Dr Sumith Pathirana BA(Hons)(SriLanka), GradDipAppSocStats(SriLanka), MA(Car),
PhD(Kent) 

Dr Sumith Pathirana is a Senior Lecturer in Geographical Information Systems and Remote
Sensing. Sumith has an Honours degree in Geography and a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied
Statistics from the University of Sri Jayawardanapura (Sri Lanka), a Master of Arts
degree in Geography from Carleton University, Ottawa (Canada), and a PhD in Remote
Sensing and GIS from Kent State University, Ohio (USA). Sumith also completed
postgraduate study - Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (Learning and Teaching) at
Southern Cross University in 2010. Sumith Joined the School of Environmental Science
& Management, Southern Cross University in late 1991 to start GIS and Remote Sensing
research and teaching programs. Before joining the School, Sumith worked as an Assistant
Professor at the University of Toledo, Ohio and also worked at Kent State University,
Ohio. 

Within his main expertise areas of GIS and Remote Sensing, Sumith’s main research focus
has been the application of GIS and remote sensing in vulnerability and hazard studies,
particularly related to coastal environments. He examines the impact of climate change on
coast and coastal ecosystems and vector-borne diseases. He has been involved in a number
of research projects on land cover and land use change detection, multi-criteria
analysis, and the use of process models in addressing human impact on coastal catchment
environments. He also was a recipient of prestigious Japanese government research award
(STA) for Foreign Experts to conduct research at the Geographical Survey Institute.
Sumith was nominated for the award by the Australian Academy of Science. 

Sumith is also involved in the CRC for Sustainable Tourism and a number of other
collaborative research projects with UNEP-USGS, Germany, Japan and Sri Lanka. In 2005 he
completed an extensive report on the vulnerability of global coastal zones for UNEP and
contributed to the UNEP publication on “One Planet – Many People”. Currently Sumith is
working on a collaborative research work with the Medical College, Kobe University on the
impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases in Sri Lanka and the Solomon Islands. 

Sumith has published extensively in international journals, international conference
proceedings as well as consultancy reports. He is an academic referee for scientific
papers for a range of journals and supervises a number of research students (PhD, Hons). 

His teaching includes Introduction to Geographical Information Systems, Remote Sensing
and Spatial Analysis and integrated research units in the School of Environmental Science
and Management, Southern Cross University. Sumith also worked as the Director, Centre for
Geoinformatics Research and Environmental Assessment Technology (GREAT) at Southern Cross
University which conducts research, consultancy and workshops in environment related
fields. Currently he is the coordinator of third year research projects (Integrated
Projects) at the School of Environmental Science & Management.

Journal articles

Link

Examining the potential impacts of sea level rise on coastal wetlands in north-eastern NSW, Australia (with Clement E. Akumu, Serwan MJ Baban, and Daniel J. Bucher), Journal of Coastal Conservation (2011)

The coastal wetlands of north-eastern New South Wales (NSW) Australia are increasingly being affected by...

 

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Modelling methane emission from wetlands in north-eastern NSW, Australia using Landsat ETM+ (with Clement E. Akumu, Serwan MJ Baban, and Daniel Bucher), Remote Sensing (2010)

Natural wetlands constitute a major source of methane emission to the atmosphere, accounting for approximately...

 

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Monitoring coastal wetland communities in north-eastern NSW using ASTER and Landsat satellite data (with Clement E. Akumu, Serwan MJ Baban, and Daniel Bucher), Wetlands Ecology and Management (2010)

The coastal wetland communities of north-eastern New South Wales (NSW) Australia exist in a subtropical...

 

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Study of potential risk of dengue disease outbreak in Sri Lanka using GIS and statistical modelling (with Masato Kawabata and Rohitha Goonatilake), Journal of Rural and Tropical Public Health (2009)

The increasing incidence of dengue fever has become a priority health issue for Sri Lanka....

 

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Applications of geospatial technology. Ganesh, A (ed.): Book review, Journal of Spatial Science (2007)
 

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Book chapters

Study of historical change as a contribution to environmental management issues: case studies from northeast New South Wales and southeast Queensland (with William E. Boyd, Maria M. Cotter, Roger J. McGrath, and Alison Specht), Geographical Society of Australia Special Publication (2001)
 

Conference publications

Examining coastal erosion issues in Darwin, Northern Australia using filed based data and geoinformatics (with Serwan MJ Baban, K Aliasgar, and Abdulla Habibi), Second International Conference on Geoinformation Technology for Natural Disaster Management and Rehabilitation (2009)
 

Examining the impact of climate change on the spatial distribution of coastal wetland communities in the northeast NSW (with Clement E. Akumu and Serwan MJ Baban), Papers of 32nd Applied Geography Conference (2009)
 

Teaching GIS and remote sensing undergraduate courses externally: reflections on a decade of experience, 32nd Applied Geography Conference (2009)
 

Vegetation change detection using multi-temporal satellite data in the Horton Plain National Park, Sri Lanka (with S Ediriweera, B MP Singhakumara, and P Wickramagamage), Meeting Multiple Demands for Forest Information: New Technologies in Forest Data Gathering: IUFRO, The Global Network for Forestry Science Corporation Conference (2009)
 

Assessing coastal vulnerability to climate change and anthropogenic factors around Darwin, Northern Territory of Australia (with Serwan MJ Baban), ACRS 2008 : proceedings of the 29th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing (2008)
 

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Reports

Examining coastal erosion issues in Darwin, north Australia using field based data and geoinformatics (with Serwan MJ Baban, K Aliasgar, and Abdulla Habibi), Report submitted to Darwin City Council (2008)
 

Mapping coastal benthic habitats in the Burnett Mary region using remotely sensed imagery (with Serwan MJ Baban, K Aliasgar, and Abdulla Habibi), Report prepared for Central Queensland University (2008)
 

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Assessing coastal vulnerability: developing a global index for measuring risk (with A Singh and Hua Shi), School of Environmental Science and Management Papers (2005)

This study attempts to give an overview of the current global coastal monitoring activities, and...