PhD Defense | i3 lab

A Historic Month for i3 lab: Celebrating Two Outstanding PhD Defenses in September 2026!

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

September 2026 will forever be etched in the history of i3 lab as a month of unprecedented scientific achievement and joy! Our research group is thrilled to celebrate the successful PhD thesis defenses of two outstanding colleagues, Dr. Juan Diego Gutiérrez Gallardo and Dr. Francisco Javier Melchor González, both of whom achieved the maximum academic grade of Sobresaliente Cum Laude.

Double Academic Triumph in Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence

This double success highlights the exceptional quality and impact of the research conducted within our lab across cutting-edge domains:

Dr. Dr. Juan Diego Gutiérrez Gallardo (Andy): Successfully defended his second doctoral thesis, introducing the PROBE (Prompt Optimization for Boundary Exploration) framework. Grounded in MDSE, Andy’s work provides a systematic methodology to optimize prompts and explore performance boundaries in foundation models without requiring costly retraining. For full details on his milestone defense, check out Andy’s PhD defense announcement
Dr. Francisco Javier Melchor González (Fran): Culminated a five-year scientific journey bridging Software Engineering and Data Science. His research proposes an MDSE framework that brings formal verification, reproducibility, and traceability to DS and AI data pipelines through metamodeling and a specialized DSL. Read the complete story in Fran’s PhD defense announcement.

Both doctoral dissertations were supervised with great dedication and expertise by Dr. Roberto Rodríguez Echeverría and Dr. José María Conejero Manzano, whose guidance has been fundamental to these triumphs. We congratulate Andy and Fran from the bottom of our hearts for their brilliance, perseverance, and daily generosity.

Interested in our research lines, want to learn more about our ongoing projects, or thinking about collaborating with us? Get in touch with our team!

Major Celebration at i3 lab! Francisco Javier Melchor Successfully Defends His PhD Thesis Bridging Software Engineering and Data Science

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

September 3rd has become an unforgettable date filled with immense pride for the i3 lab family. After five intense years balancing academic research with his professional career outside the lab, our dear colleague Francisco Javier Melchor González (Fran) has completed an exciting scientific journey by successfully defending his PhD thesis. Guided with great dedication by his supervisors, Dr. José María Conejero Manzano and Dr. Roberto Rodríguez Echeverría, Fran crossed this long-awaited finish line surrounded by the warmth of his loved ones, friends, and lab teammates.

An Essential Alliance Between Software Engineering and Data Science

His research, titled “Model-driven engineering for Data Science projects”, addresses a critical need in the development of advanced analytics and AI solutions. Nowadays, many data analysis pipelines are built in an ad-hoc manner with minimal formal verification, compromising crucial aspects such as reproducibility, traceability, and the overall reliability of the results.

To bridge this gap, Fran designed a framework grounded in MDSE that decouples the conceptual view of the pipeline from operational technologies. His proposal features a metamodel architecture, a specialized DSL, the adaptation of Design by Contract to the DS ecosystem, and automated mechanisms for validation and executable artifact generation—all empirically validated in real-world educational projects.

Committee Recognition and Defense Reflections

We want to express our most sincere gratitude to the members of the evaluation committee for their rigor, warmth, and insightful contributions during the defense: Marta Zorrilla Pantaleón, Juan María Hernández Núñez, and Javier Criado Rodríguez. Thank you for your time and dedication in making this day even more special.

The highlight of an already unforgettable day was the awarding of the highest academic distinction: Sobresaliente Cum Laude! This top honor is a well-deserved tribute to Fran’s relentless dedication, scientific rigor, and research excellence.

Beyond its technical contributions, Fran’s defense inspired a timely reflection on the current state of technology. In an era dominated by a chaotic rush to deploy AI tools, his work demonstrates that genuine progress isn’t about being the fastest to publish, but about building solid, transparent, and dependable engineering foundations step by step.

We couldn’t be prouder of you, Fran! We congratulate you from the bottom of our hearts for your perseverance, humility, and constant warmth—values that enrich our research group every single day. We can’t wait to see the new milestones and projects you will continue to build in this exciting new chapter.

Got a project in mind, want to learn more about our research lines, or interested in collaborating with us? Get in touch with our team!

Is there a doctor in the room? Doctor doctor to the rescue! Juan Diego Gutiérrez Gallardo defends his second PhD thesis on AI and prompt optimization

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Today is a day of immense joy and pride for everyone at i3 lab! Our dear colleague and brilliant researcher, Dr. Juan Diego Gutiérrez Gallardo (Andy), has successfully defended his second PhD thesis within the Doctoral Program in Computer Technologies (R016). Supervised with great dedication by Dr. Roberto Rodríguez Echeverría and Dr. José María Conejero Manzano, this achievement by Andy represents not only an extraordinary academic milestone, but also a beautiful testament to his passion, tireless effort, and boundless curiosity.

PROBE: Exploring the Limits of AI with Model-Driven Software Engineering

Prompt-based AI foundation models offer unprecedented potential for solving complex tasks, ranging from generating coherent text to recognizing objects in images. However, adapting these general-purpose models to specialized domains without resorting to costly retraining or fine-tuning processes remains a major challenge. Furthermore, the scientific community lacked a systematic way to measure performance ceilings or fairly compare different versions of the same model.

To address this, Andy developed PROBE (Prompt Optimization for Boundary Exploration), a novel non-intrusive framework grounded in MDSE. His thesis provides a structured roadmap to answer three crucial questions for the field:

Feasibility: Determining how effectively a general-purpose model can be tailored to a specialized task solely through prompt optimization.
Performance Ceilings: Identifying and quantifying the maximum achievable performance limit without modifying the model internally.
Direct Transfer: Understanding how updates in base foundation models automatically improve performance in target tasks.

Practical Validation and Real-World Impact

Theory meets practice in the best possible way! Andy’s proposal was empirically validated through an in-depth case study on image segmentation. The results clearly demonstrated PROBE’s capability to guide prompt optimization and accurately outline performance boundaries, offering software engineers and AI practitioners a reliable guide for making informed architectural decisions.

Committee Recognition and Celebration

We would like to express our most sincere gratitude to the members of the evaluation committee: Guadalupe Ortiz Bellot (Full Professor at the University of Cádiz), Juan Antonio Pereira Varela (Professor at the University of the Basque Country), and María Encarnación Sosa Sánchez (Professor at the University of Extremadura). Thank you for your time, dedication, and the insightful contributions made during the session.

The crowning touch to such a special day came with the highest possible distinction: Sobresaliente Cum Laude! An impeccable and thoroughly deserved recognition of years of hard work, brilliance, and research excellence.

We couldn’t be prouder of Andy! Earning two doctorates is a magnificent achievement, but what truly makes him special to all of us at i3 lab is his warmth, his constant willingness to help others, and the joy he brings every single day. Huge congratulations, Dr. Dr. Andy! Thank you for inspiring us all.

Stay tuned for future announcements and updates from our team! If you have ideas, want to know more, or would like to collaborate with us, get in touch with our team!