Short Bio

Thushara R. Bandara is currently a PhD Candidate in Mechanical, Manufacturing, and Mechatronic Engineering at RMIT University, Australia. Formerly, he served as an Instructor at the Department of Computer Engineering (CE), University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and a Visiting Lecturer in Computing at the Centre for Distance and Continuing Education, University of Peradeniya. He has over four years of experience in academic teaching and over six years of experience engaging with academic research works. At CE, he worked as the Instructor In-charge of course units, including Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Data Mining, and Image Processing. In addition, he coordinated the Neural Networks Reading Group parallel to the Neural Networks and Fuzzy System course unit. He also led three teams involved in the Document Tag Generator, AiPaS, and Skim Sequencing Software projects in the CO 328 Software Engineering course and two groups involved in the SnaT Meal Tracking App project in the CO 227 Computer Engineering Project course as a Scrum Master.

As a former Subject Expert in the MSc program in GIS and Remote Sensing at the Postgraduate Institute of Science (PGIS), University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, he taught the course units ESR 503 Database Management Systems and ESR 514 Numerical Methods and Algorithms, and coordinates a wide range of projects on real-world applications, from mathematical modeling to applied machine learning. Moreover, he worked as a Lecturer (Temporary) in Computer Science at the Department of Statistics and Computer Science (SCS), University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. At SCS, he taught various theory and laboratory courses at all four levels of the BSc (Hons) degree program in Computer Science.

Apart from that, Thushara is a young motivated researcher with a solid research background in Computer Science, currently focusing on Computer Vision, Digital Image Processing, Multi-Object Tracking, Cyber-Physical Systems, Deep Learning, Data Analytics, and the Internet of Things. Thus far, Thushara has conducted various research works, including digital twin modeling to simulate the behavior of real-world entities in digital space, image classification and segmentation for diagnosing cancer, vision-based plant classification for autonomous agricultural land vehicles, and sentiment analysis for social media data using self-learning approaches.

Research

Thushara's research interest lies in Computer Vision, Digital Image Processing, Multi-Object Tracking, Cyber-Physical Systems, Deep Learning, Data Analytics, and the Internet of Things.

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

1. W. Buddhika, K. Premawansha, T. R. Bandara, L. Samaranayake, V. Dayananda, C. Mudannayaka, S. Priyadarshani, "Revolutionizing spatial data analysis: Unveiling a cutting-edge approach for batch coordinate transformation", Data Science and Management, Elsevier, Volume 6, Issue 4, pp.214-226, July 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.dsm.2023.07.001.

   [SJR Q2 Ranked Journal]

2. P. Abeysinghe and T. Bandara, "A novel self-learning approach to overcome incompatibility on TripAdvisor reviews", Data Science and Management, Elsevier, Volume 5, Issue 1, pp.1-10, March 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.dsm.2022.02.001.

   [SJR Q2 Ranked Journal]

3. G. G. H. M. T. R. Bandara and R. Siyambalapitiya, "Deep Autoencoder-Based Image Compression using Multi-Layer Perceptrons", International Journal of Soft Computing and Engineering (IJSCE), Volume 9, Issue 6, March 2020, doi: 10.35940/ijsce.E3357.039620.

Peer-reviewed International Conferences

1. S. Hettiarachchi and T. R. Bandara, "Deep Learning-Based Land Cover Classification for Satellite Images of Sri Lanka Using ConvNets,", 2023 5th International Conference on Advancements in Computing (ICAC), Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2023, pp. 585-590, doi: 10.1109/ICAC60630.2023.10417674.
2. T. R. Bandara and M. N. Halgamuge, "Modeling a Digital Twin to Predict Battery Deterioration with Lower Prediction Error in Smart Devices: From the Internet of Things Sensor Devices to Self-Driving Cars", IEEE 48th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (IECON 2022), Brussels, Belgium, 17-20 October 2022, doi: 10.1109/IECON49645.2022.9968677.

Activities

• Coordinator of the CO542 Neural Networks Reading Group at the Department of Computer Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. [24th Sep 2021 to 15th Oct 2021]
• Member of the Organizing Committee of the Postgraduate Institute of Science Research Congress. [27th and 28th Nov 2020]
• Member of the Organizing Committee of the International Conference on Environmental and Medical Statistics (ICEMS) 2020, conducted by the Postgraduate Institute of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. [9th and 10th Jan 2020]
• Resource person for the short courses on Database Management, organized for UNDP project on “Ensuring global environmental concerns and best practices mainstreamed in the rapid development process of Sri Lanka through improved information management”, conducted by the Postgraduate Institute of Science. [2019]
• Member of the Organizing Committee of the Science Industry Day 2019, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. [20th Sept 2019]
• Member of the Organizing Committee of the Opening Ceremony of the New Statistics and Computer Science Building. [10th Jun 2019]
• Member of the Organizing Committee of the Faculty Congress. [10th May 2019]

Teaching

Tutor in Mechatronics
School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Visiting Lecturer
Centre for Distance and Continuing Education (CDCE), University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Temporary Instructor
Department of Computer Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Visiting Instructor
Postgraduate Institute of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Temporary Lecturer
Department of Statistics & Computer Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Visiting Instructor
Centre for Distance and Continuing Education, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

Visiting Instructor
Department of Education, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka