Welcome to Leo's Home Page!
I’m an Associate Professor of
Computer and Data Science at the Data Science
Institute, Faculty of
Engineering, Universidad del
Desarrollo (2016-) in Santiago, Chile, a Fellow of
Telefónica Research & Development, also in Santiago, and a Research
Fellow of the ISI Foundation (2019-), in
Turin, Italy. I got my PhD from Carleton University, in Ottawa,
Canada. I did a post-doc (2004-2005) at the Human-Oriented Technology
Lab at Carleton, and became a senior researcher there (2006-2008). I
was an invited professor at the University of Edinburgh (2006-2008)
and moved to Chile as an Assistant professor of Computer Science at
Universidad
de Concepción (2008-2016) before moving to UDD in Santiago. I’ve
published in high-performance computing (in a somewhat previous life)
and in computational social science. Currently, my research focuses on
using mobile and telephony data for social good, data-driven policy
and non-traditional data sources. At UDD/TEF I’ve been involved in
industry
and government research and development projects.
Contact: lferres@udd.cl, X/Twitter
News
Research
- Risk:
- Epidemics & mobility:
- Mobility & mobile phone data
Teaching
- IELE 754 [2025-1, 2025-2]:
This is a project-driven data science course that transforms
students into collaborative researchers by assigning each team a
different South American country to analyze using real-world
datasets.
- Statistical models of social phenomena
[2025-2]: This is an experimental PhD course on using
mobile phone data to answer scientfic questions about human
behavior.
Old computers
I have several 1980s microcomputers and I enjoy collecting and fixing
them. Here's a list of the ones I have, and there's some links for
each one on the work I've done on them:
- Commodore 16
: On
2025-05-31 11:15:30 +0200, I acquired
a Commodore
16 micro-computer
in Chivasso,
Piemonte, Italy. The Commodore 16 was a low-cost 8-bit home computer
released by Commodore in 1984 as part of the 264 series. Intended as
a successor to the VIC-20, it featured a MOS 7501 or 8501 CPU
running at 1.76 MHz, 16KB of RAM, and the TED (Text Editing Device)
chip for video and sound. It included Commodore BASIC v3.5 in ROM
and was aimed at entry-level users, but lacked compatibility with
the popular C64. Despite limited commercial success, it was notable
for its affordability and was especially popular in parts of Europe
and Latin America. And it came with a Commodore Dataset!
- Talent MSX: On 12/28/2024, I acquired a
Talent MSX computer
in San Juan,
Argentina. The Talent MSX was an 8-bit home computer manufactured by
Talent Argentina (see a
nice history
here) in the mid-1980s, based on the MSX standard developed by
Microsoft
and ASCII
Corporation. This machine featured a Zilog Z80A processor
running at 3.58 MHz, 64KB of RAM, and the Texas Instruments TMS9918A
video display processor capable of producing colorful graphics and
sprites. Like other MSX computers, it included Microsoft MSX-BASIC
in ROM and was designed to be compatible with a wide range of MSX
software and peripherals. The Talent MSX was particularly notable in
the South American market as one of the locally-manufactured
computers that brought affordable computing to the region during the
1980s home computer boom. I haven't cleaned this one yet, though.
Posts
I'll be migrating my posts slowly
- 2025-05-24 19:34:13 -0400:
Code
DISCLAIMER: This page uses the simplest possible HTML: no CSS,
no scripts, no popups. The goal is to focus entirely on the
information, not on cookie prompts, animations, or design trends.
Personally, I find this simplicity both practical and aesthetically
pleasing. It was written
in Emacs, with no
tooling involved. I've tried many setups,
even org-mode (which I love), but
in the end, they just add friction, especially when switching
machines. Long live raw text.