About me
My research
I am a physicist with a passion for unraveling the complexities of the natural world through computational and mathematical modeling. My research focuses on the intersection between complex systems science and ecology, with particular interest on disease modelling, macroecology and AI applications. During my time as a PhD student thus far, I have developed theoretical and data-driven models to address timely problems in Ecology. The developed methods tackle a variety of current challenges related to biodiversity loss caused by anthropogenic pressures, including the spread of emergent diseases, ocean acidification, and the decline of important coastal ecosystems like coral reefs or seagrass meadows.
As a physicist by training, my approach to ecological modelling integrates rigorous mathematical principles with complex biological systems. I have developed solid mathematical and computational methods for a range of ecological problems, often with the collaboration of experts in Ecology or Biology. During the first years of my PhD, I have focused on a more theoretical perspective to study emergent diseases. Specifically, I developed a compartmental model to characterise the Mass Mortality Event of Pinna nobilis, an endemic pen-shell of the Mediterranean sea endangered by a parasite-produced disease, which was contrasted with experimental data showing good agreement (Giménez-Romero et al. 2021, _Ecological Modelling_). I then extended this model to examine the effects of stochastic fluctuations and parasite mobility, showing that the epidemic threshold is highly influenced by the latter (Giménez-Romero et al. 2022, _Royal Society Open Science_). These works contributed to the advance of mathematical epidemiology for marine diseases, as compartmental models had been introduced only recently in this field, often lacking detailed mathematical analyses, and spatial dynamics had been largely ignored. Similarly, I developed a complex model to characterise _Xylella fastidiosa diseases in Europe, which accounts for the observed abundance patterns of the pathogen’s main vector, Philaenus spumarius (Giménez-Romero et al. 2022, Physical Review E and Giménez-Romero et al. 2023, Phytopathology). This was the basis to develop a novel climate-driven epidemiological model that allows to predict the risk of establishment of the disease at a global scale \cite{GimenezRomero2022*CommsBio}, which was hitherto precluded from the lack of theoretical knowledge on how to transform climatic suitability measures to disease risk. I next used this model to perform risk assessments for Pierce’s Disease of grapevines based on current climate measures (Giménez-Romero et al. 2022, Communications Biology), future climate conditions (Giménez-Romero et al. 2023, bioRxiv) and high-resolution current climate data (Giménez-Romero et al. 2024, bioRxiv). I also developed a temperature-based model to control the population of Phileanus spumarius (Lago et al. 2023, Environmental Entomology) and suggested new control strategies that could be designed Giménez-Romero et al. 2023, Phytopathology.
During the last years I have focused on data-driven methods to tackle other global ecological problems. Specifically, I developed a deep-learning model based on Long-Short Term Memory neural networks to reconstruct pH time series in which missing data is present due to sensor failures, which is crucial to properly monitor ocean acidification (Flecha et al 2022, Scientific Reports). Similarly, I developed a deep-learning framework based on Convolutional Neural Networks to map the distribution of Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows, an important endangered coastal ecosystem, from satelltie imagery (Giménez-Romero et al. 2024, bioRxiv). Finally, I studied the spatial properties of coral reefs at a global scale following a purely data science perspective, finding universal laws (macroecological patterns independent of the reefs’ location) describing their geometry and size distribution (under review).
The research done during my PhD falls inside the CYCLE and SEDIMENT projects hosted at IFISC.
Biography
I was graduated in Physics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in Barcelona (Spain), with honors in numerical methods I and II, in 2019. My Bachelor’s thesis foucsed on a Nanoscale Heat Transport Study by Monte Carlo Simulations. After that, I completed my Master’s degree in Physics of Complex Systems, organized by the Institute of Cross-disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems (IFISC) at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) in 2020. My master thesis focused on Modelling the Mass Mortality Event of Pinna nobilis. This led me to start my PhD there at the end of 2020. Later on, during my PhD, I pursued a M.Sc. in Quantitative Finances at UNED in 2021, where I excelled in all modules, with a master thesis on the Analysis of Mean-Variance and Higher Moment Portfolio Optimization Models.
I would like to acknowledge Vicens Méndez, Juan Camacho and Jordi Faraudo, who led me to discover the fascinating world of Complex Systems while I was an undergraduate student. After my M. Sc. and PhD at IFISC, I would like to acknowledge the guidance of my supervisor, colleague and friend Manuel Matías. His support and mentorship has definitely shaped my scientific and personal growth.
Teaching and dissemination
I have taught Econophysics at UIB for the 4th year in the B. Sc. in Physics and the M. Sc. in Physics of Complex Systems. I have co-supervised M.Sc. theses on disease modeling and AI applications at IFISC.
Besides pure academic duties, I am engaged in scientific outreach, participating in events and activities that bring science closer to the public. I was finalist of a dissemination contest at UIB, which led to the publication of a dissemination article at The Conversation and an interview for the local news at IB3N.
Skills
Programming languages
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Python
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Julia
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C++
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SQL
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BASH
Data management
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Georeferenced data: Shapefile, GeoJSON, tif, etc
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Tabular data: csv, excel, etc
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Other formats: GRIB, NetCDF, etc
Interests
Scuba diving
I am passionate about snorkelling and scuba diving, which are by far my favourite summer activities. I am Rescue Scuba Diver by SNSI and I plan to take the Divemaster course at some point in the near future. I’m also somehow interested in underwater photography, but I have no propper knowledge about it yet.
I will eventually write some posts about my dives, chech them out!
Hiking
Hiking is one of my favourite winter activities. Check out my trails at Wikiloc!
During my PhD in Mallorca, I enjoy the beautiful hikes in the Tramuntana mountain range on the weekends. As personal challenges, I decided to hike the 54 higher-than-1000m points of the Tramuntana and carry out “Sa Travessa”, a several days hike from side to side of the Tramuntana. If curious, check my posts on those two challenges!