IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine - February 2021 - 14

normally check my email first and then
get to work based on my personal agenda
which normally includes paper reviews,
meetings, teaching, proofreading manuscripts, talking to my graduate students,
and many other activities (e.g., for the
IEEE Computational Intelligence Society). I normally drink lots of coffee during
the process of completing these tasks and I
have breakfast and lunch at my office. I
have an assistant who takes care of many
of my time-consuming activities (e.g.,
scanning documents, filling out forms and
organizing documents). I stay at the office
until 7:00 or 8:00 pm depending on the
day of the week and on my other commitments. However, sometimes I still do
some work at home (at least, I check my
email) and I go to bed at around 11:30pm.
3. What is your ideal weekend?

My ideal weekend has nothing left from
the week that I urgently need to finish.
This allows me to get relaxed and to
watch some TV (I love movies), read
some non-technical book and enjoy
some free time with my family (perhaps
going to the movies or to a restaurant).
4. Give one interesting fact
about yourself

Few people know that I am a big fan of
the history of computing. I have read a
lot about this topic and I used to write a
column on this in a Mexican magazine
several years ago. The positive comments
that this column received motivated me
to write a book (in Spanish) on this topic.
It was very challenging to get this book
published, but after getting some help
from my former boss at the Laboratorio
Nacional de Informática Avanzada, I
finally managed to do it in 2003 with a
reputed Mexican publisher (Fondo de
Cultura Económica). Something remarkable (at least for me) is that the book
became a great success (it has been sold
out for several years but, unfortunately,
the publisher has been reluctant to print
additional copies).
5. What is the best investment
you have ever made?

Education is the best investment that I
have ever made and I have invested my

profits in educating others. First, it is clear
to me that getting a graduate education
in computer science changed my life
since it made me find my passion in life
which is doing research in evolutionary
computation. As part of my job, I have
teaching duties. In that regard, I can say
that, as a teacher, I have changed the lives
of many people in rather unexpected
ways. During my career, and at different
moments in time, I have taught children,
undergraduate and graduate students.The
most difficult audience are children,
because they are not afraid of asking anything that comes to their minds and they
can really challenge us. Teaching has been
for me, one of the most rewarding
activities that I have ever experienced.
Although I have been teaching for more
than 30 years, this is a task that I still
enjoy and for which I feel passionate.
6. Book(s) you would
most recommend?

I enjoy reading biographies, computing
history and science fiction. I highly recommend: Accidental Empires (by Robert X. Cringely), The Foundation Trilogy
(by Isaac Asimov), Earth is Room Enough
(by Isaac Asimov), The Demon-Haunted
World (by Carl Sagan), The Man Who
Loved Only Numbers (by Paul Hoffman),
The Martian Chronicles (by Ray Bradbury),
Fahrenheit 451 (by Ray Bradbury), and
Carl Sagan. A Life (by Keay Davidson).
7. Person you would most like
to meet - past or present,
real or fictional?

I would had loved to meet Carl Sagan.
His books inspired me and motivated
me to get interested in pursuing a scientific career.
8. Can you share with us one
success story that will motivate
young members and provide
useful guidelines for their careers?

Back in 2005, I decided to become a candidate of the National Research Award
granted by the Mexican Academy of Science. This is the second most prestigious
scientific award granted in Mexico (only
after the National Medal of Science),
which has an age limit (for men, no nom-

IEEE COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2021

ination is possible after reaching 40 years).
The award has several categories, and I
went for the area that looked obvious for
a computer scientist: Design and Technology. However, at that time, the committee
of this area decided that the award should
go to people who actually developed
novel technologies and favored candidates
who had filed patents or had developed
real-world industrial processes. So, I lost in
this first attempt, since my CV was much
more academic, because my research
career had focused on basic research
(mainly on the development of new
metaheuristic algorithms). I tried again in
2006, but this time, I went for the area of
Exact Sciences. I lost again because Exact
Sciences only considered researchers from
mathematics, physics and chemistry. In
2007, I had my last opportunity to get this
award, since I would reach the age limit in
October of that year. At that point, I was
very frustrated, since I thought that I had
a competitive CV, but that the main problem was that computer scientists who did
basic research didn't have a proper category to compete. So, I decided to do
something very unusual: I sent two nominations (one for Design and Technology
and the other for Exact Sciences). I also
included a letter indicating that I didn't
mind losing, but that not being considered as a legitimate candidate was bad and
unfair not only for me, but for computer
scientists in general. I don't really know
what happened (I heard several stories
some years later), but I became the recipient of the award in 2007 in Exact Sciences (I remain as the only computer scientist
who has received this award since its
inception, which dates back to 1961). I
have to say that this award changed my
life, since it was the door that gave me
access to several other awards in Mexico
over the years (including the National
Medal of Science, which I also received in
Exact Sciences in 2012).
My experience with my failed nominations motivated me to start a quest to
redeem computer science as a legitimate
scientific discipline in Mexico. In fact, this
quest still continues today. So, the moral
of this story is that if you want to achieve
something, you must fight for it.

IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine - February 2021

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