistics (SC.6 , SC.9, SC. 11).

Scientific Partners

These lines of research resulted from the collaboration between the COMIC team at Irstea-Montpellier, specialized in spectroscopy, optic sensors and chemometrical methods; and several agronomical institutions, involved in plant physiology (EMR), crop modelling for viticulture (Montpellier SupAgro , INRA-Peach Rouge and Universidad Pública de Navarra), post-harvest and advanced agri-food technologies (LPF-TAGRALIA, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), and the sugar beet sector (Institut Technique de la Betterave). Presently, I am integrated in the (UCD Spectral Imaging Research Group, where use spectral imaging to improve understanding of biological systems and develop algorithms for the analysis of spectral imaging data. Different spectral modalities (VIS, NIR, SWIR, Raman, ATR and FTIR) applied at various spatial scales are explored for this purpose.

Current Research

I am currently working on the application of hyperspectral imaging for the detection of pathogenic microorganisms in food related surfaces. Find out more

Publications

See my publications

During the last 15 years I have published in peer reviewed scientific journals. The main theme of my publications is the application of multivariate data analysis to precision agriculture, food quality assessment and food safety.

* Check my Publications on ORCID
* See my ResearchGate Profile

EDUCATION

PhD studies

2006-2010

ETSIA-UPM. Rural Engineering Program. Public lecture held on June 25th 2010. Thesis title: "Spectral Machine Vision for Peach Ripeness Assessment " (in English). Thesis Supervisor: Lourdes Lléo García.

Agronomy Engineering Degree

1998 - 2005

Plant science and production; ETSIA-UPM. Exchange student in the Socrates-Erasmus Program at Ghent University, Belgium (2003-2004). Leonardo grant for training at EMR on the Raspberry Breeding program (May- July 2005).

WORK

Postdoctoral researcher

University College Dublin Jul 2017 - present

HyperMicroMacro project (ID 15/IA/2984). Responsible of project management, research activities, mentoring students and public engagement. Awarded Funding Grants: 93 565 euros of funding by the Spanish Program Torres Quevedo (2017); 186 000 euros funding from Internal UCD infrastructure call.

Freelance Researcher

Freelance Sept 2014 - Jun 2017

Collaboration with the research institutes LPF-TAGRALIA, UPN, UMR ITAP-Irstea (Cemagref) and the company Black Team.

Researcher

UMR ITAP-Irstea (Cemagref) - Montpellier, France Jan 2013 - June 2014

Responsible of Sugar Beet Roots Modelling at the AKER project. Development of a Near Infrared Spectroscopy model for the estimation of sugar content in sugar beet root for phenotyping purposes in plant breeding programs.

Post - Doctoral Position

Fruition Sciences-Montpellier Sup Agro - Montpellier, France Febr 2011 - Oct 2012

Post-doctoral Researcher at the PILOTYPE project. Responsible of the adaptation and application of sampling methods for the spatio-temporal modelling of vine water status.

Occupation as Research Trainee

LPF-TAGRALIA, ETSIA-UPM. - Madrid, Spain Oct 2005 - Dec 2010

Research Trainee at the ISAFRUIT project. Theme of research: Development of instrumental techniques for assessing fruits and vegetables quality. Research stays at EMR (United Kingdom) and Irstea-Montpellier.

COMPETENCIES

PERSONAL COMPETENCIES

  • Good Communication Skills
  • Team Oriented
  • Attention to Detail & Quality
  • Creative
  • Self-Learner and Self-Motivated
  • International Scientific Network

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  • Multivariate Data Analysis (Modelling)
  • Multidisciplinary Experience (Wide Range of Applications)
  • Spectral Analysis (Visible, NIR, SWIR, MIR)
  • Image Analysis
  • Precision Agriculture
  • Food Quality and Safety

LANGUAGES

Spanish

Native

Scientific writing, storytelling, poetry and story writer.

English

Proficiency Level (C2)

PhD thesis written in English. Full professional proficiency. Working language since 2005.

French

Advanced Level (C1)

Fluent in spoken and written language. Working language since 2010.

INFORMATICS SKILLS

Multivariate Analysis Sofware

Being usually the link between experts on different disciplines, I have consistently been responsible of programming the mathematical solutions required for my research work. As a result, I am a confident user of MatLab, which I started using in 2005. Since then, I have developed my own toolboxes for sampling, modelling and hyperspectral image analysis.

Geographic Information Systems

Regarding Geographic Information Systems, I handled QGIS and 3DField for the visualization of spatial measurements and estimations during my postdoctoral experience at the company Fruition Sciences.

Image Analysis

I am familiar with image processing and analysis sofware ImageJ, which I used as a didactic tool for introducing students to image analysis methods.

Others

I am also a competent user of bibliography managers, particularly Endnote and Mendeley as well as MS Office tools (Excel, including macro programming, Word and Power Point), and Paint Shop Pro. I have some brief experience on database enquiring with SQL (3 months, during experimental work).

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