BCAM Receives Two Awards at the SEIO – BBVA Foundation Awards 2025 Ceremony

• Yesterday, February 26, BCAM received two awards recognizing the pioneering nature of its research in two key areas: Best Methodological Contribution in Operations Research; and Best Contribution in Statistics and Operations Research Applied to Data Science and Big Data.

• María Merino Maestre (UPV/EHU and BCAM), José A. Lozano (UPV/EHU and BCAM), Gorka Kobeaga (CDM Consultores), and Jairo Rojas-Delgado (Archlet) were honored for their exceptional methodological contribution to Operations Research.

• Santiago Mazuelas (Ikerbasque Research Professor at BCAM), Yuan Shen (Professor at Tsinghua University, China), and Aritz Pérez (Postdoctoral Researcher at BCAM) were recognized for their outstanding contribution in Statistics and Operations Research applied to Data Science and Big Data.

The scientific community celebrated yesterday, February 26, in Madrid, the awards ceremony of the SEIO – BBVA Foundation Awards 2025, an event that recognizes excellence in Statistics and Operations Research in Spain. At this event, marked by the recognition of research talent, BCAM received two of this year’s awards: Best Methodological Contribution in Operations Research; and Best Contribution in Statistics and Operations Research Applied to Data Science and Big Data.

This joint recognition by the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research (SEIO) and the BBVA Foundation underscores the real impact of applied mathematics in solving complex problems in today’s society.

BCAM received the awards recognizing the pioneering nature of its research in two key areas:

1. Best Methodological Contribution in Operations Research

The team composed of María Merino Maestre (EHU and BCAM), José A. Lozano (Scientific Director of BCAM and Full Professor at EHU), Gorka Kobeaga (CDM Consultores), and Jairo Rojas-Delgado (Archlet) was awarded for their exceptional methodological contribution. Their article entitled “A revisited branch-and-cut algorithm for large-scale orienteering problems”, published in the European Journal of Operational Research, sets a new standard in computational efficiency and solution quality for orienteering problems. This achievement marks an important milestone in the advancement of algorithmic methodologies, improving scalability and effectiveness in problem-solving strategies.

2. Best Contribution in Statistics and Operations Research Applied to Data Science and Big Data

Santiago Mazuelas (Ikerbasque Research Professor at BCAM), Aritz Pérez (Researcher at BCAM), and Yuan Shen (Tsinghua University) received the award for their outstanding applied contribution to Data Science.

The jury recognized them for their distinguished contribution in Statistics and Operations Research applied to Data Science and Big Data. Their article “Generalized Maximum Entropy for Supervised Classification”, published in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, extends the principle of maximum entropy to supervised classification. This pioneering work introduces minimax risk classifiers with exceptional performance and theoretical guarantees, significantly impacting fields such as data science, machine learning, signal processing, neuroscience, and natural language processing.

At the ceremony of the 6th Edition of the Society of Statistics, Operations Research and Data Science – BBVA Foundation Awards, and the presentation of the medals of the Society of Statistics, Operations Research and Data Science, the Society’s medals were awarded to Professors Antonio Cuevas (Statistics) and María Dolores Romero Morales (Operations Research).

Thursday’s ceremony not only served to present the trophies, but also to reaffirm BCAM’s position as an international reference center. The success of our researchers in these awards reflects the center’s commitment to scientific excellence and the transfer of knowledge to the technological sector.

Congratulations to all the award winners!