- Not involved at present (on study leave)
| Research Interest
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- Population Genetics and Genomics
- Evolutionary and conservation genetics
- Whole genome sequencing
- Bioinformatics
- Cryopreservation and Fish Ichthyoplankton
| | Publications
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- Heenkenda, E.J. And Yang H. (in-prep) Genetic and phenotypic identification of Mercenaria mercenaria, Mercenaria campechiensis and their hybrids. Journal of Shellfish Research
International Conferences
- National Shellfish Meeting, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA 26-30 March 2017
- FAS Grad Student Symposium, University of Florida, Gainesville , FL,USA 2017
- Our Ocean Conference hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington D.C-September 16,2016 and Our Ocean One Future Leadership Summit at Georgetown University-September 2016
- American Fisheries Society, Florida Chapter Annual Meeting – Haines City, Florida, USA, 2-4 March,2016
- U.S. Politics and Elections: Democracy in Action Seminar by Fulbright, in Atlanta, GA, February 4-7, 2016
- CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) Regional workshop to facilitate Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) in North-East Indian Ocean Region, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2015
International Peer reviewed
- Heekenda, E. J., Heniff, A., Fisher, B., Albers, G., & DeWoody, J.A. (2021). An eDNA Evaluation of North American River Otter Diet with Respect to Fishes. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management (Submitted)
- Heekenda, E. J., Austin, J. D., Zhang, Z., & Yang, H. (2020). Phenotypic and Genetic Identification of Mercenaria mercenaria, Mercenaria campechiensis, and Their Hybrids. Journal of Shellfish Research, 39(3), 535-546.
Conferences and Meetings of Professional Associations
- WPJ Sathyadith, K Radampola, H Heenkenda. Microplastics in Cultured Oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis for Human Consumption - Proceedings of International Forestry and Environment symposium, 2019
- Dulmini Mahanama, Kumudu Radampola, H M E J Heenkenda. Effect of starch source and dietary protein level on the growth performance and feed utilization of tilapia (Orechromis niloticus) fingerlings. Symposium on sustainable inland fisheries and aquaculture for food security and nutrition,2019
- Heekenda, E. J., Heniff, A., Fisher, B., Albers, G., DeWoody, J.A., An eDNA Evaluation of North American River Otter Diet with Respect to Fishes. – Indiana Chapter of the American Fisheries Society meeting ,2021
- Heenkenda, E.J. and Yang, H. Analyzing the research pathway of the cryopreservation for a new species; hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria. 2018 - “Blue economy through clean seas”, Marine Environmental Protection Authority Symposium on Marine Environment, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2018
- Yang, H., Simon, N. and Heenkenda, E.J., Initiation of a Tetraploid Production Program for Oyster Industry. Florida Sea Grant Coastal Symposium, September 2017
- Heenkenda, E.J. and Yang, H. Protocol Development for Sperm Cryopreservation in the hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria – 2017 National Shellfish Meeting, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA ,2017
- Heenkenda, E.J. and Yang, H. Sperm Cryopreservation of the hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria - Spring 2017 FAS Grad Student Symposium, University of Florida, USA
- Heenkenda, E.J. and Yang, H. Development of Effective Method for Recognition of Mercenaria mercenaria, Mercenaria campechiensis and Their Hybrids for Clam Breeding and Aquaculture - American Fisheries Society, Florida Chapter Annual Meeting – Haines City, Florida,USA, 2016
- Heenkenda, E.J. and Yang, H. Assessment of genetic diversity of Mercenaria mercenaria from different geographic locations Spring 2016 FAS Grad Student Symposium, University of Florida, USA, 2016
- Heenkenda, E.J. and Yang, H. Identification of Mercenaria mercenaria, Mercenaria campechiensis and Their Hybrids for Clam Breeding to Increase Seafood Production -Water for Food conference, Water for Food Institute at the University of Nebraska, USA, 2016
- Heenkenda, E.J. and Cumaranatunga, P.R.T. Marine Ichtyoplankton off southern Sri Lanka: Species, Abundance and Possibility of using for Mariculture, Annual Academic Sessions of Sri Lanka Association of Advancement of Science (SLASS), 2014
| | Awards
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- SISG scholarship from the University of Washington to attend the 26th Summer Institute in Statistical Genetics (2021)
- Award to attend ‘An introduction to bioinformatic tools for population genomic data analysis course’ by Gothenburg University, Sweden (2020)
- Frederick N. Andrews Fellowship of Purdue University for PhD studies (2019)
- AHEAD World Bank scholarship for pursuing PhD studies (2019)
- Fulbright Masters scholarship for post graduate studies at University of Florida, USA (2015-2017)
- National Shellfish Association travel grant – NSA meeting, Tennessee, USA (2017)
- Graduate Student Council Travel Award, University of Florida (2017)
- Scarborough-Maud Fraser Award at 22nd Annual International Centre Award Ceremony, University of Florida (2016)
- Nominated for the Outstanding Student Award by the Collage of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Florida (2016)
- American Fisheries Society Travel Grant - Florida Chapter annual conference (2016)
- Representative to U.S. Politics and Elections: Democracy in Action Seminar by Fulbright (2016)
- Award to participate Our Ocean Conference hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington D.C and Our Ocean One Future Leadership Summit at Georgetown University (2016)
- Certificate of Outstanding Academic achievement from International Centre of the University of Florida for achieving and maintaining a GPA of 4.0 in 2015
- Ruhuna University Vice Chancellor’s Gold Medal for the best student in overall performance; Academic, Sports and other Extracurricular and Co-Curricular activities (2014)
- Ruhuna University, Dean’s award, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences & Technology for the outstanding 4th year undergraduate student (2013)
- Selected to represent Sri Lankan University students at the 18th world youth and student festival in Quito, Ecuador (2013)
| | Grants
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| | National Services
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