Meththika Suharshini Vithanage

Dr. Vithanage’s research approach builds on enabling measurements of concentrations and reaction rates in environmental samples for key/emerging pollutants in the environment in order to assess their fate and transport to discover solutions to remediate those using different geo/bio/nano materials. Dr. Vithanage is particularly interested in elucidating the mechanistic understanding of release/remediation of pollutants with contrasting physical and chemical properties that can be used to obtain insights into environmental partitioning, chemical persistence and ultimate accumulation in biota. To this end, her current research interests are focused on monitoring atmospheric deposition, landfill leachate, water and soil for pollutants, develop and enhance the properties of biochar, nano/geo substances and composites as material for environmental remediation. Managing the research center and research grant administration are the main administration work that Dr. Vithanage is engaged in. She established a new research center named Ecosphere Resilience Research Center at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and have already attracted National and International grants. She teaches courses on environmental sciences and research methodology for the undergraduates and postgraduates. Other than these activities, she engages in science writing, dissemination and popularization through workshops, school training sessions, building capacity of the teachers, young scientists. She is a writer to newspapers on general scientific themes etc.