Office: Gates 6005 Phone: (412) 268-1559 Fax: (412) 268-5573 guna at cs dot cmu dot edu
Assistant : Barbara Grandillo, Gates 6010, (412) 268-7550
I am now a faculty at Princeton University Computer Science Department and work on some innovative technology products. I continue to collaborate with CMU and have a courtesy appointement at CMU.
I am interested in learning about "how people learn". My goal has always been creating technologies to capture
and enhance the complex processes that we go through when learning. This is now more important than ever.
Patents
-- I am the principal inventor of the CMU based patent titled "media annotation visualziation tools and techniques and an aggregate-behavior visualization
system utilizing such tools and techniques" ( click the link to see patent)
-- I am also the principal inventor of the Princeton University based IP - Machine Assisted Segmentation of video collections. The patent is based based on applying novel machine learning techniques to detect semantic segementation. The patent was awarded in June 2020.
-- I am currently working on a new IP on novel clustering methods for video based segementation.
Teaching Interests:
I generally teach courses in Algorithms, Data Science, Discrete mathematics, numerical computing, Pen Computing, Effective programming with C and Unix, and involved with principles of Imperative Programming. I incorporate science of learning to my teaching to optimize the learning outcomes. I have received funding from HP, NSF, Gates Foundation, Microsoft and Google for various teaching related projects
Research Interests:
My early research interest was in computational linear algebra.
I studied non-negative matrices and their applications to accelerating iterative methods.
Since 1994, I have been involved in projects involving creating the next generation of electronic
learning environments. My current research areas include application of machine learning and Human Computer Interaction
in creating intelligent learning systems. I am also working on ink-based domain specific applications for tablet PC's. I am also deeply involved in Classroom Salon project an effort to create a usable and smart platform for group interactions around documents. It is really cool. Take a look. We have 20,000 user now
My Life at Ananda College and University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
I played sports while I was at Ananda College Colombo and University of Colombo.
I captained the Ananda College fifteen rugby team and was a member of the first fifteen rugby team and first eleven hockey team.
At University of Colombo, I captained the Field Hockey team that played in Division A club hockey.
In addition to that I was awarded 4 university of Colombo Colors in Rugger, Field Hockey, Athletics and Basketball.
Click here to see some old pictures. Now I am a member of the Pittsburgh Steelstyx hockey club and regularly play tennis and basketball.
Life Lessons from Randy Pausch
I was blessed to have known my colleague Randy Pausch. Everytime I am down on life, I listen to his "last lecture". when you think life is tough Click here to listen to Randy
Other Interests
I am active in Sri Lankan community, was the president of Sri Lankan - American community in Western Pennsylvania and have hosted various events including a visit by Malini Foseka, the queen of Sri Lanka Cinema.
See pictures here
I am a co-founder of Pittsburgh Buddhist Center founded in 2006. Today it is one of the most popular meditation centers in Pennsylvania.
My family:
My wife Sriya Gunawardena is an Associate Professor of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and a clinical Pediatric hematologist/Oncologist at Childrens Hospital of Pittsburgh. We have two daughters Naomi and Naoka.
Please send corrections to Ananda Dushmantha Gunawardena, Computer Science Department, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA guna@cs.cmu.edu.
