CURRENT POSITION                                                                                                                           

Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Portland State University     Fall 2011–Spring 2012

EDUCATION                                                                                                                                         

Ph.D. Candidate, Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Illinois,      Dec. 2011

Dissertation Title: Three Essays on Conservation: dynamic and spatial reserve design and valuing preferences for ecosystem attributes

Committee: Hayri Önal (chair, director of research), Amy W. Ando (director of research), Richard Brazee, Stephen Polasky (University of Minnesota), James D. Westervelt (US Army ERDC-CERL)

Program started in Fall 2007, proposal defended in Summer 2010, final defense completed in Fall 2011.

M.S. Applied Mathematics, University of Illinois,                                                         2010
B.A. Computer Science and Economics (cum laude), Ohio Wesleyan University,         2004

RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS                                                                                           

Research Interests: Non-market valuation using choice experiments, spatial and dynamic mathematical programming, dynamic simulation

Teaching Interests: Environmental and resource economics, mathematical programming, dynamic simulation, microeconomics (masters level), economic development and trade (undergraduate), introductory and intermediate microeconomics and macroeconomics (undergraduate)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS                                                                                                                 

• S. T. M. Dissanayake, and H. Önal. Amenity Driven Price Effects and Conservation Reserve Site Selection: A Dynamic Linear Integer Programming Approach. 2011. Ecological Economics. Vol 70, No 12, 2225-2235.
  
• S. T. M. Dissanayake, H. Önal, and J. D. Westervelt. 2011. Optimum Selection of Conservation Reserves: Extensions to Multiple Land Use. Military Operations Research, Vol 16, No. 1.
  

• S. T. M. Dissanayake, H. Önal, J. D. Westervelt, and H. Balbach. 2012 Optimum Selection of Clustered Conservation Areas for Species Relocation. Ecological Modeling. Vol 224 Iss 1. 65-75.

SELECTED TEACHING EXPERIENCE                                                                                                 

• Mathematical Economics (ECON 4/580), Portland State University, Instructor                                      Fall 2011
  
• Intermediate Microeconomics (ECON311), Portland State University, Instructor                                  Fall 2011
  
• Natural Resource Economics (ACE/NRES/ENVS 310), University of Illinois, Instructor                      Fall 2010
  
• Summer Math Camp for Masters and PhD Students, University of Illinois, Instructor               August 2009/10
  
• Principles of Macroeconomics (ECON103), University of Illinois, Head Teaching Assistant   Spring 06 - 10
  
• Environmental Economics (ECON/ACE210), University of Illinois, Teaching Assistant            Spring 2010/11

SELECTED AWARDS AND RECOGNITION                                                                                         

• Outstanding PhD Student, 2011, Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois
  
• Robert Ferber Dissertation Award for excellence in survey research, 2011, Survey Research Laboratory
  
• North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Graduate Student Teaching Award, 2011
  
• Louis V. Logeman Graduate Student Teaching Award, 2011, College of ACES, University of Illinois
  
• Northeastern Ag and Resource Economics Association (NAREA) Graduate Student Conference Scholarship
  
• Named on the Center for Teaching Excellence’s list of “Teachers Ranked as Excellent” for 8 semesters

GRANTS                                                                                                                                               

• Optimal Management of DoD Lands for Military Training, Ecosystem Service and Renewable Energy Generation (PI Hayri Onal). US Army, Construction Engineering Research Laboratory. 2010-12. $114,274
  
• Estimating the Value of Grassland Habitat Restoration:  Evidence from a Choice Experiment Survey
  (PI Amy W. Ando). Research Board. University of Illinois. 2010-2011. $4,630
  

WORKING PAPERS AND WORK IN PROGRESS (available online at http://sahan.org/workingpapers.html)

• S. T. M. Dissanayake and A. W. Ando. Estimating values, tradeoffs, and complementarities in ecosystem attributes: A Choice Experiment Survey [JOB MARKET PAPER]
  
• S.T.M Dissanayake. Using STELLA Simulation Models to Teach Natural Resource Economics
  
• S. T. M. Dissanayake and H. M. Núñez. Optimal Selection of Land for Conservation: A GE Analysis
  
• S. T. M. Dissanayake, H. Önal, J. D. Westervelt, and H. Balbach. Meta-clustering in Conservation Areas
  
• H. Önal, S. T. M. Dissanayake and J. D. Westervelt. Designing Compact and Contiguous Conservation Areas
  
• S. T. M. Dissanayake, H. Önal, J. D. Westervelt and H. Balbach. Spatial Reserve Design Models: Identifying Land for Conservation within Military Installations, in P. A. L. D. Nunes, P. Kumar and T. Dedeurwaerdere (eds) Handbook on the Economics of Biodiversity and Management of Ecosystem Services.
  
• Is the first time the hardest? Testing for Ordering and Learning Effects in Choice Experiment Surveys. S. T. M. Dissanayake and A. W. Ando
  
• Optimal Prioritization of Biodiversity Areas in Response to EU's Natura 2000: The Case of Sicily. S. T. M. Dissanayake and G. Signorello (University of Catania, Italy)
  
• Risk Preferences and Technology Adoption by Beekeepers: A Choice Experiment Survey. K. Baylis, S. T. M. Dissanayake and B. J. Gross

OTHER PUBLICATIONS                                                                                                                       

• V. Kudaligama and S. T. M. Dissanayake. Sri Lanka’s Peace Dividends: The End of the War and Beyond. The Illinois International Review. Fall 2009. (Not peer reviewed)
  
• B. C. Daniels, S. T. M. Dissanayake, and B. R. Trees. 2003, Synchronization of coupled rotators: Josephson junction ladders and the locally-coupled Kuramoto model, Physical Review E, Vol  67.
  
• S. T. M. Dissanayake, H. Önal, J. D. Westervelt, and H. Balbach. Optimum Selection of Clustered Conservation Areas. US Army Construction Engineering Research Lab (CERL) Technical Report. Forthcoming.
  
• S. T. M. Dissanayake, H. Önal, J. D. Westervelt, and H. Balbach. Meta-clustering and Relocation in Designing Conservation Areas. US Army CERL Technical Report. Forthcoming.

OTHER TEACHING AND MENTORING EXPERIENCE                                                                        

• Mentor for the ACES-Research Assistantship Program (RAP)                                                                               Summer 2010
  Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois
• Principles of Macroeconomics (ECON103), Teaching Assistant                                                             Fall 2006/05
  Department of Economics, University of Illinois
• Instructor and TA for Economics, Mathematics and Web design for the Upward Bound Program
  Ohio Wesleyan University, Summer 2001 to 2003; University of Illinois, Summer 2007
• Three presentations at the Center for Teaching Excellence’s Graduate Academy for New TA’s,
  University of Illinois, August 2010, August 2009, August 2008
• Certificate in Technology-Enhanced Teaching, CTE, University of Illinois                               expected 2012
  Graduate Teacher Certificate, Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), University of Illinois     2007

OTHER AWARDS AND RECOGNITION                                                                                            

• Finalist Ribbon, 2009, Poster Session, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting
• Travel Grants from EAERE, AAEA, and the University of Illinois Graduate College
• Alice Empkey Batchelor Graduate School Scholarship awarded to the most promising senior in Economics, Department of Economics, Ohio Wesleyan University, 2004
• David H Staley Outstanding Junior Prize-2nd Place, Department of Math and CS, OWU, 2003
• Dean’s List (All semesters between Spring 01 – Spring 04), Ohio Wesleyan University
• Trustee Scholarship ($85,000 over four years), Ohio Wesleyan University, 2000

PRESENTATIONS                                                                                                                               

Non-Market Valuation and Public Preferences for Restoring Ecosystems. S. T. M. Dissanayake

• Institute for Sustainable Solutions Seminar Series, Portland, OR, January 2012

Estimating values, tradeoffs, and complementarities in ecosystem attributes: Evidence from a choice experiment survey. S. T. M. Dissanayake, and A. W. Ando.

• EcoTrust, Portland, OR, January 2012
• Department Seminar, Economics Department, Portland State University. January 2012
• Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics Workshopp, Urbana Champaign, IL, October 2011
• Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting†, Pittsburgh, PA, July 2011
• Association of Environmental and Resource Economics (AERE) Inaugural Summer Conference, Seattle, WA, June 2011
• Midwest Graduate Student Summit on Regional, Population, Health and Environmental (RPHE) Economics, Urbana, IL, April 2010

Using STELLA Simulation Models to Teach Natural Resource Economics. S. T. M. Dissanayake.

• Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, July 2011
• AEA Conference on Teaching Economics and Research in Economic Education, Palo Alto, CA, June 2011

Location Based Amenity Price Effects in Conservation Reserve Design: A Dynamic Linear Integer Programming Model for Site Selection. S. T. M. Dissanayake, and H. Önal.

• Southern Economic Association (SEA) Annual Meeting†, Atlanta, GA, November, 2010
• Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting†, Denver CO, July 2010
• World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economics (WCERE), Montreal, Canada, June 2010.
• Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics Workshopp, Urbana-Champaign, IL, October 2009
• ACE Research Celebration; Second year PhD requirement. University of Illinois, October 2009.
• Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meetingp, Milwaukee, WI, July 2009

Optimal Allocation of Land for Conservation: A GE Analysis. S. T. M. Dissanayake and Héctor  M. Núñez.

• Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics Workshop, Urbana Champaign, IL, October 2010
• Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting ŧ, Denver CO, July 2010
• Midwest Graduate Student Summit on Regional, Population and Health Economics, April 2010.

Optimal Selection of Conservation Land within Military Installation: The Case of Ft. Benning GA and Ft. Stweart  GA. S. T. M. Dissanayake, H. Önal, J. D. Westervelt, and H. Balbach. (Poster).

• Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics Workshopp, Urbana Champaign, IL, October 2010
• Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meetingp, Denver CO, July 2010

Optimum Selection of Clustered Conservation Areas for Species Relocation. S. T. M. Dissanayake, H. Önal, J. D. Westervelt, and H. Balbach.

• EAERE/FEEM/ Belpasso Summer School, Belpasso, Italy, September 2010.

Invited presentation. Non-market valuation using conjoint analysis.  S. T. M. Dissanayake. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. January 2010.

Optimal Selection of Conservation Reserves: Extensions to Multiple Land Use and a Mechanism Design Approach. S. T. M. Dissanayake, H. Önal, and J. D. Westervelt. AERE Sponsored Session

• Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting, Milwaukee WI, July 2009.

National Security versus Environmental Stewardship: Optimum Selection of Conservation Reserves In and Around Military Installations. S. T. M. Dissanayake, H. Önal, J. D. Westervelt, and H. Balbach.

• Midwest Graduate Student Summit on Regional, Population and Health Economics, April, 2009.
• Southern Economic Association (SEA) Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, November 2008.
• INFORMS Annual Conference ŧ, San Diego, CA, November 2008.

SOFTWARE AND PROGRAMMING SKILLS                                                                                        

• Optimization and Simulation: GAMS, Matlab, Mathematica, STELLA
  
• Statistical: Stata, R
  
• Programming: C++, Java, Scheme, Fortran 90, HTML, SQL, PHP
  
• GIS: ArcGIS, GeoDA

SELECTED LEADERSHIP                                                                                                                    

• President  – ACE-Department Graduate Student Organization, University of Illinois, 2010-2011
• Vice-President  – ACE-Department Graduate Student Organization, University of Illinois, 2009-2010
• President – Sri Lankan Society, University of Illinois, 2009-2010, 2010-2011
• President – Association of Computing Machinery- OWU Chapter, Ohio Wesleyan University, 2003-2004
• Board Member - Honors Student Board, Ohio Wesleyan University, 2001-2004.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP                                                                                                         

• Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE)
• Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA)
• American Economic Association (AEA)
• European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE)
• Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association (NAREA)
• Southern Economic Association (SEA)
• South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE)

WORK EXPERIENCE                                                                                                    

Resident Manager, University Housing, University of Illinois                           June 2010 to Sept 2011
Community Aide, University Housing, University of Illinois                               August 2006 to June 2010
Web Services Coordinator, Ohio Wesleyan University                                       June 2004 to June 2005

SELECTED SERVICE                                                                                                                           

• Lead Co-Organizer: Midwest Graduate Student Summit on Regional, Population, Health and Environmental (RPHE) Economics at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois (2011)
• Session chair: SEA Annual Meeting (2010), Midwest Graduate Student Summit (2009)
• Discussant: AAEA Annual Meeting (2009, 2010), Midwest Graduate Student Summit (2009)
• Search Committee: (University Housing: Leasing Coordinator 2009, Associate Complex Director 2010)
• Organized presentation sessions for graduate students presenting at AAEA, (August 2009, August 2010)
• Assisted with the Heartland Environmental Resource Workshop, 2009
• Redesigned and updated the Program in Environmental and Resource Economics (pERE) website 2009
• Assisted with TA training for the Center for Teaching Excellence, August 2006/2007/2008/2009
• Initiated and conducted fundraising efforts to sponsor the education of low income children in Sri Lanka
• Led a team of students to the Appalachian Service Project (ASP) for Spring Break, March 2005
• Initiated and coordinated Tsunami Fundraising Efforts at Ohio Wesleyan University, January 2005