Francisco Mena | Machine Learning | Best Researcher Award

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Mr. Francisco Mena | Machine Learning | Best Researcher Award

PhD Candidate at University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Germany

Francisco Mena is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), Germany, with a strong academic and research background in deep learning, multi-view learning, and unsupervised learning. His work focuses on developing scalable and generalizable machine learning models, particularly in complex real-world domains like Earth observation and astroinformatics, where missing data and multi-source fusion are major challenges. Francisco’s research emphasizes minimizing human intervention and domain dependency, aiming for methods that are more robust, adaptable, and explainable.

Publication Profile 

Orcid

Educational Background 🎓

  • PhD in Computer Science
    University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), Germany
    Jan. 2022 – Present
    Thesis: Data Fusion in Multi-view Learning for Earth Observation Applications with Missing Views

  • Magíster en Ciencias de la Ingeniería Informática (Equivalent to M.Sc. in Computer Engineering)
    Federico Santa María Technical University (UTFSM), Valparaíso, Chile
    Mar. 2018 – Sep. 2020
    Thesis: Mixture Models for Learning in Crowdsourcing Scenarios
    GPA: 94%

  • Ingeniería Civil en Informática (Equivalent to Computer Engineering)
    UTFSM, Santiago, Chile
    Mar. 2013 – Sep. 2020
    GPA: 80% | Rank: Top 10% – 4th of 66 students

  • Licenciado en Ciencias de la Ingeniería Informática
    UTFSM, Santiago, Chile
    Mar. 2013 – Nov. 2017

  • High School
    New Little College, Santiago, Chile
    Mar. 2008 – Dec. 2012

Professional Experience 💼

  • Student Research Assistant – German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Germany
    Mar. 2022 – Present
    Working on Earth observation data for crop yield prediction using Python, QGIS, and Slurm.

  • Lecturer – University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), Germany
    Oct. 2024 – Apr. 2025
    Teaching: Machine Learning for Earth Observation within a broader Data Science course.

  • Visiting PhD Researcher – Inria Montpellier, France
    Nov. 2024 – Jan. 2025
    Research in multi-modal co-learning, mutual distillation, and multi-task learning.

  • Academic Roles – Federico Santa María Technical University (UTFSM), Chile
    2014 – 2021
    Lecturer & Assistant roles in:

    • Computational Statistics

    • Artificial Neural Networks

    • Machine Learning

    • Operations Research

    • Mathematics Lab

  • Research Assistant – Chilean Virtual Observatory (ChiVO)
    Jul. 2017 – May 2018
    Astroinformatics projects involving ALMA/ESO datasets and Python-based data reduction.

  • Developer Intern – Farmacia Las Rosas S.A., Chile
    Jan. 2017 – Mar. 2017
    Desktop software automation using Python and QT.

Research Interests 🔬

  • Machine Learning Foundations:
    Deep Learning, Variational Autoencoders, Neural Networks, Representation Learning, Deep Clustering

  • Methodologies:
    Multi-view Learning, Data Fusion, Latent Variable Modeling, Dimensionality Reduction, Unsupervised Learning

  • Applications:
    Earth Observation, Remote Sensing, Vegetation Monitoring, Crowdsourcing, Neural Information Retrieval, Astroinformatics

Awards and Honors🏆✨

  • PhD Scholarship – RPTU, Germany (2022–present)

  • Scientific Initiation Award (PIIC) – UTFSM, Chile (2019–2020)

  • Master Program Scholarship – UTFSM, Chile (2018–2020)

  • Honor Roll – UTFSM, Chile (2013)

Conclusion🌟

Francisco Mena is a dedicated machine learning researcher whose work blends theoretical rigor with impactful real-world applications. His interdisciplinary approach spans remote sensing, astroinformatics, and crowdsourcing, focusing on creating models that are resilient to missing data, efficient at scale, and minimally reliant on labeled supervision. With a growing publication record, international experience, and teaching background, he is well-positioned to make significant contributions to both academia and applied AI research.

Publications 📚

  1. 📄 Missing data as augmentation in the Earth Observation domain: A multi-view learning approach
    Neurocomputing, 2025-07
    DOI: 10.1016/j.neucom.2025.130175
    👥 Francisco Mena, Diego Arenas, Andreas Dengel

  2. 🌾 Adaptive fusion of multi-modal remote sensing data for optimal sub-field crop yield prediction
    Remote Sensing of Environment, 2025-03
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2024.114547
    👥 Francisco Mena et al.

  3. 🛰️ Common Practices and Taxonomy in Deep Multiview Fusion for Remote Sensing Applications
    IEEE JSTARS, 2024
    DOI: 10.1109/JSTARS.2024.3361556
    👥 Francisco Mena, Diego Arenas, Marlon Nuske, Andreas Dengel

  4. 📉 Impact Assessment of Missing Data in Model Predictions for Earth Observation Applications
    IGARSS Proceedings, 2024
    DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS53475.2024.10640375
    👥 Francisco Mena et al.

  5. 🛰️ Assessment of Sentinel-2 Spatial and Temporal Coverage Based on the Scene Classification Layer
    IGARSS 2024, 2024-07-07
    DOI: 10.1109/igarss53475.2024.10642213
    👥 Cristhian Sanchez, Francisco Mena et al.

  6. 🌽 Crop Yield Prediction: An Operational Approach to Crop Yield Modeling on Field and Subfield Level with ML Models
    IGARSS 2023
    DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10283302
    👥 Francisco Mena et al.

  7. 🧩 Feature Attribution Methods for Multivariate Time-Series Explainability in Remote Sensing
    IGARSS 2023
    DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10282120
    👥 Francisco Mena et al.

  8. 🧹 Influence of Data Cleaning Techniques on Sub-Field Yield Predictions
    IGARSS 2023
    DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10282955
    👥 Francisco Mena et al.

  9. 🗂️ A Comparative Assessment of Multi-View Fusion Learning For Crop Classification
    IGARSS 2023, 2023-07-16
    DOI: 10.1109/igarss52108.2023.10282138
    👥 Francisco Mena, Diego Arenas, Marlon Nuske, Andreas Dengel

  10. 📊 Predicting Crop Yield with Machine Learning: Input Modalities and Models on Field and Sub-Field Level
    IGARSS 2023, 2023-07-16
    DOI: 10.1109/igarss52108.2023.10282318
    👥 Francisco Mena et al.

Sushil Kumar | Machine Learning | Best Researcher Award

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Dr. Sushil Kumar | Machine Learning | Best Researcher Award

Assistant Professor at Central University of Haryana, India

Dr. Sushil Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Central University of Haryana, having joined on December 2, 2022. With a rich experience of 19 years in teaching, he specializes in Information Retrieval, Machine Learning, and Distributed Computing. Dr. Kumar holds a B.Tech, M.Tech, and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering. He has published 7 papers in international journals and 1 book chapter, and has guided 16 Master’s students in their research. He has actively participated in 25 seminars and conferences, and organized 5 academic events. In addition, he has been recognized with the Youth Red Cross Award from the Honorable Governor of Haryana for 2016-17 and 2019-20. Currently, he also serves as the NBA Co-ordinator and NAAC Co-ordinator at the university.

Publication Profile : 

Google Scholar

Education 🎓

Dr. Sushil Kumar holds a B.Tech, M.Tech, and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering, equipping him with a solid foundation in the field of technology and research.

Professional Experience💼

Assistant Professor at Central University of Haryana since 02-12-2022
With 19 years of teaching experience, Dr. Sushil Kumar has been dedicated to nurturing young minds in the area of computer science. His expertise in Information Retrieval, Machine Learning, and Distributed Computing has shaped his teaching methodology. While his focus remains on academia, he has not been involved in industry work yet. He has also taken up additional responsibilities as NBA Co-ordinator and NAAC Co-ordinator, ensuring quality assurance and accreditation standards in the department.

Research Interests 🔬

🔍 Information Retrieval
🤖 Machine Learning
🌐 Distributed Computing

Dr. Sushil Kumar’s research interests are focused on the areas of Information Retrieval, where he aims to improve search and data retrieval systems, Machine Learning, and the development of efficient algorithms for Distributed Computing systems.

Publications Top Notes 📚

  1. Kumar, S., Aggarwal, M., Khullar, V., Goyal, N., Singh, A., & Tolba, A. (2023). Pre-Trained Deep Neural Network-Based Features Selection Supported Machine Learning for Rice Leaf Disease Classification. Agriculture, 13(5), 23.
  2. Kumar, S., & Bhatia, K. K. (2020). Semantic similarity and text summarization-based novelty detection. SN Applied Sciences, 2(3), 332.
  3. Kumar, S., & Chauhan, N. (2012). A context model for focused web search. International Journal of Computer Technology, 2(3).
  4. Gupta, C., Khullar, V., Goyal, N., Saini, K., Baniwal, R., Kumar, S., & Rastogi, R. (2023). Cross-Silo, Privacy-Preserving, and Lightweight Federated Multimodal System for the Identification of Major Depressive Disorder Using Audio and Electroencephalogram. Diagnostics, 14(1), 43.
  5. Kumar, S., & Bhatia, K. K. (2019). Clustering-based approach for novelty detection in text documents. Asian Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 8(2), 116-121.
  6. Dasari, K., Srikanth, V., Veramallu, B., Kumar, S. S., & Srinivasulu, K. (2014). A novelty approach of symmetric encryption algorithm. Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Communication and Embedded Systems (ICICES).
  7. Kumar, S., & Anand, S. (2006). Implementing Shared Data Services (SDS): A Proposed Approach. 2006 IEEE International Conference on Services Computing (SCC’06), 365-372.
  8. Singh, S., Kundra, H., Kundra, S., Pratima, P. V., Devi, M. V. A., Kumar, S., & Hassan, M. (2024). Optimal trained ensemble of classification model for satellite image classification. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 1-22.
  9. Kumar, S., & Bhatia, K. K. (2018). Document-to-Sentence Level Technique for Novelty Detection. In Speech and Language Processing for Human-Machine Communications: Proceedings (pp. xx-xx).
  10. Chawla, M., Panda, S. N., Khullar, V., Kumar, S., & Bhattacharjee, S. B. (2024). A lightweight and privacy-preserved federated learning ecosystem for analyzing verbal communication emotions in identical and non-identical databases. Measurement: Sensors, 34, 101268.
  11. Kumar, S. S. (2023). System Oriented Social Scrutinizer: Centered Upon Mutual Profile Erudition. International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication, 11(9), 2007–2017.
  12. Kumar, S. (2021). Design of novelty detection techniques for optimized search engine results. JC Bose University.
  13. Ishuka, S. K., & Bhatia, K. K. (2019). A Novel Approach for Novelty Detection Using Extractive Text Summarization. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research, 6(6), 141-154.
  14. Pooja, K. K. B., & Kumar, S. (2019). Hashing and Clustering Based Novelty Detection. SSRG International Journal of Computer Science and Engineering, 6(6), 1-9.
  15. Kumar, S., & Bhatia, K. K. (2019). Clustering Based Approach for Novelty Detection in Text Documents. Asian Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 8(2), 121-126.