Education

• 2019                        Ph.D. Physics (Texas A&M University, USA)
• 2016                        M.Sc. Physics (Texas A&M University, USA)
• 2013                        B.Sc. Physics (University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka)

Professional Experience

• 2019 – present        Postdoctoral Associate, Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory
• 2014 – 2019            Graduate Research Assistant, Experimental Nuclear Physics, Texas A&M University
• 2013 – 2014            Graduate Teaching Assistant, Texas A&M University 

Research Interests

Experimental Nuclear Physics, Nuclear Astrophysics, Transfer reactions, Nuclear Structure

Selected Publications

• “First direct measurement of the ¹³N(α,p)¹⁶O reaction relevant for core-collapse supernovae nucleosynthesis” 

  H. Jayatissa, M. L. Avila, K. E. Rehm, R. Talwar, P. Mohr, K. Auranen, J. Chen, D. A. Gorelov, C. R. Hoffman, C. L. Jiang, B. P. Kay, S. A. Kuvin, D. Santiago-Gonzalez Phys. Rev. C 105 (2022) L042802

• “Constraining the ²²Ne(α,γ)²⁶Mg and ²²Ne(α,n)²⁵Mg reaction rates using sub-Coulomb α-transfer reactions”  H. Jayatissa, G. V. Rogachev, G. Christian, V. Z. Goldberg, E. Koshchiy, O. Trippella, J. Hooker, S. Upadhyayula, E. Uberseder, B. T. Roeder, S. Ota, A. Saastamoinen Phys. Lett. B 802 (2020) 135267

• “Texas Active Target (TexAT) detector for experiments with rare isotope beams” E. Koshchiy, G. V. Rogachev, E. Pollacco, S. Ahn, E. Uberseder, J. Hooker, J. Bishop, E. Aboud, M. Barbui, V. Z. Goldberg, C. Hunt, H. Jayatissa, C. Magana, R. O’Dwyer, B. T. Roeder, A. Saastamoinen, S. Upadhyayula NIM A 957 (2020) 163398

• “Direct Fusion Measurement of the ⁸B Proton-Halo Nucleus at Near-Barrier Energies” J. C. Zamora, V. Guimaraes, G. V. Rogachev, S. Ahn, J. Lubian, E. N. Cardozo, S. M. Lukyanov, E. Aboud, M.  Assuncao, M. Barbui, J. Bishop, C. Hunt, H. Jayatissa, E. Koshchiy, R O’Dwyer, Y. E. Penionzhkevich, B. T. Roeder, A. Saastamoinen, S. Upadhyayula Phys. Lett. B 816 (2021) 136256

Awards and Fellowships

• 2021                         SNAQs (School for Nuclear Astrophysics Questions) Scientific Talk Award
• 2016, 2018               Dr. Chia-Lai Wang Memorial Scholarship, Texas A&M University
• 2013                         Graduate Diversity Fellowship, Texas A&M University

Outreach

• 2020 – present       Member of the American Physical Society Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (APS - IDEA)
• 2020                        Mentor for Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day at Argonne National Laboratory
• 2018 – 2020            Letters to a Pre-Scientist Pen Pal Program
• 2018                          Volunteer as a judge for the Student Research Week at Texas A&M University
• 2017, 2018                Moderator for the Annual U.S. Department of Energy Regional Science Bowl of the College of Science at Texas A&M University
• 2015 – 2017           Texas A&M Physics Festival
• 2016 – 2017           Office bearer of the Sri Lanka Association at Texas A&M University
• 2016                        Volunteer at Texas A&M Chemistry Open House
• 2016 – 2017           Discover, Explore and Enjoy Physics and Engineering (DEEP) mentor for undergraduates at Texas A&M University