Curriculum Vitae

nuwanipalihawadana.netlify.app
nuwani.kodikarapalihawadana@monash.edu
in/nuwani-palihawadana
github.com/nuwani-palihawadana

EDUCATION

Doctor of Philosophy – Statistics
Monash University, Australia March 2021 — Present

  • Project: Optimal Predictor Selection for High-dimensional Nonparametric Forecasting
  • Scholarships:
    • Co-funded Monash Graduate Scholarship
    • Monash Business School Co-funded Graduate Research Scholarship
  • Submitted: June 2025

Bachelor of Science (Honours) – Industrial Statistics
University of Colombo, Sri Lanka Feb 2016 — Dec 2018

  • Graduated with First Class Honours (GPA – 3.95/4.00 (Batch Top))
  • Research: Generalising Vector Autoregressive (VAR) Model for Functional Time Series
    • Mathematically extending classical VAR model for Functional Time Series, by developing the statistical theory of Functional Vector Autoregressive (FVAR) Model of order one
    • Demonstrating the practical application of the newly extended model using a real data set

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), UK - Exam completed student 2017

General Certificate of Education - Advanced Level
St.Paul’s Girls’ School, Milagiriya, Sri Lanka 2011 — 2013

  • University Entrance Score (z-score): 1.65

AWARDS

Monash University, Australia 2021

  • Monash Business School Student Excellence Award for BEX6510 Foundations of Econometrics

Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) 2019

  • Physical Science Award – Statistics

University of Colombo, Sri Lanka 2018

  • CR and Bhargavi Rao Gold Medal for Statistics
  • Gold Medal for Industrial Statistics
  • Gold Medal for the Best Final Year Research Project in Industrial Statistics
  • Joseph Nalliah Arumugam Memorial Award

St.Paul’s Girls’ School, Milagiriya, Sri Lanka 2013

  • Award for the Best All Rounder

PUBLICATIONS

Unpublished Working Papers

  • Palihawadana, NK, RJ Hyndman, and X Wang (2024). Sparse Multiple Index Models for High-dimensional Nonparametric Forecasting. Working paper 16/24. Department of Econometrics & Business Statistics, Monash University. https://www.monash.edu/business/ebs/research/publications/ebs/2024/wp16-2024.pdf.

SOFTWARE (R PACKAGES)

  • Palihawadana, N, and X Wang (2024). smimodel: Sparse Multiple Index (SMI) Models for High-dimensional Nonparametric Forecasting. Version 0.0.1. https://github.com/nuwani-palihawadana/smimodel.

  • Hyndman, RJ, G Athanasopoulos, M O’Hara-Wild, N Palihawadana, S Wickramasuriya, and RStudio (2024). fpp3: Data for “Forecasting: Principles and Practice” (3rd Edition). Version 1.0.0. https://pkg.robjhyndman.com/fpp3package/.

  • Zhang H, X Wang, N Palihawadana, and J Lakshika (2023). olympics: Olympic data from olympic.com. Version 0.0.1. https://numbats.github.io/olympics/index.html.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Teaching Associate

Monash University, Australia 2022 – Present

  • ETC3550/ETC5550 Applied Forecasting – Conducted tutorial sessions
  • ETC3400 Principles of Econometrics – Conducted tutorial sessions

Temporary Assistant Lecturer

Department of Statistics, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka Feb 2019 – Feb 2021

  • MS 3009 Operational Research II – Conducted lectures, set exam paper
  • ST 2007 Applications in Statistical Inference – Conducted lectures, set assignments
  • IS 1006 Fundamentals in Statistics – Conducted practical sessions
  • SCS 2211 Laboratory II (Statistical Methods using R) – Conducted lectures
  • ST 1012 Basic Statistical Computing – Conducted practical sessions
  • IS 3053 Data Mining – Teaching Assistant
  • ST 2008 Statistical Methods in Quality Control – Conducted lectures, set exam paper
  • MS 2001 Statistical Quality Control – Conducted lectures, set exam paper

OTHER WORK EXPERIENCE

Research Assistant

Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University, Australia June 2022 – Present

Data pre-processing and wrangling, report editing.
Supervisors: Associate Professor Bonsoo Koo, Professor Rob J. Hyndman

Intern – Analyst

MAS Pixel of MAS Capital (Pvt) Ltd., MAS Holdings, Sri Lanka Aug 2018 – Feb 2019

Data mapping, data collection, data wrangling, business insight generation through data visualisation, predictive modelling.

LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNITY OUTREACH

  • Vice-captain of the Table Tennis (Women’s) Team, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka 2018

  • Assistant Secretary, Students’ Association for Industrial and Financial Analysis (SAIFA), University of Colombo, Sri Lanka 2016

  • Head Prefect, St. Paul’s Girls’ School, Milagiriya, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka 2012