Rate My Professor Shriwantha Vithana

Dr. Shriwantha Buddhi Vithana is affiliated with the University of New England (UNE) in Armidale, Australia, within the Agronomy and Soil Science discipline of the School of Environmental and Rural Science. He served as Unit Coordinator for AGRO514 Plant Biosecurity in 2020, guiding students through topics essential to plant protection and biosecurity practices in agriculture. He also acted as Unit Coordinator for additional courses listed in the UNE learning management system.

Vithana holds a Doctor of Philosophy from Kagoshima University, Japan, and was previously affiliated with the University of the Ryukyus Faculty of Agriculture in Okinawa, Japan. His research specializations center on soil mechanics and geotechnical properties of landslide soils, including residual strength, shear strength parameters, and the effects of shearing rates, overconsolidation ratios, and normal stress. Key publications include: "Influence of effective normal stress in the measurement of fully softened strength in different origin landslide soils" (2015); "Shearing rate effect on residual strength of landslide soils in the slow rate range" (2013); "Effects of overconsolidation ratios on the shear strength of remoulded slip surface soils in ring shear" (2012); "Correlation of large displacement drained shear strength of landslide soils measured by direct shear and ring shear devices" (2011); "Average shear strength parameters along the slip surface of various types of landslides: Shimajiri-mudstone landslide, Okinawa" (2011). Additional works address shear strength characteristics of specific landslides in Okinawa and China, variation of residual friction coefficients under increased shear rates, and the role of platy layer silicate minerals in controlling residual strength. These contributions have accumulated 203 citations. Subsequently, he joined the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority as Risk Manager.