Julia Contreras-Fortes received her MEng degree in Industrial Engineering in 2008 from the University of Cádiz, where she is also nearing the completion of her PhD. Since 2005, she has been employed at Acerinox Europa’s stainless-steel factory, gaining substantial experience as a researcher in Physical Metallurgy and Mechanical Testing until 2023. Currently, she is a process engineer in the Hot Rolling Department. Julia has been instrumental in research projects to develop new applications and manufacturing processes for the automotive and energy sectors, including the innovation of stabilized ferritic, low-Ni austenitic, and duplex stainless-steel grades. She has contributed to several congresses with 17 paper submissions. Additionally, since 2015, she has been working with the European Commission as an expert reviewer of project proposals and a monitor for projects in the construction, building, and industry sectors. Recently, she's co-authoring a patent for a novel Low Ni stainless steel.
María Inmaculada Rodríguez-García holds a Postdoctoral contract at the University of Cádiz and is member of the interdisciplinary research group on Intelligent Modelling of Systems since January 2019, which is led by the University Professor Ignacio Turias at the Algeciras School of Engineering and Technology (ASET) in Cádiz (Spain). She belongs to the Department of Computer Science Engineering at this university. She holds a BEng degree in Civil Engineering and a MEng degree in Civil Engineering. She obtained her PhD degree in Energy and Sustainable Engineering in analysis of air quality in a port city such as Algeciras (Cádiz, Spain). She has 180 hours of university teaching collaboration experience in: Degree in Labor Relations subject of Computer Science Applied to Labor Relations, and Degree in Civil Engineering subject of Computer Science Languages. She maintained activity in terms of participation in research projects and is responsible for her first innovation-transfer contract in CEI·MAR entity. In terms of scientific production, she has a total of 23 contributions in journal articles, conferences and collaborations. The author has published 12 articles (4 of them under revision) in journals with impact JCR of Q1, Q2 and Q3. She participated as author and speaker in 5 international research conferences in the field of engineering and machine learning, and other conferences. She has also published 4 articles in Transportation Research Procedia indexed in Scopus.
David L. Sales, Associate Professor at Universidad de Cádiz (Spain), holds an MSci in Chemical Engineering from Universidad de Cádiz and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. With a PhD in Materials Science (2008), he has contributed to electron microscopy and nanoscience, particularly in semiconductors, (nano)materials, and stainless steel for additive manufacturing. He's a senior lecturer at Algeciras School of Engineering and Technology, teaching Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering. Dr. Sales has co-authored two patents and over 50 high-impact journal papers. His current research includes circular economy in additive manufacturing, developing low nickel stainless steel alloys, and designing advanced materials for additive manufacturing. He leads the Smart Manufacturing Lab at UCA-SEA Innovation Center, Algeciras (Spain). An active academic, Dr Sales is an active reviewer of international journals, organizer of two international nanotechnology schools, an international and a national congress, and an international workshop. Winner of the 'Excellent Student Paper' award from the University of Sheffield (2007), and associate member of ESOF.
Rocío Sánchez-Miranda, MEng, is an industrial engineer with a robust academic and professional portfolio. Graduating from the University of Málaga in 2015, she honed her expertise in the metallurgical domain, particularly in the cold strain hardening behavior of stainless steels, through her master's thesis carried out at Acerinox Europa. Her tenure as a Process Engineer at Adient Automotive (2016-2022) further solidified her proficiency in developing foams. Presently, she is pioneering supply chain and quality operations management strategies as a Superchain Manager at Airbus Defence and Space, focusing on the innovation of components within the transport sector.
Ignacio J. Turias, received the BSc. and MSc. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Málaga (Spain), and the Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Cádiz in 2003. He is currently Full Professor in the Department of Computer Engineering at the University of Cádiz.
His present interests lie in the field of machine learning and its applications in industrial, environmental, and logistics problems. He has coauthored numerous technical journals and conference papers which are the result of his participation and leadership of research projects and has served as a reviewer of many journals and conference proceedings. He has led several innovation-transfer contracts with prominent companies. He has successfully supervised 11 doctoral theses. He also was the Head of the Engineering School of Algeciras during the period between 2003 and 2011. He is currently the principal investigator of the research group “Intelligent Modelling of Systems”. ORCID: 0000-0003-4627-0252.