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Felipe Santibañez-Leal

I&F Decision Science Assoc. Manager | Technical & Project Leader | Advanced Analytics & Digital Transformation

Career Profile

Decision Science leader with 15+ years bridging academia and industry. I translate advanced analytics into measurable business value — aligning data-driven initiatives with operational KPIs, guiding cross-functional teams, and scaling solutions from pilot to enterprise adoption across mining, manufacturing, and services.

Track record: +100 TPH throughput gains in SAG milling, measurable copper recovery improvements, 15% reduction in environmental alerts, field-data workflows compressed from days to hours. I lead solution design, stakeholder alignment, and technical delivery — ensuring analytics investments produce auditable, sustainable operational results.

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Certifications

Generative AI on AWS

2024
AWS

People Leadership Credential

2024
Accenture

Modelos de Peligro Sismico en Mineria usando Machine Learning

2023
Industry Course

Projects

Selected projects spanning research, industry, and education.

CAOS Seismic — Honest Probabilistic Earthquake Forecasting - Operational earthquake forecasting (forecasts, not predictions): space–time ETAS + smoothed Poisson null + a gated neural challenger, scored with pyCSEP (information gain in nats), calibration as a release blocker. Offline daily job → git-as-data → static viewer.
CAOS SimLab — A Didactic Lab for Simulation (DES & ABM) - Open lab for Discrete-Event Simulation and Agent-Based Modeling: land in a running sim, tune params, watch the dynamics. Ten scenarios over six viz families; a run is a pure function of (params, seed) so replay is exact; live in-browser via Pyodide; validated vs theory (M/M/c ↔ Erlang-C).
RotorVitals — Rotating-Machinery Condition Monitoring & Prognostics - In-browser condition-monitoring and prognostics workbench for rotating machinery (bearings-first) on real measured vibration: a source selector over CWRU/Ottawa/MaFaulDa diagnosis and FEMTO/XJTU/IMS run-to-failure, a classical DSP chain, a learned WDCNN + autoencoder, and a four-model RUL ladder — all live via onnxruntime-web. Honest: shows where the deep model loses to physics cross-rig. Part of the Faena hub.
ChargeCascade — Tumbling-Mill Charge Motion & Power Studio - Live in-browser 3D studio for tumbling-mill (SAG/ball/rod) charge motion and power: critical speed, the cascading→cataracting→centrifuging transition, toe/shoulder, Hogg-Fuerstenau/Morrell/Bond power — closed-form physics (not DEM) recomputed on every slider, with an ONNX power surrogate (~5% vs the exact engine) and an out-of-envelope anomaly guard. Part of the Faena hub.
Faena — Mining-Analytics Hub - Open launcher cataloguing a growing set of independent, in-browser mining-analytics tools across the value chain, each its own documented product on real or validated-synthetic data. Honest lifecycle on every tile: 3 live today (ChargeCascade, RotorVitals, CutoffGrade), 7 in development, ~29 planned. Astro static, bilingual, data-driven.
CutoffGrade Studio — Lane's Optimal Cut-off Grade - Open studio for Lane's optimal cut-off grade: from a grade-tonnage curve plus prices/costs/capacities it computes the NPV-maximising declining cut-off trajectory, NPV and mine life, live in-browser. The exact Lane optimizer is the authority; the learned ONNX models are for speed only, not accuracy. Synthetic base case, openly labelled. Part of the Faena hub.
Atalaya — A Watchtower over Chile's Open Data - Data-engineering + IR pipeline over Chile's Data Observatory: harvests and profiles 1,017 datasets and mines five cross-dataset relations (same-source, semantic MiniLM/ONNX, spatial, joinability via MinHash, correlation with permutation-null + FDR) into an explorable knowledge graph, with client-side semantic search. Honest about evidence strength, never causal.
MineHaul (minehaulsim) — Mine-Haulage Discrete-Event Simulation - Open-source Python package (Apache-2.0, on PyPI): deterministic discrete-event simulation of open-pit and underground mine haulage on constrained road networks, with seeded parametric mine generators. Byte-deterministic, 227 tests. Real engine, synthetic mines (class-representative, not OEM). Companion generator for DispatchLab.
Lidar3D — Streaming 3D Reconstruction Lab - Early research lab for feed-forward streaming 3D reconstruction: an RGB/LiDAR stream becomes a camera trajectory, dense depth and a fused point cloud (a from-scratch depth+pose net, ~0.28 m ATE on TUM, plus a vendored model). The site replays the baked cloud across four renderers under one transform, with a strict renderer-honesty discipline — replay, not real-time; not SLAM.
QLab — Quantum Laboratory - Didactic quantum-computing lab running real frameworks (Qiskit, PennyLane, Cirq, Stim) on 20 cases, each next to its classical baseline. Honest verdict, with the costs on screen: 0/20 practical speedups — at lab scale classical still wins. Reproducible traces, simulator-only (no QPU claims).
PINN-Lab — A Runnable Catalogue of Physics-Informed Neural Networks - 19 PINN cases trained offline (DeepXDE → ONNX), validated against analytic/benchmark/real-data anchors, and re-inferred live in the browser (onnxruntime-web): move a parameter and the network re-solves the PDE. Forward + inverse + UQ + operator learning; relative-L2 published per case.
Veta — Agentic Mineral-Tracking Decision Support (private) - Private DSS for mineral processing: a voice/text question runs through a multi-stage agent pipeline to tiered solvers, with every recommendation grounded and traceable via RAG.
Mantia — Agentic Industrial-Maintenance Suite (private) - Private suite of agentic maintenance assistants (work orders, spares, notifications) on a shared agent core with a generic OData connector — mock in dev, real in production.
Mine Pile Visualizer — Stockpile & Circuit Explorer - Local-first Next.js 16 app for mining circuit topology, 3D stockpile voxels, live material state, and profiler history. React Three Fiber + Apache Arrow.
FeelIT 2.0 — Haptic Accessibility Workbench - Modern web-based platform for tactile 3D object exploration, Braille reading, and haptic desktop interaction. 5 workspaces, 116 tests, hardware-optional with a native haptic-device bridge.
Crusher Liner Wear Management System - Full-stack platform for 3D point cloud analysis, cylindrical wear profiling, and remaining-life forecasting of industrial crusher liners.
Hyperspectral Mineral Analysis by Topic Modelling - Unsupervised topic models (LDA/ProdLDA/ETM) over hyperspectral mineral images; a design-space sweep of 17 representations finds MI-weighted bands (V20) most separable. From a 2022 conference paper to a live platform.
Hyperspectral Mineral Classification Platform - Supervised ML platform for mineral identification from VNIR/SWIR imagery using ensemble methods, CNNs, and compositional constraints.
Auralis — 6D Audio Embedding Visualizer - Browser app mapping audio onto seven embedding tracks (spectral, PCA/t-SNE/UMAP, Tonnetz, YAMNet, CLAP) as interactive 3D trajectories over 102 curated clips. FastAPI + Three.js.
Finn — Personal Finance & Market Forecasting - Market-analytics demo: walk-forward-validated forecasting, full risk battery, cost-aware backtests, FinBERT news sentiment, and LATAM coverage (IPSA + Chile macro). FastAPI + HTMX + Plotly.
Mining Process Optimization Platform - End-to-end ML platform for SAG milling, flotation, and thickening optimization across multiple mining divisions.
Real-Time Material Tracking & Blending - Digital twin for ore flow tracking, stockpile management, and blending optimization in mining operations.
Environmental Monitoring & Mitigation - Computer vision (24-stream) and Generative AI for pollution detection, forecasting, and natural-language recommendations.
Geotechnical Risk Prediction - ML-based prediction of rockburst and slope instability using seismic data, spatial features, and 3D block models.
HIDSAG - Hyperspectral Image Database for Supervised Analysis in Geometallurgy. Published in Scientific Data (Nature).
Cellular Potts Model Simulator - Interactive CPM simulator for zebrafish embryonic cell migration with deformable bodies and filopodia-driven motility.
3D Embryo Cell Migration Simulator - 3D simulation of collective cell migration on a spherical zebrafish embryo surface using Three.js and FastAPI.
GrainSight — Particle Size Analyzer - 3D granulometry from RGB-D data: watershed segmentation, 18 per-grain metrics, Rosin-Rammler PSD, D-values, sieve simulation.
SurfaceScope — RGB-D Surface Profiler - RGB-D depth profiling for granulometry — surface reconstruction, ISO 4287 roughness, and curvature analysis from depth camera data.
SOFI Super-Resolution Microscopy - Quantum dot fluorescence analysis via higher-order cumulants, achieving sub-diffraction resolution (up to 2.45x improvement).
Optimal Spatial Sampling (AdSEMES) - Information-theoretic framework for optimal well placement using adaptive entropy maximization with (1-1/e) guarantee.
PhD Thesis — Information-Theoretic Sampling - Doctoral thesis on optimal sensor placement in binary random fields. Introduced AdSEMES with (1-1/e) submodularity guarantee. Published in Mathematical Geosciences (2019) and Natural Resources Research (2020).
3D Haptic Simulation - Octree collision detection and spring-damper force feedback for virtual object interaction via Three.js and WebSocket.
Dynamic Holographic Optical Tweezers - Real-time holographic phase mask computation for optical particle trapping using the Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm.
Dual Photography Lab - Computational imaging reconstructing scenes from the projector's viewpoint via light transport matrices and SVD.
Robotic Writer - 5-DOF robotic arm simulation for letter placement using Denavit-Hartenberg kinematics and trajectory planning.
Micromundo — Virtual Microscopy & Science Education - Educational platform integrating virtual microscopy, collaborative teaching, and 3D-printed microscopes for schools. Team: micromundo.team | App: micromundo.app
HyClusVi - Hyperspectral clustering and visualization for mineral analysis using convolutional autoencoders and t-SNE.
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Open Source Contributions

SCIAN_LEO_CPM - Cellular Potts Model simulator for zebrafish embryonic cell migration.
SCIAN_EVL_SpherSIM - 3D simulation of DFC collective migration on spherical embryo surface.
CEFOP_DinHot - Dynamic Holographic Optical Tweezers with Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm.
Dual Photography Lab - Computational dual photography using light transport matrices.
Robotic Writer - 5-DOF Scorbot III robotic arm kinematics simulator.
SCIAN-Soft - Scientific image analysis software for biomedical and microscopy applications.
Micromundo App - Virtual microscopy platform for science education.

Publications

Selected peer-reviewed publications. Full list on Google Scholar.

  • HIDSAG: Hyperspectral Image Database for Supervised Analysis in Geometallurgy
    • Santibañez-Leal, F.A., Ehrenfeld, A., Garrido, F., Navarro, F., & Egaña, A.
    Scientific Data (Nature), 2023
  • Geometallurgical estimation of mineral samples from hyperspectral images and topic modelling
    • Santibáñez-Leal, F.A., Ehrenfeld, A., Garrido, F., Navarro, F. & Egaña, A.
    18th Intl. Conf. on Mineral Processing and Geometallurgy, 2022
  • A Robust Stochastic Approach to Mineral Hyperspectral Analysis for Geometallurgy
    • Egaña, A.F., Santibáñez-Leal, F.A., Vidal, C., Díaz, G., Liberman, S. & Ehrenfeld, A.
    Minerals, 2020
  • Ore-Waste Discrimination with Adaptive Sampling Strategy
    • Santibáñez-Leal, F.A., Ortiz, J.M. & Silva, J.F.
    Natural Resources Research, 2020
  • Geological Facies Recovery Based on Weighted l1-Regularization
    • Calderon, H., Santibañez, F., Silva, J.F., Ortiz, J.M. & Egaña, A.
    Mathematical Geosciences, 2019
  • Sampling Strategies for Uncertainty Reduction in Categorical Random Fields
    • Santibañez, F., Silva, J.F. & Ortiz, J.M.
    Mathematical Geosciences, 2019
  • Channelized facies recovery based on weighted compressed sensing
    • Calderón, H., Santibañez, F., Silva, J.F., Ortiz, J. & Egaña, A.
    IEEE SAM Workshop, 2016
  • Computational methods for analysis of dynamic events in cell migration
    • Castañeda, V., Cerda, M., Santibáñez, F., et al.
    Current Molecular Medicine, 2014
  • SOFI of GABAB neurotransmitter receptors in hippocampal neurons
    • Huss, A., Ramírez, O., Santibáñez, F., Couve, A., Härtel, S. & Enderlein, J.
    Proceedings SPIE, 2013
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    Recommendations

    Felipe combines deep technical expertise with an ability to translate complex analytics into actionable business value. His work on mineral processing optimization consistently delivered measurable throughput improvements.

    Mining Operations Director

    Senior leadership at national mining company

    An exceptional researcher who bridges the gap between theoretical information theory and practical mining applications. His doctoral work on optimal sampling strategies is both mathematically rigorous and industrially relevant.

    Academic Advisor

    Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering

    Felipe led our analytics team through multiple simultaneous projects across mining, aquaculture, and retail — delivering real production improvements in each. His technical breadth and project leadership are remarkable.

    Technology Director

    Digital solutions company

    Skills & Proficiency

    Python (NumPy, Pandas, Scikit-learn, PyTorch)

    Machine Learning & Deep Learning

    Azure (Databricks, Data Factory, Power BI)

    MATLAB & Signal Processing

    Data Engineering (Kedro, Spark, SQL)

    MLOps (CI/CD, Model Registry, Monitoring)

    Image Processing & Computer Vision

    Geostatistics & Spatial Analysis

    C++ & CUDA

    Project Management & Team Leadership