PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Daniel Molina

Also known as Daniel Molina Cabrera

Daniel Molina is a computer scientist whose work uses evolutionary computation for optimization and neural-network design. He worked in computer science and AI at the University of Cádiz from 2006 to 2017 and defended a 2007 UGR thesis on memetic algorithms with adaptive local search. He chaired IEEE CIS's large-scale optimization task force until 2020; his MA-SW-Chains paper received a CEC award in 2010, and SHADE-ILS won the LSGO competition in 2018. In 2024, he co-directed a thesis on deep-learning design and coauthored a survey on evolutionary computation for general-purpose AI; he coauthored work on evolutionary optimization in 2025 and compact neural-network design in 2026. Since 2020, he is a Professor Titular at Granada, where a 2026/27 syllabus lists him for Web Technologies.

Works
85
Citations
21,843
h-index
29
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2006–2017

    Research at Cádiz

    From 2006 to 2017, he works in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence area at the University of Cádiz's Ingeniería Informática Department.

  2. 2007

    An adaptive local-search thesis

    In 2007, he defends a University of Granada thesis in the Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence on memetic algorithms with adaptive local search for continuous optimization. Francisco Herrera Triguero and Manuel Lozano Márquez supervise the thesis.

  3. 2010–2020

    IEEE service and competition wins

    He chairs IEEE CIS's Task Force on Large-Scale Global Optimization until 2020. In 2010, his MA-SW-Chains paper receives a CEC award for high-dimensional numerical optimization; in 2018, SHADE-ILS wins the Large Scale Global Optimization competition.

  4. 2016–2018

    Rmalschains and SHADE-ILS

    In 2016, he coauthors a paper describing the MA-LS-Chains paradigm and the R package Rmalschains for continuous optimization. In 2018, he coauthors “SHADE with Iterative Local Search for Large-Scale Global Optimization” with Antonio LaTorre and Francisco Herrera; it appears in the IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation proceedings.

  5. 2024

    Evolutionary design for AI

    In 2024, he co-directs a University of Granada thesis on metaheuristics for deep-learning model design. He also coauthors a survey on how evolutionary computation can design and enrich general-purpose AI systems; the survey outlines strategies, challenges and research directions.

  6. 2025

    Bioinspired optimization work

    In 2025, he coauthors a paper that revisits critical issues, key studies and methodological pathways in evolutionary and bioinspired optimization.

  7. 2026

    Compact neural-network design

    In 2026, he coauthors Automated Compact Neural Network Design via Evolutionary Algorithm at the IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence, CAI 2026.

  8. Since 2020

    Professor Titular at Granada

    In 2020, he becomes a Professor Titular in the University of Granada's Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. As of October 2026, he holds the post. The 2026/27 syllabus names him as the Web Technologies instructor.

Career

  1. Since 2020Universidad de GranadaProfessor Titular
  2. 2006–2017Department of Computer Engineering, University of Cádiz
  3. 2006–2017Universidad de Cádiz

Education

  1. 2007Universidad de Granada

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Universidad de Granada. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Universidad de Granada. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Universidad de Granada. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Daniel Molina yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. DANIEL MOLINA CABRERA - Universidad de Cádiz produccioncientifica.uca.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Tesis defendidas durante el año 2007 | CITIC citic.ugr.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Tesis Doctorales | Departamento de Ciencias de la Computación e Inteligencia Artificial decsai.ugr.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. About me danimolina.net. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Cuatro profesores de la UGR son galardonados en el Congreso Mundial sobre Inteligencia Computacional | Secretaría General secretariageneral.ugr.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Daniel Molina: Papers & Citations | Litlas litlas.ai. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. Participation in IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation CEC’2018 | Daniel Molina profile dmolina.github.io. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. Memetic Algorithms with Local Search Chains in R: The Rmalschains Package research.monash.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. SHADE with Iterative Local Search for Large-Scale Global Optimization | Research Center for Computational Simulation ccs.upm.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  10. DANIEL MOLINA CABRERA - Universidad de Cádiz produccioncientifica.uca.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  11. Metaheuristics for the Design of Deep Learning Models | Documents - Universidad de Jaén investigacion.ujaen.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  12. Evolutionary Computation for the Design and Enrichment of General-Purpose Artificial Intelligence Systems: Survey and Prospects arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  13. Daniel Molina Cabrera – DaSCI dasci.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  14. DANIEL MOLINA CABRERA - Universidad de Granada produccioncientifica.ugr.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  15. Resolución de 31 de julio de 2020, de la Universidad de Granada, por la que se nombran Profesores Titulares de Universidad. juntadeandalucia.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  16. Daniel Molina Cabrera | Universidad de Granada ugr.es. Checked 22 October 2026.
  17. Guía docente de Tecnologías Web (Especialidad Tecnologías de la Información) (296113X) | Universidad de Granada ugr.es. Checked 22 October 2026.