Gamini Mendis, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Engineering, Plastics Engineering Technology and Polymer Engineering and Science programs
213L Burke

Mailing Address:
PENN STATE BEHREND
242 BURKE CENTER
ERIE PA 16563

Dr. Gamini Mendis specializes in polymer sustainability, with active research projects on life cycle analysis of plastics, plastics in food packaging, the end-of-life fate of plastics in the environment, and post-consumer recycling and upcycling. He is also investigating the implementation of smart manufacturing technologies to improve efficiency and reduce material waste.

Dr. Mendis received his Ph.D. and B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Purdue University. During his Ph.D., he held a fellowship through a National Science Foundation – IGERT program focused on sustainable electronics. He also held two post-doctoral research appointments, examining smart and sustainable manufacturing technologies with John Sutherland in Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University and the second studying waste to materials and energy systems with Alicyn Rhoades in Plastics Engineering Technology at Penn State Behrend.

 

Courses

  • Polymer Chemistry Lab (PES 213L)
  • Materials Properties and Characterization (MATSE 259)
  • Polymer Sustainability (PES 320)
  • Polymer Characterization Lab (PES 341)
  • Plastics Failure Analysis (PLET 464)

 

Sustainable Plastics Manufacturing - 2024

Multi-Facility Location Optimization to Analyze the Economics of Plastic Recycling Systems: A Study Integrating K-Means and Monte Carlo Methods, 2024 International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference - 2024
Collaborator: Hariteja Nandimandalam

Sustainability Evaluation of Traditional and Additive Manufacturing for Injection Mold Insert Application, 2024 International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference - 2024
Collaborators: Julia Zhao, Primary Author; Zayda Riggle; Yiran Yang

A Monte-Carlo Method for Evaluating the Economic Performance of Plastics Recycling Systems, Proceedings of the ASME 2023 18th International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference - 2023
Collaborators: Hariteja Nandimandalam, Author; Christine Costello, Co-Author

Improving Undergraduate STEM Writing: A Collaboration Between Instructors and Writing Center Directors to Improve Peer Writing Tutor Feedback, 2023 ASEE Annual Conference - 2023
Collaborators: Robert Weissbach; Ruth Pflueger; Immanuel Edinbarough; Corinne Renguette; Brandon Sorge; Matthew Rothrock; Annwesa Dasgupta; Johanna Bodenhamer

Dissolution from Ethylene Vinyl Acetate Copolymer Long-Acting Implants: Effect of Model Active Ingredient Size and Shape, Pharmaceutics - 2022
Collaborators: Anne Gohn, Corresponding Author; Amy Nolte, Co-Author; Ethan Ravotti, Co-Author; Seth Forster; Morgan Giles, Co-Author; Nathan Rudd, Co-Author

Mold inserts for injection molding prototype applications fabricated via material extrusion additive manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing - March, 2022
Collaborators: Anne Gohn; Dylan Brown, Co-Author; Seth Forester; Nathan Rudd; Morgan Giles

LCA Applications for Materials Recovery from Waste-to-Energy Technologies: Concepts from the Three Pillars of Sustainability - February, 2022
Collaborator: Justin Richter

Probing Three Distinct Crystal Polymorphs of Melt-crystallized Polyamide 6 by an Integrated Fast Scanning Calorimetry Chip System, Macromolecules - 2021
Collaborators: Xiaoshi Zhang; Anne Gohn; John Buzinkai; Steven Weigand; Alicyn Rhoades

An Efficient Metaheuristics for a Sequence-Dependent Disassembly Planning, Journal of Cleaner Production - 2020
Collaborators: Yaping Ren; Leilei Meng; Chaoyong Zhang; Fu Zhao; Ulah Saif; Aihua Huang; John Sutherland

Monitoring of a Machining Process Using Kernel Principal Component Analysis and Kernel Density Estimation, Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing - 2020
Collaborators: Wo Jae Lee; Matthew Triebe; John Sutherland

An Approximation of the Customer Waiting Time for Online Delivery Service Restaurants, Systems Science and Complexity - 2019
Collaborators: Tianhua Zhang; Fu Zhao; Juliang Zhang; Yihong Ru; John Sutherland

Development of an Intelligent Tool Condition Monitoring System to Identify Manufacturing Tradeoffs and Optimal Machining Conditions, Procedia Manufacturing - 2019
Collaborators: Wo Jae Lee; John Sutherland

Integrated Sustainability Assessment for a Bioenergy System: A System Dynamics Model of Switchgrass for Cellulosic Ethanol Production in the U.S. Midwest, Journal of Cleaner Production - 2019
Collaborators: Enze Jin; John Sutherland

Modeling and Analysis of the Process Energy for the Cylindrical Drawing Process, Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering - 2019
Collaborators: Lei Li; Haihong Huang; Fu Zhao; Xiang Zou; Xiaona Luan; Zhifeng Liu; John Sutherland

Spatial Agent‐based Modeling for Dedicated Energy Crop Adoption and Cellulosic Biofuel Commercialization, Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining - 2019
Collaborators: Enze Jin; John Sutherland

The Impact of Cap-and-Trade Mechanism and Consumer’s Environmental Preferences on a Retailer-Led Supply Chain., Resources, Conservation and Recycling - 2019
Collaborators: Wen Tong; Dong Mu; Fu Zhao; John Sutherland

Value Recovery Options Portfolio Optimization for Remanufacturing End of Life Products, Journal of Cleaner Production - 2019
Collaborators: Zhigang Jiang; Han Wang; Hua Zhang; John Sutherland

A Location-allocation Model for Sustainable NdFeB Magnet Recovery Under Uncertainties, CIRP Annals - 2018
Collaborators: Hongyue Jin; Byung Duk Song; Yuehwern Yih; John Sutherland

A Method for Economic Input-Output Social Impact Analysis with Application to Advanced Manufacturing Industries, Journal of Cleaner Production - 2018
Collaborators: Justin Richter; Larry Nies; John Sutherland

Component-oriented Reassembly in Remanufacturing Systems: Managing Uncertainty and Satisfying Customer Needs, Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering - 2018
Collaborators: Yue Wang; Shitong Peng; John Sutherland

Evaluation of the Physical, Chemical, Mechanical, and Thermal Properties of Steam-Cured PET/Polyester Cured-in-Place Pipe, Journal of Composite Materials - 2018
Collaborators: M.D Nuruddin; Kyungyeon Ra; Seyedeh Mahboobeh Teimouri Sendesi; Tyler Futch; Johnathan Goodsell; Andrew Whelton; Jeffrey Youngblood; John Howarter

Optimization Parameters for Energy Efficiency in End Milling, Procedia CIRP - 2018
Collaborators: Lirong Zhou; Jianfeng Li; Fangyi Li; John Sutherland

Tannic Acid: A Sustainable Crosslinking Agent for High Glass Transition Epoxy Materials, Journal of Polymer Science Part A: Polymer Chemistry - 2018
Collaborators: Matthew Korey; Jeffrey Youngblood; John Howarter

Understanding Energy Consumption in a Machine Tool Through Energy Mapping, Procedia CIRP - 2018
Collaborators: Matthew Triebe; Fu Zhao; John Sutherland

Bauxite Residue for Phosphorus Removal from Waste Water, REWAS 2016 - 2016
Collaborators: Amanda Brock; Kai Gao; Indrajeet Chaubey; Ron Turco; John Howarter

Phosphorylated Lignin as a Halogen-free Flame Retardant Additive for Epoxy Composites, Green Materials - 2016
Collaborators: Sydney Weiss; Matthew Korey; Charles Boardman; Mark Dietenberger; Jeffrey Youngblood; John Howarter

The Interaction of Surfactants with Plastic and Copper Plumbing Materials During Decontamination, Journal of Hazardous Materials - 2016
Collaborators: Karen Casteloes; Holly Avins; John Howarter; Andrew Whelton

Hydrothermal Synthesis and Processing of Barium Titanate Nanoparticles Embedded in Polymer Films, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces - 2015
Collaborators: Michael Toomey; Kai Gao; Elliott Slamovich; John Howarter

Enhanced Dispersion of Lignin in Epoxy Composites through Hydration and Mannich Functionalization, Journal of Applied Polymer Science - 2014
Collaborators: Inez Hua; Jeffrey Youngblood; John Howarter

Plastics Engineering Technology, The Pennsylvania State University

Environmental and Ecological Engineering, Purdue University

Ph D, Materials Engineering, Purdue University

BS, Materials Engineering, Purdue University