Laalitha S. I. Liyanage, PhD

About Me

I am a computational materials scientist with extensive experience in multi-scale materials as well as in high-throughput materials design techniques and infrastructure. I have ample experience on using high-performance computer systems to run thousands of computational materials simulations to construct materials databases initiated by the materials genome initiative.

I started my career in science at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka where I pursued a bachelor's in science with specialization in physics. Following graduation I was accepted to the  Applied Physics PhD program of the Department of Physics at Mississippi State University (MSU)  with a research assistant position at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) at MSU. Under the guidance of Prof. Seong-Gon Kim I completed a Ph.D in engineering in 2012. Following my PhD I was offered a position as a post-doctoral research associate with Dr. Marco Fornari of Central Michigan University and Prof. Marco Buongiorno Nardelli of University of North Texas, to work on high-throughput materials design techniques and infrastructure.  I contributed infrastructure to automate computational materials calculations for thousands of materials using high-performance computer systems.

Following completion of my postdoctoral appointment I was recruited to the Faculty of Computing and Technology in the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka as a senior lecturer in applied computing. At UoK I also head the CMMD Lab where I continue my research activities with collaborations with CMU and UNT.  I currently remain as a visiting scholar to the ERMES group in the University of North Texas in which I continue my work on HT materials design.