Professor A.G Unil Perera, a Life Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), Society of Photo-Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) is a Regent’s Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State University (GSU). In 2012 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sri Lanka Foundation International for his research focus on developing novel multi-band, bias, and polarization selection photon detectors covering a wide range from Ultraviolet to Far Infrared (Terahertz).
In 2014 Professor Unil was appointed Regents Professor of Physics and reappointed after 3 years and made a Permanent Regents Professor of Physics. In 2021, he was awarded the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer Award renewed for the second year until 2022.More than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles out of 200+ and 10 (out of 14) US and other International Patents were received since 2012. A link to read one of the Patent abstracts published on February 20, 2020, is here: US20200056991A1 – Detection of melanoma and lymphoma by atr-ftir spectroscopy – Google Patents
Furthermore, he received US Army and US NSF Research grants for Various Detector development projects for “Detection of Melanoma and Lymphoma by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy”.
Professsor Unil shared that he is now working on developing a non or minimally invasive cost-effective and easy blood test using Infrared radiation to diagnose diseases and disease progression, specifically for Cancers and Ulcerative Colitis. Preliminary research has been published and patented on mouse models. Initial human studies on Breast cancer and Ulcerative Colitis work were also published in peer-reviewed research articles. The work on Oral Cancer screening is in progress as a joint project with the University of Peradeniya and Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.
Professsor Unil’s message for the younger generation is “You are privileged to be born in a time with great advances in various areas helping improve the standard of living for living beings. Probably in a much better position than most of the kids around the world. Be thankful. However, there are other severe concerns to be addressed to increase safety in the future. Remember failures are the pillars of success. Irrespective of the area you picked, be focused, work hard, and work together and enjoy”.
