About me

I’m an Associate Professor at the Industrial Engineering Department at Universidad de Concepción in Concepción, Chile. My research line is Choice Modeling applied to transportation demand, travel behavior, time-use and activities, and sustainable mobility. I teach Discrete Choice Models, Systems Modeling, Simulation, Stochastic Processes, and Advanced Econometrics at the Civil Industrial Engineering undergrad, master, and PhD programs. During my free time I like to watch and collect movies.

Please feel free to contact me. You can send an email, message me at X (formerly known as twitter), or visit my office at the 4th floor of the School of Engineering at Universidad de Concepción.

Bio #

I did my undergraduate and master’s degrees at the Universidad de Chile (2004-2012), specializing in transportation engineering. I was lucky to do my thesis with Professor Sergio Jara-Díaz, who introduced me to time-use models. The topic fascinates me the most: understanding cities as centers of opportunities that we can use to perform the activities we want to do, considering time, space, and monetary budget.

I then completed my Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin (2012-2017), delving into the econometrics of multiple discrete-continuous (MDC) models under Dr. Chandra Bhat’s supervision. MDC models are helpful when you want to understand a simultaneously discrete and continuous variable, such as the allocation of time: we all have 24 hours a day to allocate in the different activities we want (or need) to perform. Which activities do we want to perform? (discrete dimension). How much time will we allocate to each of them? (continuous dimension). During my PhD I also worked as a research assistant at the Center for Transportation Research, applying microsimulation models for daily activity-travel patterns.

Three weeks after I defended my Ph.D. dissertation (February 2018), I was hired as an Assistant Professor at the Industrial Engineering Department at Universidad de Concepción. Since then, I have taught econometrics, simulation, and modeling courses in the undergrad, master, and Ph.D. programs. I also got experience in university management since I served as the Undergrad Program Officer for two years. At the end of 2022, I was promoted to Associate Professor.

I am happy in Concepción, which is a great city to live in. I met my partner while we were undergraduate engineering students at Universidad de Chile. She is also a jewelry artist (you should visit her instagram profile and website). I have a twin brother, which explains my eternal and continuous struggle to differentiate and perfect myself.

Illustrated by Sebastián Franchini.