Co-Chair (OEB) and Chapter Secretary

Ruben is a Machine Learning Researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). With a background in Mechatronics and Mechanical Engineering, he has turned to Artificial Intelligence where his main interest lies in Machine Learningresearch with a focus on Reinforcement Learning, autonomous systems, and applications in energy efficiency. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering in the area of ML at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, holds a master degree in Mechanical Engineering in the area of controlling mechanical systems from the Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho(UNESP), Brazil, and a Diplom-Ingenieur degree in Mechatronics in the area of sensors and robotics from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany.

Ruben has acquired years of professional experience before and during his studies while working in the technology and energy sector, as well as in the organization of international ML conferences. After converting from a postdoctoral position at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), USA, he is now working as a Machine Learning Researcher on a variety of RL projects to develop methods for collaborative autonomy in multi-agent systems, interpretable RL, and real-world applications.
Ruben’s long-term research interest lies in successfully applying RL techniques to real-world challenges to accelerate and improve decision-making, autonomously or as a support tool for humans, preferably for applications in energy and smart mobility systems.

Apart from professional experiences, Ruben is involved in many community efforts such as workshop organization and supporting community groups. Currently, he is an active founding member of the Robotics & Automation Networking group at LLNL as well as a founding member of the newly revived IEEE Computer Society Chapter for the San Francisco and Oakland/East Bay section.