About Me

My research interests lie in data analysis and visualization. Specifically, I am interested in exploring and developing generalized data analysis and visualization solutions, that can be applied across a wide variety of application domains.

As a Research Associate at Division of Epidemiology, University of Utah, my current focus is to apply advanced analytics and informatics methods in creative, cross-disciplinary activities in an effort to improve clinical care.

In 2017, I graduated with a PhD in Computing (Graphics Track) from the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute at University of Utah. Prior to that, I completed my undergraduate degree in computer science from the School of Computing of the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2009.

As a part of my PhD research, together with my advisor, Dr. Valerio Pascucci and Dr. Peer-Timo Bremer, I worked on developing TALASS, an interactive framework which allows exploration of large-scale, time-varying datasets. Apart from that, my research also include a scalable data-parallel halo-finder operator in PISTON and an in-situ visualization and analysis of PSI simulations. These were results of an collaboration with Dr. Chris Sewell, Li-Ta Lo & Dr. Jim Ahrens in the Data Science at Scale team at Los Alamos National Laboratory. With Dr. Paul Rosen, I developed Ray Graphs, a flexible framework for space and time exploring panoramas.

Education

  • PhD in Computing (Graphics Track) (2017)
    Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah
    Advisor: Dr. Valerio Pascucci
    Dissertation Topic: Interactive Visualization and Exploration of Feature Evolution in Dynamic Data
    •  
  • Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (2009)
    School of Computing, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
    Dissertation topic: Facial Emotion Recognition using a Neural Network approach

Publications

Conference Papers

Flux Effects on Helium-Induced Surface Evolution in Tungsten
[bibtex]

Karl Hammond, Ian Naeger, Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Li-Ta Lo, Dimitrios Maroudas and Brian Wirth.

In APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting, 2018.

Interactive Visualization and Exploration of Patient Progression in a Hospital Setting
[ pdf, ppt, bibtex]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Yarden Livnat, Peer-Timo Bremer, Scott Duvall and Valerio Pascucci.

In Proceedings of the AMIA 2017 Annual Symposium, Washington, D.C., USA, 2017. 

Exploring the Evolution of Pressure-Perturbations to Understand Atmospheric Phenomena
[ pdf, bibtex]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Alex Jacques, Bei Wang, Erik Crosman, Peer-Timo Bremer and Valerio Pascucci.

In Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE Pacific Visualization Symposium (PacificVis), Seoul, Korea, 2017. 

Tracking Features in Embedded Surfaces: Understanding Extinction in Turbulent Combustion
[ pdf, ppt, video, supMat, bibtex]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Pavol Klacansky, Hemanth Kolla, Ankit Bhagatwala, Jackie Chen, Valerio Pascucci and Peer-Timo Bremer

In Proceedings of the IEEE symposium on Large-Scale Data Analysis and Visualization (LDAV), Chicago, USA, 2015.

Visualization and Analysis of Large-Scale Atomistic Simulations of Plasma–Surface Interactions
[ pdf, video, bibtex]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Karl Hammond, Li-Ta Lo, Brian Wirth, Francesca Samsel, Christopher Sewell, James Ahrens and Valerio Pascucci

In Proceedings of the EuroVis - Short Papers, Cagliari, Italy, 2015.

Data-Parallel Halo Finding with Variable Linking Lengths
[ pdf, video, bibtex]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Peer-Timo Bremer, Christopher Sewell, Li-Ta Lo, James Ahrens and Valerio Pascucci

In Proceedings of the IEEE symposium on Large-Scale Data Analysis and Visualization (LDAV), Paris, France, 2014.

A Flexible Framework for Fusing Image Collections into Panoramas
[Awarded Best Paper, certificate, pdf, ppt, supMat, bibtex]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Paul Rosen and Valerio Pascucci

In Proceedings of the 26th Sibgrapi Conference on Graphics, Patterns and Images, Arequipa, Peru, 2013.

Interactive Exploration of Large-Scale Time-Varying Data using Dynamic Tracking Graphs
[Nominated for Best Paper, pdf, ppt, video, bibtex]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Cameron Christensen, Peer-Timo Bremer and Valerio Pascucci

In Proceedings of the IEEE symposium on Large-Scale Data Analysis and Visualization (LDAV), Seattle, USA, 2012.

Emotion Recognition with Image Processing and Neural Networks
[ pdf]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi and Anuja Dharmaratne

In Proceedings of the 27th National Information Technology Conference (NITC), Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2009.

Journal Papers

A flexible framework for visualizing and exploring patient misdiagnosis over time
[Honorable mention in Dr. James Cimino's Annual Year in Review at AMIA 2022, link to paper, bibtex]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Kelly Peterson, Alec Chapman, David Classen and Makoto Jones.

In Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 2022.

Corrigendum and Addendum: Helium flux effects on bubble growth and surface morphology in plasma-facing tungsten from large-scale molecular dynamics simulations (2019 Nucl. Fusion 59 066035)
[link to paper, bibtex]

Karl Hammond, Brandon Lee, Ian Naeger, Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Li-Ta Lo, Dimitrios Maroudas and Brian Wirth.

In Nuclear Fusion, 2020.

Helium flux effects on bubble growth and surface morphology in plasma-facing tungsten from large-scale molecular dynamics simulations
[link to paper, bibtex]

Karl Hammond, Ian Naeger, Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Li-Ta Lo, Dimitrios Maroudas and Brian Wirth.

In Nuclear Fusion, 2019.

Posters

Predicting Misdiagnoses of Infectious Disease in Emergency Department Visits
[link to paper, bibtex]

Alec Chapman, Kelly Peterson, Wathsala Widanagamaachchi and Makoto Jones.

In ID Week, 2021.

Interactive Topological Exploration of Particle Ensembles
[ pdf, poster, bibtex]

Harsh Bhatia, Pavol Klacansky, Shusen Liu, Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Attila Gyulassy, Valerio Pascucci and Peer-Timo Bremer

In Scientific Visualization Contest at IEEE VIS, Baltimore, USA, 2016.

3D Face Reconstruction from 2D Images - A Survey
[ pdf, bibtex]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi and Anuja Dharmaratne

In Proceedings of the IEEE Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications Conference (DICTA), Canberra, Australia, 2008.

Presentations

Demographic Characteristics of Veterans with COVID-19 by Wave
[link to paper]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Ariana Callahan, Christian Dalton, Tina Willson, Makoto Jones, Meg Plomondon, Tamara Box and Joe Francis.

HSR&D/QUERI National Conference, Baltimore, USA, 2023. 

Interactive Visualization and Exploration of Patient Progression in a Hospital Setting
[ pdf, ppt]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi, Yarden Livnat, Peer-Timo Bremer, Scott Duvall and Valerio Pascucci.

2016 Workshop on Visual Analytics in Healthcare, Chicago, USA, 2016. 

Understanding Feature Evolution Over Time For Large-scale Time-varying Datasets
[ pdf]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi and Valerio Pascucci

Doctoral Colloquium, VisWeek, Chicago, USA, 2015.

Graduate Thesis

Interactive Visualization and Exploration of Feature Evolution in Dynamic Data
[ pdf, ppt ]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi and Valerio Pascucci

Undergraduate Thesis

Facial Emotion Recognition with a Neural Network Approach
[ pdf ]

Wathsala Widanagamaachchi and Anuja Dharmaratne