Visiting Assistant Professor, Engineering
athaudam@jmu.edu
Contact Info
Education
- Ph.D. Experimental Condensed Matter Physics, University of Virginia (2017)
- B.S. Engineering Physics, University of Colombo - Sri Lanka (2010)
Experience
Professor Athauda has held various academic positions, including Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Rochester and Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the Virginia Military Institute. Before that, she worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Physics and Engineering Department at Washington and Lee University.
Courses Taught
- Circuits and Instrumentation
- Systems Analysis
- Engineering Dynamics
- Engineering Thermodynamics
Research Interests
Professor Athauda's research will primarily focus on designing, synthesizing, and characterizing novel materials, with a particular emphasis on investigating the structural intricacies that give rise to intriguing phenomena such as superconductivity, charge density waves, and more. Exploring various avenues to induce these exotic properties, including the development of new materials that exhibit them, will be a key aspect of her work. Additionally, she aims to investigate the crystal structure and local lattice distortions that contribute to the mechanisms behind these phenomena, utilizing techniques such as single crystal and powder diffraction measurements as the foundation of her research.
