The Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Seville hosted from January 22 to 24, 2025 the 1st Joint Symposium of the Thematic Groups of Control Engineering, Modeling, Simulation and Optimization, and Education in Automation, belonging to the Spanish Committee of Automation.

The occasion was used to pay tribute to Professor Francisco Rodríguez Rubio, for his long career dedicated to the world of Automation.

Francisco Rodríguez Rubio is a University Professor in the Department of Systems Engineering and Automation at the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Seville, having recently been appointed ordinary emeritus professor by said University.

He has been Director of the Department of Systems Engineering and Automation, Head of workshops and laboratories and Deputy Director of the Higher School of Engineering and, in his most recent stage, Director of this same School.

He is also a prominent member of the Spanish Committee for Automatic Control (CEA), having been the first coordinator of the Control Engineering Thematic Group, as well as organizer of the Automatic Control Conference held in Seville in 2000.

His research focuses, on the one hand, on the theory of adaptive and robust control with applications to industrial processes, solar energy systems, and robotic systems. On the other hand, he has also directed part of his research toward feedback control systems through communication networks (Networked Control Systems), as well as the field of image processing and its application in robotics.

He is the author or co-author of more than 200 publications, including books, journal articles, conference proceedings and book chapters, and has also directed seventeen doctoral theses throughout his career.