Dr. Samitha Samaranayake

Biography

Samitha Samaranayake is an Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University. He is also part of the Graduate Field Faculty in the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering and a Faculty Fellow at the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. His primary research interests are in mathematical modeling, algorithm design, and large-scale transportation network problems. His current focus involves tackling problems at the intersection of public transit and ride-sharing, particularly in developing hybrid transit systems that integrate traditional fixed-line public transportation with agile, demand-responsive modes. Samitha's research applies algorithm engineering to create theoretical insights that drive successful data-driven heuristic approaches, addressing complex optimization problems in this domain. He collaborates closely with public transit agencies and private shuttle operators, utilizing real data for model calibration and validating simulation results to ensure effective real-world deployment of algorithms. He is actively seeking postdoc positions in areas including network design optimization in emerging transportation systems and stochastic optimization. He encourages highly motivated PhD students with strong quantitative and computational skills interested in urban mobility challenges to apply to the PhD programs in Civil Engineering, Operations Research, and Applied Mathematics Systems Engineering.

Research Interests