Dr. Mario Andrés Muñoz

Dr. Mario Andrés Muñoz

Senior Research Fellow at the School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne. Black-box optimisation, Instance Space Analysis, Algorithm Selection.

About me

I am a Senior Research Fellow (Level C) at the School of Computing and Information Systems (CIS), The University of Melbourne; and the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre in Optimisation Technologies, Integrated Methodologies and Applications (OPTIMA). Before joining CIS and OPTIMA in January 2022, I was a Research Fellow (Level B) at the School of Mathematics and Statistics at The University of Melbourne from September 2017. Before that, I was a Research Fellow (Level A) at the School of Mathematical Sciences at Monash University from March 2014. I received my Engineer’s and Master’s Degrees from the Universidad del Valle (Colombia) in 2005 and 2008, respectively, and my Doctoral Degree from The University of Melbourne in 2014.

The focus of my research is analysing the relationship between algorithm performance and problem structure, with an emphasis on learning and optimisation algorithms applied to black-box optimisation (BBO) problems. In other words, I am interested in answering the questions:

  • What makes a problem instance easy or hard for an algorithm?
  • Is the difference in performance the result of intrinsic biases? and
  • How can this knowledge be exploited for the selection and design of algorithms?

While closely related to the Algorithm Selection Problem, my work aims to develop scientific benchmarking methodologies that move beyond the status quo of competitive benchmarking. My main contribution has been the development of the MATILDA (Melbourne Algorithm Test Instance Library with Data Analytics) cloud platform for Instance Space Analysis. Complementing this primary focus, I am interested in developing interdisciplinary work and have published in fields as diverse as Biomechanics, Resources Engineering, Computational Biology, and Corporate Social Responsibility.

I have authored 41 journal articles and 28 conference papers, which have gathered 2,241 citations in Google Scholar (1,318 in Scopus), resulting in an h-index of 24 (19 in Scopus), with 1,484 (946) citations over the last five years on an upward trajectory. I currently (co-)supervise five PhD students; five have completed their PhD under my supervision.