Rate My Professor Mudith Karunaratne

Dr. Mudith Karunaratne is a Lecturer at Curtin Colombo, part of Curtin University, and concurrently serves as Head of the Department of Materials Engineering and Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering at the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT). He earned his BSc(Eng) with First Class Honours in Materials Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 1994, and his PhD in Materials Science and Metallurgy from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, in 2001, for the thesis titled 'Diffusional phenomena in nickel base superalloys'. His early career included a position as Lecturer in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Moratuwa from 1994 to 1996.

Karunaratne's extensive career history features roles as Research Fellow in the School of Engineering Sciences at the University of Southampton, UK (2001-2004), and Research Associate in the Department of Materials at Loughborough University, UK (2005-2017), before taking up his current leadership role at SLIIT in 2017. His research specializations include high temperature materials, nickel base superalloys, 9Cr steels, materials modelling, high performance computing in materials science, thermodynamics, coupled thermodynamics/kinetic modelling, diffusion in multicomponent systems, and diffusion in semiconductor materials such as Si and SiGe. Key publications encompass 'Modelling Carburisation in 9Cr-1Mo Ferritic Steel Tube Substrates in Experimental CO2 Atmospheres' (Corrosion Science, 2020), 'Modelling of microstructural evolution in multi-layered overlay coatings' (Journal of Materials Science, 2017), 'Modelling the coefficient of thermal expansion in Ni-based superalloys and bond coatings' (Journal of Materials Science, 2016), 'Influence of nominal composition variation on phase evolution and creep life of Type 316H austenitic stainless steel components' (Procedia Structural Integrity, 2016), 'A multicomponent diffusion model for prediction of microstructural evolution in coated Ni based superalloy systems' (Materials Science and Technology, 2009), 'Microstructural evolution in coated superalloy systems' (Energy Materials, 2009), 'Uphill diffusion in ternary Ni-Re-Ru alloys at 1000 and 1100°C' (Materials Science and Engineering A, 2007), and 'A coupled thermodynamic/kinetic model for diffusional processes in superalloys' (Acta Materialia, 1998). His scholarly contributions have amassed over 1,600 citations. Notable awards include Poster Prize at Materials Research Day, Loughborough University (2015), Poster Prize at Loughborough University HPC facility launch (2012), Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust (1996-1999), Overseas Research Studentship Award (1996-1999), Corpus Christi College Studentship (1996-1999), and University of Moratuwa Materials Engineering Best Student Awards for 1992, 1993, and 1994.