Pavithra Pathirathna

Pavithra Pathirathna is an Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering and Sciences within the College of Engineering and Science at Florida Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on developing advanced electrochemical sensors for simultaneous detection of neurotransmitters and toxic metals using carbon fiber microelectrodes.

Educational Background:

• B.Sc. from University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
• Ph.D. in Chemistry (2016) from Wayne State University under Dr. Parastoo Hashemi
• Postdoctoral work with Dr. Shigeru Amemiya at University of Pittsburgh

Her research integrates electrochemistry, analytical chemistry, and sensor technology to create ultrafast, robust devices for neurochemical monitoring and environmental toxic metal detection. Key innovations include multi-bore carbon fiber microelectrodes and AI-driven differentiation of analytes. Recent work emphasizes point-of-care diagnostics and real-time in vivo measurements.

Grants:

• NSF grant for four-bore microelectrodes (2023–2025)
• Institutional Research Incentive Program grant for cadmium detection (2022–2023)
• Naval Research Laboratory grant for liquid crystal STM studies (2019–2021)

Her lab at Florida Tech pioneers scanning electrochemical microscopy for nuclear pore complex analysis and fast-scan voltammetry for subsecond metal speciation studies.