José Manuel Colmenar, new Director of ETSII

The GRAFO research group congratulates José Manuel Colmenar, a fellow group member, on his unanimous election as Director of the School of Computer Science Engineering (ETSII) at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos.

On July 2, 2025, José Manuel Colmenar was unanimously elected as the new Director of ETSII at URJC, succeeding Abraham Duarte, who stepped down from the position after being elected Rector of the university.

José Manuel Colmenar is a Full Professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and a long-standing member of the GRAFO research group (Group for Research in Algorithms For Optimization). His research, focused on metaheuristics, combinatorial optimization, and evolutionary computation, has resulted in publications in the highest-impact journals and conferences in the field. His contributions to teaching and institutional life at URJC have been equally outstanding throughout his career.

Among the priorities of his tenure as director are the adaptation of degree programs to comply with Royal Decree 822/2021, improving graduation rates, facilitating student employability, and strengthening inter-departmental collaboration. He has also announced the strategic goal of consolidating the ETSII’s faculty presence in a single building on the Móstoles campus.

We are particularly pleased to highlight that two more members of the GRAFO group join the ETSII management team: Jesús Sánchez-Oro as the new Deputy Director for Research and International Relations, and Eduardo García Pardo as Secretary of the School.

From the GRAFO group, we congratulate José Manuel, Jesús, and Eduardo on their new responsibilities. We are confident that ETSII is in great hands and that this new chapter will bring outstanding achievements for the school and the entire university community.

Congratulations to all three!

More information: URJC – José Manuel Colmenar, new ETSII director