Sampath Jayarathna  U.K.S. Jayarathna | Ukwatta Jayarathna | Also known as : Sam   PhD Student Department of Computer Science & Engineering Dwight Look College of Engineering Texas A& M University - College Station College Station, Texas 77843-3112 Tel: 512-665-6293 UKSJayarathna AT tamu DOT edu  Gmail: UKSJayarathna      Research|  Education | Work Experience | Technical Expertise |Publications |Professional Activities | Awards | Memberships    Resume  | Blog: Open Maze (  Feed )  |   Bucket List  |  Goodreads Bookshelf  |  Movie Kiosk I am a PhD student / Research Assistant in the Computer Science & Engineering department of Texas A&M University-College Station, working with Frank Shipman and studying Human Computer Interaction. I am also a member of the Center for the Study of the Digital Libraries (CSDL), and I was a research intern at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Knowledge Based Systems Inc.  I received the M.S. degree in Computer Science from Texas State University-San Marcos, in 2010 (advisor: Oleg Komogortsev) and B.S. in Computer Science (Special) with a First Class from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in 2006 (Advisor Dharmapriya Bandara). My research interests includes, interdisciplinary approaches addressing Knowledge Management & Personalization using statistical and knowledge-based systems, more specifically Semantic Technologies (Ontology Learning), User Interest Modeling, Eye Tracking, Intelligent User Interfaces.   Few interesting links about me:  Bucket List, Goodreads book feed Bookshelf, favorite Movies, and last but not least, wife Nimmi.    EDUCATION Texas A&M University  College Station, TX - Ph.D. in Computer Science, 2013  GPA: 4.00/4.00 (Degree Plan) Advisor: Frank M. Shipman, III Texas State University  San Marcos, TX - M.S. in Computer Science, 2010   GPA: 4.00/4.00  Advisor: Oleg Komogortsev University of Peradeniya Peradeniya, Sri Lanka - B.Sc.(Special) in Computer Science, 2006   GPA: 3.70/4.00, First Class Honors, University Award for Academic Excellence Additional Majors: Mathematics, Physics  Advisor: Dharmapriya C. Bandara (Australian Center for Field Robotics, University of Sydney) [Top] WORK EXPERIENCE  Doctoral Research Assistant Computer Science & Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Sep. 2010 - Present  Research / Development Intern Knowledge Based Systems Inc., College Station, TX June 2012 - January 2013 (6 months) Research Intern Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA June 2009 - Aug. 2009 (2 months) Graduate Research Assistant Human Computer Interaction Laboratory, Computer Science, Texas State University - San Marcos, TX Oct. 2008 - May 2010  Office of Correspondence, Extension and Study Abroad, Texas State University - San Marcos, TX May 2008 - Sep. 2008 International Office, Texas State University - San Marcos, TX May 2007 - Oct. 2008 Lecturer in Computer Science Department of Statistics & Computer Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka May 2006 - Oct. 2006 Visiting Lecturer in Computer Science American College of Higher Education, Kandy, Sri Lanka July 2005 - Oct. 2006 Visiting Instructor World Bank IRQUE Project, Information Technology Center, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Aug. 2005 - Oct. 2008 Student Instructor Information Technology Center, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Feb. 2005 - Feb. 2006 [Top] TECHNICAL SKILLS Languages  C#.net, Java, Python, C/C++, Matlab, SQL, HTML, XML/JSON, CSS, PHP, JSP, ASP, JavaScript, Visual Basic (4.0-6.0), PL/SQL Tools Eclipse, Apache Mahout, PyDev, NetBeans, Axis2, Tomcat, SPSS, Rational Rose, Apache Ant, CollabNet & Tortoise SVN Hardware/Simulations MS Robotics Developer Studio (VPL), Tobii SDK ( x120 Eye Tracker), EyeLink II Eye Tracker, iScan Ominiview Eye Tracker Database MySql, SQL Server, Oracle, MS Access Techniques RDBMS Design, Web Services, Design Patterns Operating Systems Mostly Windows  & Mac environments, Linux/Unix Creative/Graphics Photoshop, Smartdraw, MS visio, Macromedia Dreamweaver & Flash MX, GIMP [Top] RESEARCH INTERESTS  User Interest Modeling, Factorization Machines, Recommender Systems, Digital Libraries, Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Eye Tracking, Intelligent User Interfaces, Oculomotor Systems UIMaP: User Interest Management and Personalization  Advisor: Frank Shipman Goal: This research innitiative addresses multi-application user interst modeling, knowledge management and personalization using Statistical Methods (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) and Latent Factor Models.  CNS: NSDL Service to Support Personlized & Community-Oriented Navigation  Advisor: Frank Shipman To be useful, a Digital Library must provide its patrons with easy access to materials that are relevent to their needs. To accomplish this end, this research study is developing a Community Navigation Service (CNS) based on data collected by an Interest Profile Manager (IPM) while continuing to personlize resource presentation by way of the IPM to preserve privacy.   2D Oculomotor Plant Mathematical Model Development (2DOPMM) Advisor: Oleg Komogortsev Goal: Create anatomically accurate Oculomotor Plant (eye globe + extraocular muscles) model.  Motivation: Improve understanding of the Human Visual System. Research new strategies for eye movement prediction for eye gaze guided computer interaction. Measuring extraocular muscle effort for usability evaluation. Neuronal control modeling for biometric research. Biometrics - Collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Advisors: Oleg Komogortsev, and Cecilia Aragon (Berkeley Lab/UW- Seattle) Goal: Research new methods that allow a person's identification based on the eye movement and the oculomotor plant metrics.  Motivation: Biometric methods employed today such as fingerprint identification and iris recognition can be technically breached by creating a model of a finger or a retina by using holographic methods. The properties of the eye movements allow to conduct a behavioral evaluation of a person potentially allowing to strengthen the security of the identification. Physical Therapy Research - Collaboration with Department of Physical Therapy Texas State Advisors: Oleg Komogortsev, and Denise Gobert (Physical Therapy) Goal: Research cognitive and oculomotor function in persons with mild Traumatic Brain Injuries (mTBI). Measure response to customized exercise including balance retraining or oculomotor training. Develop oculomotor exercises that allow to alleviate mTBI symptoms. Motivation: Current treatment regimens fail to address the co-morbidities common to patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). As clinicians struggle to treat patients with acute and chronic mTBI, they continue to be challenged by the complex sequelae of symptoms or “symptom cluster” which includes cognitive, behavioral and physical dysfunction. This project addresses the recent evidence which suggests that a variety of oculomotor and sleep disorders are interrelated in persons with mTB and should be addressed during rehabilitative treatment protocols. PUBLICATIONS Refereed Journal & Conference Papers  Oleg Komogortsev, Denise Gobert, Sampath Jayarathna, Do Hyong Koh and Sandeep Gowda. " Standardization of Automated Analysis of Oculomotor Fixation and Saccadic Behaviors ". IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. Vol. 57(11), pp 2635-2645  [Journal Information] [IEEE Xplore]  Oleg Komogortsev, Sampath Jayarathna, Cecilia Aragon, and Mahmouod Mechehoul. "Biometric Identification via an Oculomotor Plant Mathematical Model". In proceedings of the ACM Eye-Tracking Research & Applications Symposium (ETRA'10), Austin, Texas, March 22-24, 2010, ISBN: 978-1-60558-994-7 [Conference Information] [ACM Portal]  Oleg Komogortsev, Sampath Jayarathna, Do Hyong Koh, and Sandeep Gowda, . "Qualitative and Quantitative Scoring and Evaluation of the Eye Movement Classification Algorithms". In proceedings of the ACM Eye-Tracking Research & Applications Symposium (ETRA'10), Austin, Texas, March 22-24, 2010, ISBN: 978-1-60558-994-7 [Conference Information] [ACM Portal]  Oleg Komogortsev and Sampath Jayarathna,  "2D Oculomotor Plant Mathematical Model for Eey Movement Simulation". In proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering (BIBE08), Athens, Greece, Oct 8-10, 2008, ISBN:978-1-4244-2845-8, pp.103 [Conference Information] [IEEE Xplore] Sampath Jayarathna and G.E.M.D.C. Bandara. "Junction Based Segmentation Algorithms for Offline Handwritten Connected Character Segmentation ". In proceedings of the International Conference on Computational Intelligence for Modeling Control and Automation, and International Conference on Intelligent Agents, Web Technologies and Internet Commerce (CIMCA-IAWTIC'06), Sydney, Australia, 2006, ISBN: 0-7695-2731-0, pp. 147-147 [Conference Information] [IEEE Xplore]   Sampath Jayarathna and G.E.M.D.C. Bandara. " New Segmentation Algorithm for Offline Handwritten Connected Character Segmentation". In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Industrial and Information Systems (ICIIS06). Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, Aug 8-11, 2006, ISBN: 1-4244-0322-7, pp. 540-546 [Conference Information] [IEEE Xplore]   Abstracts, Posters & Technical Reports Sampath Jayarathna, Atish Patra, Frank Shipman. "UIMaP: Mining Short-Term User Interest from Personalized Triage Tasks". Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP), CSE, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, March 05 ,2013 [Poster]  Sampath Jayarathna, Frank Shipman. "Hybrid (Statistical and Knowledge-based) Multi-Application User Interest Modeling". Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP), CSE, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, Sep. 11-12, 2012 [Poster]    Sampath Jayarathna, Frank Shipman. "CNS: A Task-based Hybrid Collaborative Filtering Recommender Service". Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP), CSE, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, March 06 ,2012 [Poster]  Best Poster Award - 3rd place Sampath Jayarathna, Frank Shipman. "CNS: NSDL Service to Support Personlized & Community-Oriented Navigation". Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP), CSE, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, Sep. 13-14,2011 [Poster]  Mahmoud Mechehoul, Sampath Jayarathna, Oleg V. Komogortsev. “Statistical Approach to Person Identification via Unique Properties of the Oculomotor Plant”, eCommons@Texas State University, Paper20, 2010 [Technical Report] Sampath Jayarathna, Oleg Komogotsev, Cecilia Aragon, and Mahmouod Mechehoul. "Oculomotor Plant Biometric: Person Specific Features in Eye Movements". 2009 Sigma Xi International Research Conference, The Woodlands, Texas, Nov 12-15, 2009 [Poster Session Paper] [Conference Information]  Sampath Jayarathna, Oleg Komogotsev, Cecilia Aragon, and Mahmouod Mechehoul. "Oculomotor Plant Biometric Identification". International Research Conference for Graduate Students, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, Nov 4-5, 2009 [Abstract] [Conference Information] Oleg Komogotsev, Sampath Jayarathna, Cecilia Aragon, and Mahmouod Mechehoul. "Biometric Identification via an Oculomtor Plant Mathematical Model". eCommons@Texas State University, Paper 16 , 2009 [Technical Report] Oleg Komogortsev, Sampath Jayarathna, Sandeep Gowda, and Do Hyong Koh. "Qualitative and Quantitative Scoring and Evaluation of the Eye Movement Classification Algorithms". eCommons@Texas State University, Paper 15 , 2009 [Technical Report] Oleg Komogotsev and Sampath Jayarathna, "Classification Algorithms for Saccade-related Oculomotor Plant Metrices". TR2009-05-31, May 31st 2009 [Technical Report] Oleg Komogotsev and Sampath Jayarathna, "2D Oculomotor Plant Mathematical Model Equations". TR2008-05-30, May 30th 2008 [Technical Report] Thesis Sampath Jayarathna. " Two Dimensional Oculomotor Plant Mechanical Model". MS Thesis, Department of Computer Science, Texas State University - San Marcos. Advisor: Dr. Oleg Komogortsev [presentation slides] Sampath Jayarathna. " Offline Handwritten Connected Character Segmentation".  Undergraduate Honors Thesis, Department of Statistics and Computer Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. April 2006, Advisor: Dr. G.E.M.D.C Bandara, (Currently at Australian Center for Field Robotics, University of Sydney ) Selected Talks Sampath Jayarathna. " Oculomotor Plant Biometrics : Person-Specific Features in Eye Movements", Computational Research Division, Lawerence Berkeley National Laboratory, July 30, 2009, Berkeley, CA [presentation slides]  Sampath Jayarathna. " 2D Oculomotor Plant Mathematical Model for Eye Movement Simulation". Advanced Human Computer Interactions, Fall 2008, Texas State University - San Marcos [presentation slides] Sampath Jayarathna. " New Segmentation Algorithm for Offline Handwritten Connected Character Segmentation". ICIIS06, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, Aug 8-11, 2006 Softwares Distributions I-Gaze, Eye Guided Image Viewer Interface I-Gaze interface is an image viewing application capable of navigating through a set of grouped pictures (albums) using eye movements as the primary input. Automated Classification of Oculomotor Fixation and Saccadic Behaviors. The software contains the implementation of five popular eye movement classification algorithms: Velocity Threshold Identification (I-VT), Hidden Markov Model Identification (I-HMM), Dispersion Threshold Identification (I-DT), Minimum Spanning Tree Identification (I-MST), and Kalman Filter Identification (I-KF) and standardized behavior scores that allow meaning thresholds and input parameter selection for any eye movement classification method. [Top] PROFESSIONAL & STUDENT SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS  (2010 -to date) Member, Sri Lankan Association (SLA), Texas A&M University, College Station, TX                      Executive Committee Member (2012-2013) (2009 -to date) Associate Student Member,Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society (2009 -to date) Graduate Student Member, ACM. (Association for Computing Machinery) (2009 -to date) Graduate Student Member, IEEE Computer Society. (2008 -to date) Graduate Student Member, IEEE. (2008 -2009) Graduate Student Member, IEEE Communication Society.  (2007 -2010) Member, Sigma Chi Sigma - EXE (CS Student Organization), Texas State University - San Marcos, TX (2007 -2010) Member, Indian Student Association (ISA), Texas State University - San Marcos, TX (2007 -2010) Member, South Asian Student Association, Texas State University - San Marcos, TX (2002 -2006) Computer Society University of Peradeniya (CSUP).                      President (2005-2006)                             Vice President (2004-2005)                             Assistant Secretary (2003-2004)                             Publisher (2002-2003) (2002 -2006) Member, Art Circle, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.  (2002 -2006) Member, Buddhist Brotherhood Society, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. [Top] PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES Reviewer     - IEEE Journal on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Part A: Systems and Humans    - IEEE Journal on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Part B: Cybernetics    - ETRA'10 Eye Tracking Research & Applications Symposium (ETRA'10)      - CIMCA'08 Conference on Computational Intelligence for Modeling Control and Automation Student Volunteer, Celebrity Classic Scholoarship Fund raising event: Golf Scramble, Plum Creek Golf Club Kyle, TX. May 02, 2010.  Student Moderator, International Research Conference for Graduate Students, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas, Nov 4-5, 2009. Student Volunteer, Eye Tracking Research & Applications (ETRA'10) Symposium, Austin, Texas, March 22-24, 2010. Student Moderator, Graduate Student Research Symposium, Texas State University - San Marcos, March 26, 2009 Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) Selection Committee Member - Fall 2008, International Office, Texas State University - San Marcos.  National Cadet Corps (4th Battalion - Sri Lanka) - Western Cadet Band - St Anne's College - Kurunegala The National Cadet Corps (Sri Lanka) is the Sri Lankan military cadet corps and is a Ministry of Defence sponsored youth organisation in the Sri Lanka. The Cadets are given basic military training in small arms and parades.The officers and cadets have no liability for active military service but many volunteer to join the armed forces.      - Corporal (1999 - The National Cadet Corps Training Centre, Rantembe)      - Lance Corporal (1998 - The National Cadet Corps Training Centre, Rantembe)      - Cadet (1997 - The National Cadet Corps Training Centre, Rantembe) Prefect - St Anne's College - Kurunegala (Sri Lanka) In the context of schools, a prefect is a pupil who has been given limited, trusty-type authority over other pupils in the school, similar to the authority given to a hall monitor or safety patrol member. In India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia, prefects are student leaders in primary and secondary schools, often along the lines of other Commonwealth schools, but with superior powers. The prefect systems in these countries have changed little from when they were under the British, as the present governments have seen them as effective.      - Super Senior Prefect (1998/1999)      - Senior Prefect (1997/1998)      - Junior Prefect (1996/1997) OUTREACH Editor, Open Directory Project (ODP). www.dmoz.org  The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors. Forum/Blog Administrator,  Advisor/Moderator (2008- to date) , www.SL2college.com, www.sl2college.blogspot.com  SL2college is a global community that provides free advice and guidance to Sri Lankan students. SL2college was envisioned in 2005 with the primary goal of helping Sri Lankan students access relevant information that would assist them make informed decisions about their education goals overseas. Associated Student Government (ASG) Graduate House - College of Science representative (2008-2010), Texas State University The related graduate student legislative body of the Associated Student Government is the Graduate House of Representatives.  The House consists of fourteen senators.  House seats are determined by college, with each college allowed two representatives.  Representatives are to represent their respective colleges as well as the entire graduate student body (i.e., Liberal Arts, Health Professions, Science, Business, etc.).   Game Moderator (GM, 2011- to date) - Heroes Battle (Tapstic, Inc)   Game Moderator's are volunteer (no income, no superbucks, nothing!) and spend a lot of time for the Heroes Battle community (Event organization, cheaters....). Game Moderator's have a yellow icon the bottom right side of their avatar icon.  [Top] STDUENT MENTORING Computer Science & Engineering , Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas Atish Patra (MS Student) Viktor Einarsson (MS Student) SL2College Student Mentor Program  Eraj Sri Chandrasekera  Nethangi Fernando [Top]   GRANTS RECEIVED  CS Department Travel Grant, Texas State University - San Marcos,  for the 2009 Sigma Xi International Research Conference (Registration, Lodging and Travel), The Woodlands, Texas, Nov 12-15, 2009. Amount: $306.75 (in state) Graduate College Travel Grant, Texas State University - San Marcos,  for the 2009 Sigma Xi International Research Conference (Registration, Lodging and Travel), The Woodlands, Texas, Nov 12-15, 2009. Amount: $100 (in state) Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society Grant in Aid  - March 2009, Amount: $960.  Human Oculomotor Plant Signature Modeling: are there unique and person specific physiological and behavioral features in oculomotor plant eye movement parameters? Advisors: Dr. Oleg Komogortsev, Dr. Cecilia Aragon, and Dr. Denise Gobert   [Award Recipients alphabetical by Institution  , Subject  , Student's Last Name] Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Society Grant in Aid - October 2008, Amount: $1330.  Human Oculomotor Plant Modeling: Is there a significant change or deficit in oculomotor function of mTBI patients compared to normal vision in healthy subjects? Advisors: Dr. Oleg Komogortsev, and Dr. Denise Gobert [Award Recipients alphabetical by Institution  , Subject  , Student's Last Name] Texas Public Education Grant (TPEG) - Fall 2007,  Amount: $1900 [Top] AWARDS, HONORS & SCHOLARSHIPS Editor, Open Directory Project (ODP), 2012 - to present Best Poster Award (3rd place) - Industrial Affiliates Program Poster Competition, Spring 2012 Regents Fellowship 2010, Texas A&M University - College Station Award Day 2010, Computer Science, Texas State University-San Marcos           Graduate Academic Excellence Award           Graduate Research Excellence Award           Excellence in Leadership Award           Graduate House - Certificate of Appreciation, Graduate College Associated Student Government (ASG) Bookstore Scholarship,  (2009-2010), Amount: $300  Associated Student Government (ASG) Scholarship,  (2009-2010),  Amount: $2000  College of Science Graduate Scholar, (2009-2010), Amount: $1000 Award Day 2009, Computer Science, Texas State University-San Marcos           Graduate Academic Excellence Award           Graduate Research Excellence Award           College of Science Graduate Scholar winner certification Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society, Associate Student Member Status. Membership in Sigma Xi is by nomination and is conferred in one of two ways. Full Membership is conferred upon any individual who has shown noteworthy achievement as an original investigator in a field of pure or applied science or engineering. Associate Membership is available to any individual who has, through initial research achievement in a field of pure or applied science, shown an aptitude for research. University Award for Academic Excellence, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.  2006. Awarded by the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka  to recognize outstanding academic achievement in Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (B.Sc First Class - Honors). ALUMNI Scholarship, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, Amount: Rs 10,000 ICIIS06 Full Scholarship, for the Paper Submission, Registration and Presentation at the First International Conference on Industrial and Information Systems (ICIIS06), Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. 2006, Amount: Rs.10,000 Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship (monthly stipend - 4 academic years) - 2001/2005, Sri Lanka To provide assistance to deserving youth who have completed their secondary education satisfactorily, so as to enable them to complete their academic, industrial or technical education at a university of technical or higher educational institute. [Top] TEACHING   Department of Computer Science, Texas State University - San Marcos, TX                 CS 2308 - C++ and C Programming (Theory - substitution for Dr. Oleg Komogortsev).                CS 5369J - Advanced Human Computer Interactions (Theory - substitution for Dr. Oleg Komogortsev).                Teaching Supervisor: Dr. Oleg Komogortsev, Email: ok11@txstate.edu  Department of Computer Science & Statistics, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka                CS 100 - Computer Applications (Laboratory).                CS 101 - Introduction to Computer Science (Theory).                CS 102 - Programming Laboratory (Laboratory).                CS 407 - Object Oriented Software Design with Patterns (Laboratory).                Teaching Supervisor: Dr. Saluka Kodituwakku, Email: salukak@pdn.ac.lk [Top] Last updated: ©2011 Sampath Jayarathna, All rights reserved