Gabriela Ochoa

is a Professor in Computing Science at the University of Stirling, Scotland.  She received BSc and MSc degrees in Computer Science from University Simon Bolivar, Venezuela and a PhD from University of Sussex, UK.  She worked in industry for 5 years before joining academia, and has held faculty and research positions at the University Simon Bolivar, Venezuela and the University of Nottingham, UK.  Her research interests lie in the foundations and application of evolutionary algorithms and heuristic search methods, with emphasis on autonomous search, hyper-heuristics, fitness landscape analysis, and applications to combinatorial optimisation, healthcare, and software engineering. She has published over 120 scholarly papers and serves various program committees. She has been associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, and the Evolutionary Computation Journal (MIT Press); and is a member of the Editorial Board for Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines. She proposed the he first Cross-domain Heuristic Search Challenge (CHeSC 2011), has served as organiser and/or program chair for EvoCOP 2014, EvoCOP 2015,  FOGA 2015, PPSN 2016, and  served as the Editor-in-Chief for GECCO 2017.

News

• Website: lonmaps.com. Our goal is to develop and establish a set of methodologies, visualisation techniques and metrics to thoroughly characterise and exploit the structure of computational search spaces. This website intends to be a unified resource space offering a new perspective to understand problem structure and improve heuristic search algorithms.
  

Keynote Talks (TBC)

Best Paper Awards, Nominations and Selected Conference Papers

• G. Ochoa, N. Veerapen, F. Daolio, M. Tomassini (2017) Understanding Phase Transitions with Local Optima Networks: Number Partitioning as a Case Study.  European Conference on Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimization, EvoCOP 2017.  LNCS vol. 10197, Springer pp. 233–248. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-55453-2_16 (Best Paper Award).
• F. Chicano, D. Whitley,  G. Ochoa, R. Tinos. Optimizing One Million Variables NK Landscapes by Hybridizing Deterministic Recombination and Local Search. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, GECCO 2017:  753-760. [Online] (Best Paper Nomination).
• G. Ochoa, N. Veerapen (2016) Deconstructing the Big Valley Search Space Hypothesis. Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimization, Proceedings of the 16th European Conference, EvoCOP 2016, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, vol. 9595, pp. 58–73. S DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-30698-8_5 [dataset] [Poster]  (Best Paper Award).
• G. Ochoa, F. Chicano, R. Tinos and  D. Whitley. Tunnelling Crossover Networks. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2015), ACM, pp 449-456. [bib entry] (Best Paper nomination).
• G. Ochoa, M. R. Hyde,  et al. (2012) HyFlex: A Benchmark Framework for Cross-Domain Heuristic Search. European Conference on Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimization (EvoCOP 2012), LNCS, Vol. 7245, Springer, pp. 136-147.
• G. Ochoa, M. Tomassini, S. Verel, C. Darabos (2008) A Study of NK Landscapes' Basins and Local Optima Networks. Proceedings of Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-08), ACM, pp. 555-562. (Best Paper Nomination).
• G. Ochoa, K. Jaffe (2006) Assortative Mating Drastically Alters the Magnitude of Error Thresholds. Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN IX), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4193, pp 890-899, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.(Best Paper Award).
• G. Escuela, G. Ochoa, N. Krasnogor. (2005) Evolving L-Systems to Capture Protein Structure Native Conformations. 8th European Conference on Genetic Programming (EuroGP 2005), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3447, pp 73-83,Springer-Verlag, Berlin.(Best Paper Nomination).
• G. Ochoa, I. Harvey, H. Buxton (1999)  On Recombination and Optimal Mutation Rates. Proceedings of Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-99), pp 488-495, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA.
• G. Ochoa  (1998) On Genetic Algorithms and Lindenmayer Systems. Parallel Problem Solving From Nature (PPSN V), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1498, pp 335-344, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Online Contributions

Co-authorship Networks GECCO    PPSN      EA

Introduction to Lindenmayer Systems

HyFlex and the Cross-Domain Competition

Journal Papers

1.  A. Mavragani, G. Ochoa (2018) Internet and the Anti-Vaccine Movement: Tracking the 2017 EU Measles Outbreak. Big Data and Cognitive Computing. Special issue on Health Assessment in the Big Data Era. Published online 13  January 2018  [Online]
   
2. G. Ochoa, N. Veerapen. Mapping the global structure of TSP fitness landscapes. Journal of Heuristics, published online 29 May 2017. DOI:10.1007/s10732-017-9334-0 [dataset]
3.  S. Herrmann G. Ochoa, F. Rothlauf. PageRank centrality for performance prediction: the impact of the local optima network model. Journal of Heuristics, published online 12 May 2017. DOI:10.1007/s10732-017-9333-1
4. J. A. Soria-Alcaraz, G. Ochoa, M. A. Sotelo-Figeroa, E. K. Burke (2017) A methodology for determining an effective subset of heuristics in selection hyper-heuristics, European Journal of Operational Research. 260(3):  972–983 [Online]
5. I. K. Paterson, A.S. Hoyle G. Ochoa, C. Baker-Austin and N.G.H. Taylor (2016) Optimising Antibiotic Usage to Treat Bacterial Infections. Nature Scientific Reports, 6, 37853; doi: 10.1038/srep37853 [Online]
6. A. Sosa-Ascencio, G. Ochoa, H. Terashima-Marin, and S. E  Conant-Pablos (2016) Grammar-Based Generation of Variable-Selection Heuristics for Constraint Satisfaction Problems. Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines, 17(2): 119-144. [Online version]
7. N. Veerapen, G. Ochoa, M. Harman and E. Burke (2015) An Integer Linear Programming Approach to the Single and Bi-Objective Next Release Problem.  Information and Software Technology, Elsevier. Volume 65, September 2015, Pages 1–13 [Online version]
8. D. Whitley, A. Sutton,  G. Ochoa, F. Chicano (2014) The Component Model for Elementary Landscapes and Partial Neighborhoods, Theoretical Computer Science (Special Issue: Theory of Evolutionary Algorithms).545: 59-75 (2014). [Online version] [bib entry]
9. J.A Soria-Alcaraz,   G. Ochoa, J. Swan, M. Carpio,  H. Puga , E.K. Burke (2014) Effective Learning Hyper-heuristics for the Course Timetabling Problem. European Journal of Operational Research. 238(1): 77-86 [Online version] [bib entry]
10. E. López-Camacho, H. Terashima-Marin, P. Ross, G. Ochoa (2014) A Unified Hyper-heuristic Framework for Solving Bin Packing Problems, Expert Systems with Applications. 41(15): 6876-6889 [Online version]  [bib entry]
    
11. G.L. Pappa, G. Ochoa, M.R. Hyde, A.A. Freitas, J. Woodward, J. Swan (2014) Contrasting meta-learning and hyper-heuristic research: the role of evolutionary algorithms, Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines.  15(1): 3-35 [Online version] [bib entry]
12. G. Ochoa, M. Villasana (2013) Population-based optimization of cytostatic/cytotoxic combination cancer chemotherapy, Soft Computing. Vol 17, No. 6, pp. 913-924. [Online version] [bib entry]
13. E. K. Burke, M. Gendreau, M. Hyde, G. Kendall, G. Ochoa, E. Ozcan and R. Qu (2013) Hyper-heuristics: A Survey of the State of the Art, Journal of the Operational Research Society. 206(1): 241-264 [Online version] [bib entry]
    
14. E. López-Camacho, G. Ochoa,  H. Terashima-Marin, E. K.  Burke (2013) An Effective Heuristic for the Two-dimensional Irregular Bin Packing Problem, Annals of Operations Research Vol. 206, Issue 1, pp.  241-264.  [Online version] [bib entry] [Source code (Java)] [Instance data: Set 1, Set 2]
    
15. E. López-Camacho, H. Terashima-Marín, G. Ochoa, and S. E. Conant-Pablos (2013) Understanding the structure of bin packing problems through principal component analysis.  International Journal of Production Economics Vol. 145, No. 2, pp. 488-499. Special Issue on Cutting and Packing. [Description of the concave shape instance generator][Online version][bib entry].
16. J. Swan, G. Ochoa,  G. Kendall, M. Edjvet (2012) Fitness Landscapes and the Andrew-Curtis Conjecture,  International Journal of Algebra and Computation, Vol. 2, No. 22, pp. 125009 (13 pages)
17. S. Verel, G. Ochoa, M. Tomassini (2011) Local Optima Networks of NK Landscapes with Neutrality,  IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation,Vol 15, No. 6, pp. 783-797. link to IEEXplore.
18. F. Daolio, M. Tomassini, S. Verel, G. Ochoa (2011) Communities of Minima in Local Optima Networks of Combinatorial Spaces, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Vol. 390, pp. 1684-1694.
    
19. J. A. Vazquez-Rodriguez, G. Ochoa (2011) On the Automatic Discovery of Variants of the NEH Procedure for Flowshop Scheduling Using Genetic Programming, Journal of the Operations Research Society, 62(2), pp. 381-396, link to Journal.
20. M. Villasana, G. Ochoa, S. Aguilar (2010) Modeling and Optimization of Combined Cytostatic and Cytotoxic Chemotherapy, Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, vol. 50, pp. 163 - 173.
21. E. Özcan, M. Mısır, G. Ochoa, E. K. Burke (2010). A Reinforcement Learning - Great-Deluge Hyper-heuristic for Examination Timetabling, International Journal of Applied Metaheuristic Computing (IJAMC), 1:1, pp 39-59.
22. M. Tomassini, S. Verel, G. Ochoa (2008) Complex-Network Analysis of Combinatorial Spaces: The NK landscape case, Physical Review E, Vol.78, No.6. ( link to journal)
23. G. Ochoa, M. Villasana, and E. K. Burke (2007) An Evolutionary Approach to Cancer Chemotherapy Scheduling, Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines Journal, 8:4, Springer, pp 301-318.
24. G. Ochoa (2006) Error Thresholds in Genetic Algorithms. Evolutionary Computation Journal, 14:2, pp 157-182,  MIT Press.
25. M. Villasana, G. Ochoa (2004) Heuristic Design of Cancer Quemotherapies. IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 8:6, pp 513-521.
26. G. Ochoa, K. Jaffe (1999) On Sex, Parasites, and the Red Queen.  Journal of Theoretical Biology, 199, pp 1-9.

Edited Volumes

• Julia Handl, Emma Hart, Peter R. Lewis, Manuel López-Ibáñez, Gabriela Ochoa, Ben Paechter:
  Parallel Problem Solving from Nature - PPSN XIV - 14th International Conference, Edinburgh, UK, September 17-21, 2016, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 9921, Springer 2016, ISBN 978-3-319-45822-9 [contents] [Online] [Front matter]
  
• G. Ochoa, F. Chicano (2015) Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimization - 15th European Conference, EvoCOP 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark, April 8-10, 2015, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science 9026, Springer 2015. ISBN 978-3-319-16467-0 [Online information] 
• J. He, T. Jansen, G. Ochoa, C. Zarges (2015) Proceedings of the 2015 ACM Conference on Foundations of Genetic Algorithms XIII, ACM 2015, ISBN 978-1-4503-3434-1 [contents]
  
• C. Blum, G. Ochoa (2014) Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimisation, 14th European Conference, EvoCOP 2014, Granada, Spain, April 23-25, 2014, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Volume 8600. ISBN: 978-3-662-44319-4 [Online information]

Grants

• P-I: The Cartography of Computational Search Spaces. Research grant funded by The Leverhulme Trust. March 2106 - February 2018.
  
• Co-I: Dynamic Adaptive Automated Software Engineering (DAASE). Programme grant funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), collaboration with 5 Universities across the UK: UCL, Queen Mary, Stirling, York and Birmingham.  June 2012 - Marc 2019.
  
• Co-I: Controlling Antibiotic Resistance in Aquatic Environments. University of Stirling IMPACT Research Partnership Studentships. In collaboration with the governmental agency Cefas (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science). October 2013 – September 2017.

Book Chapters

1. G. Ochoa, S. Verel, F. Daolio and M. Tomassini (2014) Local Optima Networks: A New Model of
   Combinatorial Fitness Landscapes, Recent Advances in the Theory and Application of Fitness Landscapes. A. Engelbecht and H. Richter (Eds.), Emergence, Complexity and Computation, Vol. 6, pp. 233-262. Springer. [online version] [bib entry]
2. G. Ochoa (2011) [in Spanish] Introduccion a la Computacion Evolutiva y la Morfogenesis Artificial, Evolution, Bicentenario del Nacimiento de Charles Darwin, Editorial Equinoccio.
   
3. E. K. Burke,  M. Hyde, G. Kendall, G. Ochoa, E. Ozcan, and J. Woodward (2010). A Classification of Hyper-heuristics Approaches, Handbook of Metaheuristics,  International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, M. Gendreau and J-Y Potvin (Eds.), Springer, pp.449-468.
4. E. K. Burke, M. R. Hyde, G. Kendall,  G. Ochoa, E. Ozcan and J. R. Woodward (2009)  Exploring Hyper-heuristic Methodologies with Genetic Programming,  Computational Intelligence: Collaboration, Fusion and Emergence, In C. Mumford and L. Jain (eds.), Intelligent Systems Reference Library, Springer, pp. 177-201.
5. G. Ochoa,  I. Harvey  (1999) Recombination and Error Thresholds in Finite Populations. Foundations of Genetic Algorithms 5 (FOGA 5), Edited by Wolfgang Banzhaf and Colin Reeves, pp 245-264, Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA.