I am a 👨‍🎓 Ph.D. candidate in Computer Engineering at NC State, working with Prof. James Tuck, and I expect to defend my dissertation in May 2027. My work sits at the intersection of machine learning and computer systems: I build models for scientific problems along with the parallel, high-performance software needed to train and run them at scale across CPUs, GPUs, and distributed systems. My current research applies deep learning and high-performance computing to 🧬 DNA-based data storage, specifically modeling weak-affinity DNA–DNA interactions.

Earlier, as a Master’s student at the University of Moratuwa, I worked on multi-core parallel software for genomic data processing, designing lock-free, memory-efficient data structures for k-mer counting. As an undergraduate, also at Moratuwa, I worked alongside clinical experts on a multimodal machine learning system that classifies autism spectrum disorder from EEG and facial thermography data. As a research intern at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, in the ASSET Research Group, I designed persistent-memory B+-tree variants for byte-addressable non-volatile memory. Alongside this research, I designed and taught an undergraduate GPU programming course in CUDA at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

In my free time, I enjoy playing 🏸 badminton, 🥾 hiking, and 📷 photography.

I have worked at:

I have engaged in collaborative research with teams from:

Updates and News

Mentored Students

I have had the privilege of mentoring several talented students throughout their academic journeys. Below is a list of students I’ve mentored, along with their degree pursued, institution, year of mentorship, the project they worked on, and their next/current positions:

• Michael Cruzat, High school student, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (2026/27) — visualization of a processor simulator
• Preston Scott, Undergraduate, NC State University (Summer 2026) — training a neural network for weak-affinity DNA-DNA binding prediction, through the ASCEND Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program; co-mentored with Prof. James Tuck
• Hatheem Rafeek, Undergraduate, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2025) — components of a tool for fast DNA sequencing data processing
• Kusal Pabasara, Undergraduate, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2025) — components of a tool for fast DNA sequencing data processing
• Lahiru Dilshan, Undergraduate, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2025) — components of a tool for fast DNA sequencing data processing
• Tharupahan Jayawardana, Undergraduate, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2025) — components of a tool for fast DNA sequencing data processing
• Dehan Wijesinghe, Undergraduate, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2025) — components of a tool for fast DNA sequencing data processing
• Nimesh Kulatunga, Undergraduate, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2025) — components of a tool for fast DNA sequencing data processing
• Alan An, High school senior, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (2024/25) — simulation-based benchmarking of error-correction coding for DNA data storage using the FrameD simulator
• Budvin Edippuliarachchi, Undergraduate, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2021/22) — an MPI-based distributed k-mer counting and querying tool for commodity clusters. Now Graduate Student at University of Utah
• Damika Gamlath, Undergraduate, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2021/22) — an MPI-based distributed k-mer counting and querying tool for commodity clusters. Now Software Engineer at Google
• Ruchin Amaratunga, Undergraduate, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2021/22) — an MPI-based distributed k-mer counting and querying tool for commodity clusters. Now R&D Engineer at Synopsys Sri Lanka