Lochana Palayangoda

Education

Ph.D., Statistical Science, Southern Methodist University, 2020
M.S.,  Statistics,Sam Houston State University, 2016
B.S.,  Electrical Engineering, University of Moratuwa, 2008

Teaching Areas

Research Interests

Selected Publications

Books

Ng, H.K.T. & Palayangoda, L. (2026).
Statistical Degradation Data Analysis. Springer Nature.

Recent Journal Articles

Palayangoda, L. (2026).
Parametric and Nonparametric Approaches to Optimal Design in Degradation Experiments with Saddlepoint Approximations. International Journal of Reliability, Quality and Safety Engineering.

Palayangoda, L., Gafurov, A., & Ng, H.K.T. (2025).
Goodness-of-Fit Testing for Degradation Data using Empirical Saddlepoint Approximation. Computational Statistics.

Palayangoda, L. & Gafurov, A. (2025).
Nonparametric Failure Time Estimation for Degradation Data with Random Effects. Communications in Statistics: Theory and Methods.

Palayangoda, L. & Balakrishnan, N. (2024).
An EM-Based Likelihood Inference for Degradation Data Analysis using Gamma Process. Applied Stochastic Models for Business and Industry.

Palayangoda, L.K., Ng, H.K.T., & Li, L. (2024).
Semiparametric Evaluation of First-Passage Distribution for Step-Stress Accelerated Degradation Tests. Applied Stochastic Models for Business and Industry.

Palayangoda, L.K., Butler, R.W., Ng, H.K.T., Yang, F., & Tsui, K.L. (2022).
Evaluation of Mean Time to Failure Based on Nonlinear Degradation Data with Applications. IISE Transactions, 54, 286-302.

Palayangoda, L.K. & Ng, H.K.T. (2021).
Semiparametric and Nonparametric Evaluation of First-Passage Distribution of Bivariate Degradation Processes. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 205, 107230.

Sports Analytics and Applied Data Science

Palayangoda, L.K., Senevirathne, H.W., & Manage, A.B. (2022).
Partnership and Player Ranking using Copula Models in Cricket. Journal of Sports Analytics, 8, 277-289.

Palayangoda, L.K. & Parcon, J. (2022).
Augmenting Synthetic Data to Small Data Sets Enables More Powerful Predictive Analytics. PepsiCo R&D Technical Journal.

Book Chapter

Palayangoda, L.K. & Ng, H.K.T. (2021).
Nonparametric Approximation Methods for the First-Passage Time Distribution for Degradation Data Measured with Unequal Time Intervals. In Advances in Statistics: Theory and Applications. Springer.

Student Mentorship

Master's Thesis Supervision

Alex Martinelli (2025-2026)
Optimal Sequential Selection Under Multivariate Constraints
Chair, M.A. Mathematics Dissertation Committee

Recent Master's Research Projects

• Michael Neman (2025)
  Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) for Predicting EMC Levels
• Matthew Martin (2023)
  Advancing Diabetes Prediction Through Comprehensive Model Comparison
• Satwik Chowdary Chandra (2023)
  Mortality Trends Analysis and Reporting for Public Health Applications
• Gorantla Vishnu Naidu (2023)
  Optimizing Loan Business Strategies: A Data-Driven Approach
• Soumya Dhagat (2023)
  Forecasting Blueberry Imports in the United States
• Sai Krishna Gaduputi Subbammagari (2023)
  Predicting Medical Persistence

Data Science Capstone Projects

Recent student teams have worked on:

• Healthcare churn prediction using machine learning
• Student absenteeism forecasting in Nebraska K-12 schools
• Health risk assessment of grocery food products
• Message traffic summarization using large language models
• Early autism detection modeling
• Credit card fraud detection
• Alternative shipping route optimization
• Housing market forecasting
• Epidemiological network analysis using graph theory