Sithira Ratnayaka

Sithira Ratnayaka, PhD, currently serves as the Lead Technical Project Manager at Virginia Tech Applied Research Corporation since September 2023. Prior to this role, Sithira was a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the United States Department of Defense from September 2021 to September 2023, where contributions included developing science-based policy strategies and managing grants for the National Defense Education Program. Academically, Sithira has held positions as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Oglethorpe University and as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Sithira earned a PhD in Chemistry with a focus on Polymer Chemistry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and holds master's and bachelor's degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Tulane University. Extensive research experience includes optimizing multicellular tumor spheroid clusters and exploring blood type conversion.