April 2022: Parami Gunasekera

Parami Gunasekera, 5th year PhD student in Prof. Lacy's group

• 2021 Silbert Fellowship Award winner August 2021
• Fanara,^§ P. M.; Vigneswaran,^§ V.; Gunasekera, P. S.; MacMillan, S. N.; Lacy,* D. C. Reversible Photoisomerization in a Ru cis-Dihydride Catalyst Accessed through Atypical Metal–Ligand Cooperative H₂ Activation: Photoenhanced Acceptorless Alcohol Dehydrogenation 2021, Organometallics 10.1021/acs.organomet.1c00648 ^§ designates equally contributing
• Gunasekera, P. S.; MacMillan, S. N.; Lacy,* D. C. Synthesis and Coordination of a tert-Butyl Functionalized Facially Coordinating 2-Histidine 1-Carboxylate Model Ligand. J. Coord. Chem. 2021, 74, 315-320
  
• Gunasekera, P. S.; Abhyankar, P. C.; MacMillan, S. N.; Lacy,* D. C. A Facially Coordinating Tris-Benzimidazole Ligand for Nonheme Iron Enzyme Models. Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2021, 2021, 654-657
  

My research focuses on synthesis and characterization of iron and manganese coordination complexes towards catalyst design. Exploring the coordination chemistry of these metal complexes allows us to fine tune their reactivities to develop greener chemical reagents that can perform novel chemical transformations.

The best part about being a graduate student at UB is being able to do research under Dr. Lacy, who is an incredibly supportive and patient supervisor. Also, UB has been an inclusive academic environment with friendly faculty, stuff and graduate colleagues.

Outside of lab I enjoy travel, reading books and spending time with friends and family.