Juan Ruiz

R & D Principal Consultant

Expert in: Technology, Research & Development

Juan Ruiz profile picture

About Juan

Leveraging nearly 20 years of experience, my primary role at the R&D group is to project, manage and develop innovative KBC software products to satisfy market requirements. The goal is to guide the optimal design, operation and control of process and energy systems that enable more efficient, reliable, and safer operations.

I am committed to the energy sector, supporting the energy transition by tackling key issues in energy efficiency, renewable energy, green hydrogen, and decarbonization strategies. As a result, I have led the development of a Real-Time Scheduling System (VM-MPO), which is an important component of KBC's Energy Management System (VM-EMS) for the optimal management of energy assets.

Challenging problems like these often require the intervention of a multi-disciplinary team with various expertise. With this in mind, I lead KBC's Optimization Community of R&D experts. Among all of my responsibilities, this is one of the richest experiences.

Before joining KBC, I was a post-graduate researcher in the process optimization group at Carnegie Mellon University, where I earned a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. I focused on developing efficient algorithms and methodologies to enable the practical use of optimization strategies in the process industry.

Currently, I am a faculty member in the Chemical Engineering department at The University of Texas, where I teach undergraduate and graduate level courses in applied mathematics and engineering.

Away from work, I enjoy spending time with my wife and kids and always looking for new things to learn or discover.