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Maneesha Perera

Hi! I am Maneesha. I am currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. My research interests are in time series analysis and deep learning methods. I recently completed my PhD at the University of Melbourne, where I focused on improving the forecast accuracy of behind-the-meter solar (rooftop solar) energy production with time series and deep learning methods. See an overview of my PhD research in 1 minute here. I also have teaching experience tutoring multiple subjects at the University of Melbourne.

I am a Co-Founder of Solstice AI - an Australian-based startup. We identify solar panels from satellite imagery and forecast solar power generation with deep learning methods – enabling more effective integration of renewables into the grid of the future. Solstice AI was accepted to two leading startup accelerators in Australia in 2022: Melbourne Accelerator Program and EnergyLab Climate Solutions Accelerator.

I have industry research experience working as a Research Intern at IBM Research Australia where I conducted research and implementation on forecasting methods for energy applications. I have also previously worked as a full stack Software Engineer, primarily involved in microservice API development, devops engineering and frontend web development.

Work Experience

Research Fellow

Solstice AI
2023 February - Present

NH & MRC Research Fellow (Level B). Appointment across Transport, Health and Urban Design Lab (THUD) and AI, Optimization and Pattern Recognition Group.

Co-Founder

Solstice AI
2021 November - Present

Our mission at Solstice AI is to enable effective integration of renewables into electricity grids. We do research and implementation on identifying rooftop solar PV systems and forecasting solar generation in regions. As a Co-Founder and Head of Research, I am involved in establishing our business and conducting research to achieve our mission.

Academic Tutor

University of Melbourne
2021 March - 2022 December

I have tutored the following subjects:

ENGR30004 Numerical Algorithms in Engineering, Semester 2, 2022 (Co-head Tutor)
MCEN90048 AI for Engineers, (Semester 1, 2022)
ENGR30004 Numerical Algorithms in Engineering, Semester 2, 2021 (Co-head Tutor)
COMP10003 Media Computation, (Semester 1, 2021)
SWEN30006 Software Modelling and Design, (Semester 1, 2021)
MCEN90048 AI for Engineers, (Semester 1, 2021)

Research Assistant

Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University
2022 February - December

Research on hierarchical time series forecasting with machine learning methods.

Research Intern

IBM Research - Australia
2019 March - 2021 March

Research and implementation on time series forecasting methods for energy applications.

Software Engineer

SyscoLabs - Sri Lanka
2018 January - 2019 January

Engaged in frontend development, devops engineering tasks and API development.

Trainee Software Engineer

99X Technology - Sri Lanka
2016 September - 2017 February

Worked on refactoring existing web based solutions in C++.

Education

PhD in Engineering

University of Melbourne, Australia
2019 February - 2022 November (conferral in 2023)

Thesis Title: Accurate Forecasting of Distributed Solar Generation using Time Series and Deep Learning Methods

Supervised by:
Prof. Saman Halgamuge
Dr. Julian De Hoog
Dr. Kasun Bandara

Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Computer Science

University of Colombo School of Computing, Sri Lanka
2014 February - 2018 February

GPA - 3.87 / 4.00 - First Class

Thesis Topic - Refinement Of Existing Road Vector Layers Through High Resolution Satellite Images.

Second highest GPA in the graduating batch of 2018 and the recipient of the ICTA award for the best final year computer science research.

Awards and Scholarships

  • Google AI Tensorflow Faculty Award to support machine learning courses, diversity, and inclusion 2021

    • I received the Google AI TensorFlow Faculty Award (8000 USD) for my proposal to develop a workshop series on "Fairness in Machine Learning (ML)" that can be integrated into existing ML/ Artificial Intelligence (AI) courses at the University of Melbourne.



  • Grace Hopper Down Under Student Scholarship 2019 - AnitaB.org Hopper Down Under Community

    • I was selected as a Hopper Down Under student scholar and was awarded a scholarship to attend the Grace Hopper Down Under Conference for women in STEM.



  • Melbourne Graduate Research Scholarship - University of Melbourne

    • Melbourne graduate research scholarship is awarded for PhD students and Masters by research students based on their academic merit. I received the Melbourne graduate research scholarship to pursue my PhD at the University of Melbourne.



  • First Class Honours in BSc (Hons) in Computer Science - University of Colombo School of Computing

    • GPA - 3.87 / 4.00



  • ICTA Award for the Best Computer Science Final Year Research 2017 - University of Colombo School of Computing

    • I received this award for my final year research in Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Computer Science degree.

Publications and Research Projects



    Publications

  • Maneesha, Perera, Julian De Hoog, Kasun Bandara, Saman Halgamuge. "Multi-resolution, multi-horizon distributed solar PV power forecasting with forecast combinations". Expert Systems with Applications, 2022. PDF

  • Julian De Hoog, Maneesha, Perera, Peter Ilfrich, Saman Halgamuge. "Characteristic Profile: Improved Solar Power Forecasting Using Seasonality Models". Energy Informatics Review, 2021. PDF

  • Julian De Hoog, Maneesha, Perera,Kasun Bandara, Damith Senanayake, Saman Halgamuge. "Solar PV Maps for Estimation and Forecasting of Distributed Solar Generation". ICML 2021 Workshop - Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning, 2021. PDF

  • Maneesha, Perera, Julian De Hoog, Kasun Bandara, Saman Halgamuge. "Forecast Combinations for Multi-Horizon Residential Solar Photovoltaic Power Forecasting". 40th International Symposium in Forecasting (ISF), 2020. PDF

  • Fatemeh Jalali, Subhrajit Roy, Ramachandra Rao Kolluri, Maneesha Perera, Mahsa Salehi, John D. Vasquez, Julian de Hoog. "Hybrid Edge-Cloud based Ensemble Learning for Forecasting Occupancy of Open-plan Offices. The 3rd International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence of Things (In conjunction with the 26th ACM SIGKDD), 2020. PDF

  • Maneesha, Perera, Damith Karunaratne, Enosha Hettiarachchi. “Using Bezier Curves to Refine Road Vector Data Through Satellite Images”. In: Proceedings of the 2018 the 2nd International Conference on Video and Image Processing. ICVIP 2018. Hong Kong: ACM, pp. 192–197. PDF



    • Research Projects

  • Machine Learning Methods for Hierarchical Time Series Forecasting, February 2022 - August 2022

    Research Assistant, Department of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University
    Conducted research and implementation on machine learning methods to forecast hierarchical time series.
    Technologies: Python (Tensorflow, scikit-learn, pandas), R | Git


  • Quantifying and Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Client Workloads in Data Centers, May 2020 - February 2021

    Research Intern, IBM Research, Australia
    Implemented forecasting models to forecast the energy generation from different energy sources.
    Technologies: Python (scikit-learn, fbprophet, sktime, pandas, plotly) | Git


  • Forecasting and Optimization for Energy Applications, August 2019 - April 2020

    Research Intern, IBM Research, Australia
    Conducted research on data-driven approaches to improve residential solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation forecasts.
    Technologies: Python (scikit-learn, fbprophet, sktime, pmdarima, pandas, plotly) | Git |high performance computing


  • Occupancy Forecasting in Open-Plan Offices, March 2019 - August 2019

    Research Intern, IBM Research, Australia
    Conducted research on building occupancy detection and forecasting using motion sensor data.
    Technologies: Python (scikit-learn, tensorflow, pandas, plotly) | Git |high performance computing


Academic and Teaching Experience

  • Tutor for MCEN90048 Artificial Intelligence for Engineers, Semester 1, 2022 and Semester 1, 2021

    Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Melbourne


  • Co-head Tutor for ENGR30004 Numerical Algorithms in Engineering, Semester 2, 2022 and Semester 2, 2021

    Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Melbourne


  • Tutor for COMP10003 Media Computation, Semester 1, 2021

    Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Melbourne


  • Tutor for SWEN30006 Software Modelling and Design, Semester 1, 2021

    Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Melbourne


  • Co-supervisor for Masters Project 169 - Operational Optimisation of Rooftop Photovoltaic Battery Energy Storage System, 2020

    Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Melbourne


  • Foundations of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Researchers Certificate, 2020

    Melbourne Center for the Study of Higher Education

Leadership and Volunteering

  • Vice-Chair (2022 February - 2022 December) - IEEE Women in Engineering Victorian Section, Australia

    • I was the Vice-Chair and acting Chair of IEEE WIE VIC section for the term 2022/2023. In my role, I led the WIE Victorian section executive committee in organising activities that can empower and promote early career female engineers and scientists. During my term, we organised the IEEE Women in Engineering International Leadership Summit in Melbourne.


  • Activity Organiser (2020 - 2021) - IEEE Women in Engineering Victorian Section, Australia

    • I was a committee member of the IEEE WIE Victoria Section. My role as an activity organiser was to help and plan events organised by the IEEE WIE VIC section.


  • Vice President Talent Management 2015/2016 - AIESEC in University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

    • I was involved on organizing leadership development activities for members and managing the talent pipeline of the organization.


  • Organizing Committee Member National Conference 2015 - AIESEC in Sri Lanka

    • NATCON was a national conference organized by AIESEC in Sri Lanka with the objective of providing a platform for young individuals to develop their leadership skills.


  • Organizing Committee Vice President External Relations 2014/2015 Project MDG 2.0 - AIESEC in University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

    • Project MDG 2.0 was a community development project carried out to create awareness about UN's millennium development goals in Sri Lanka.


  • Organizing Committee Vice President External Relations TAC 2015 - AIESEC in University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

    • TAC was a corporate forum organized by AIESEC in University of Colombo with the objective of creating awareness of the importance of carrying out CSR projects in the corporate sector.


  • Secretary IEEE Day 2014

    • IEEE Student Branch - University of Colombo School of Computing, Sri Lanka.


  • Secretary English Literary Association 2011

    • Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Personal

I live in Melbourne, Australia with my husband Dr. Danula Hettiachchi who is a Research Fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S) and the School of Computing Technologies at RMIT University.

During my free time I enjoy running, hiking, cycling and exploring good food options.

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