Priyangi Bulathsinhala

Associate Teaching Professor; Chair of Undergraduate Advising
Priyangi Bulathsinhala
Priyangi
Bulathsinhala
Associate Teaching Professor; Chair of Undergraduate Advising
Address
Phone
(814) 865-5212

Biography

Priyangi Bulathsinhala is an Associate Teaching Professor of Statistics at Penn State

Bulathsinhala received her Ph.D. in Statistics from Southern Methodist University in 2016. She received her M.Sc. in Statistics from University of Texas at El Pass in 2011, and B.Sc. Statistics from University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2008.

For her Ph.D. dissertation she investigated optimal spatial methods for the analysis of functional connectivity in fMRI data. Her work focused on improving the detection of functional connectivity in brain by reducing the large number of voxel-based tests arise in the current methods. She is interested in continuing to develop this work.

Additionally, Bulathsinhala also has two ongoing collaborative projects:

1. Jointly with Dr. Prabhani Kuruppumullage and Dr. Laura Cruz at Penn State, to assess the student attitudes towards Statistics, mainly focusing on adult learners enrolled in online introductory graduate course in Statistics.

2. With Dr. Kristina Douglass at Penn State, Anthropology, she is collaborating on a project to develop statistical methods that would help one to determine fossilized eggshells were hatched naturally after its’ incubation period or if they were destroyed (perhaps by humans) before they were hatched.

Apart from being full-time teaching faculty, She serves as an academic advisor to undergraduate Statistics majors and serves as a member of ECoS Climate and Diversity Committee. She is also a reviewer for American Journal of Distance Education since 2019.

 

Honors and Awards

  • Co-recipient of the 2019/2020 Schreyer Institute’s Teaching and Learning Scholarship (TLS) Grant, the Pennsylvania State University (2019)
     
  • Outstanding Graduate Student in Statistics, Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, TX (2011)

 

Publications

  • Grineski, S.E., Herrera, J.M., Bulathsinhala P.K., Staniswalis, J.G “Is there a Hispanic Health Paradox in sensitivity to air pollution? Hospital admissions for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and congestive heart failure associated with NO2 and PM2.5 in El Paso, TX, 2005-2010”, Atmospheric Environment, 119 (2015) 314-321.
     
  • Grineski, S.E., Staniswalis, J.G., Bulathsinhala P.K., Peng, Y., Gill, T.E “Hospital admissions for asthma and acute bronchitis in El Paso, Texas: Do age, sex, and insurance status modify the effects of dust and low wind events”, Environmental Research, 111 (2011) 1148–1155.

 

Teaching

STAT 500 - Applied Statistics (both WC and UP)

STAT 501- Regression Methods

STAT 506 - Sampling Theory and Methods

STAT 466 - Survey Sampling Methods

STAT 462 - Applied Regression Analysis

STAT 415 - Introduction to Mathematical Statistics

STAT 319 - Applied Statistics in Science

STAT 318 - Elementary Probability