Francisco M. Montenegro Montes

I am researcher and lecturer at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) that I joined in 2022 through the competitive María Zambrano international talent attraction program. I am part of the UCM group of Extragalactic Astrophysics and Astronomical Instrumentation (GUAIX) and of the Institute of Particle and Cosmos Physics (IPARCOS), where I participate in various research lines, mostly related to astronomical instrumentation. I am deeply involved in the design and scientific preparation efforts for the future observatory AtLAST (Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope), work led by an international consortium. I am coordinator of the UCM node of the AtLAST-2 project, funded by the EU Horizon Europe project (grant agreement: No. 101188037) and co-leader of the Work Package 4 focused on the observatory operations and user experience. I also contribute to the design and scientific preparation of the TARSIS and MOSAIC instruments, for the 3.5m in Calar Alto and the ELT, respectively. I am leading the studies for the optimization of the observing strategies and target scheduling by using AI algorithms. At UCM, I am lecturer in the Astrophysics Master's Degree program and have supervised students in their master's theses. I am also volunteer mentor of high school students interested in STEM disciplines. Previously, I worked for 7 years at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) as Head of the Science Operations team of the APEX Observatory in Chile. I was responsible for the performance of the observatory and for leading the activities of the Sciops team. In 2017 we transitioned into a 24-h remote operations scheme, and I played an important role in its design and implementation. I also served as a panel member for the APEX Time Allocation Committee for the Chilean queue and was an invited expert reviewer for the National Science Foundation. Before, I worked for 6 years as APEX Operations Astronomer, participating in scientific and technical observations and in the commissioning of instruments. I spent 20% of my time doing research. Examples are my participation in the planning and execution of the SEDIGISM survey. This work resulted in several publications that have enabled the census and extraction of physical parameters of molecular clouds. I have also participated in the technical setup and the APEX-based observations for the Event Horizon Telescope. These led to the first direct detections of supermassive black holes, an important milestone in astronomy. In my thesis, I studied the population of radio quasars with broad absorption lines (BAL QSOs), addressing the question of their origin. This was a novel research line by that time and the systematic methodology that I established was later adopted in subsequent studies focusing on larger samples. Previously, I participated in the characterization of the infrared sources of the main extra-galactic fields (SWIRE) observed with Spitzer and Herschel space observatories. Throughout my professional career, I have combined scientific production with the development of technical and management skills. I am author or co-author of more than 30 refereed publications in astronomy and astrophysics and have served on various evaluation committees. I have experience in project and personnel management and have developed a keen interest in the application of machine learning and AI techniques in operations and research. I have also participated during my career in various outreach activities (open days, conferences, magazine articles, etc).