W. M. C. Sameera

Ph.D. (Glasgow)
Postdoc: Oxford Univ | ICIQ | Gothenburg Univ 

Researcher
Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. 

ORCID: 0000-0003-0213-0688

E-mail: chamil@chalmers.se,  

Research Interest

Quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) methods.
Systematic determination of reaction mechanisms.
Computational astrochemistry.
Computational catalysis and materials science. 

Professional Profile

2025 Researcher, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
2024 Professor (visiting ), CY Cergy Paris Université, France.
2023 Associate Professor (visiting ), Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Japan.
2016 Assistant Professor, Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Japan.
2014 JSPS fellowship Fukui Institute for Fundamental Chemistry, Kyoto University, Japan.
2013 Marie Curie ITN fellowship, Gothenburg University, Sweden.
2011 Postdoctoral fellow, Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia, Spain.
2010 Postdoctoral fellow (EPSRC), Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford, UK.
2009 Ph.D. in Computational Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow, UK.
2005 BSc (Hons) in Chemistry, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.

Selected Publications

(1) A. P Jayaweera, B. Senevirathne, S. Weerasinghe, N. Watanabe, G. Nyman, F. Dulieu, W. M. C. Sameera,* ACS Earth Space Chem. 2024, 8, 7, 1451–1459.
(2) BOOOK CHAPTER: W. M. C. Sameera, Y. Sumiya, B. B. Skjelstad, S. Maeda, Automated Mechanism Discovery, Comprehensive Computational Chemistry, 2024, 4, 454-484.
(3) Ohki, K. Munakata, R. Hara, M. Kachi, K. Uchida, M. Tada, R. E. Cramer, W. M. C. Sameera, T. Takayama, Y. Sakai, S. Kuriyama, Y. Nishibayashi, K. Tanifuji, Nature, 2022, 607, 86-90.
(4) BOOOK CHAPTER:  W. M. C. Sameera,* Y. Takeda, Y. Ohki. Transition Metal Catalyzed Cross-coupling and Nitrogen Reduction Reactions: Lessons from Computational Studies. Advances in Organometallic Chemistry, 2022, 78, 35-78.
(5) REVIEW: W. M. C. Sameera,* B. Senevirathne, T. Nguyen, Y. Oba, A. Ishibashi, M. Tsuge, H. Hidaka, N. Watanabe, Front. Astron. Space Sci. 2022, 9, 890161.
(6) REVIEW: Y. Takeda, W. M. C. Sameera*, S. Minakata. Acc. Chem. Res. 2020, 53, 1686-1702.
(7) W. M. C. Sameera,* F. Maseras. J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2018, 58, 1828-1835.
(8) REVIEW: W. M. C. Sameera, S. Maeda, K. Morokuma. Acc. Chem. Res. 2016, 49, 763-773.

Recent Presentations

(1) A systematic mechanistic survey on the reactions between OH radical and CH3OH on ice. Astrochemistry at high-resolution Faraday Discussion, Baltimore USA. 2023
(2) W. M. C. Sameera, Quantum chemical modeling of excited states and properties, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan. 2023
(3) OH radical on ice: photodesorption and reactivity from quantum chemical calculations. Symposium on Next Generation Astrochemistry. Tokyo, Japan. 2023 
(3) Radical binding and radical reactions on interstellar ices: a combined experimental and quantum chemical study. Asia Pacific Conference of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry, APATCC-10, Vietnam. 2023
(4) Quantum chemical modelling of the radical chemistry on ice surfaces. Sapporo-Colombo-Gothenburg Astrochemistry meeting 2022, Gothenburg University, Sweden.  
(5) Radical processes on interstellar ices: A combined experimental and quantum chemical study. ACS Fall 2021 National Meeting in Atlanta, USA. (Poster)

Honors, Awards, & Fellowships

2024 Professor (visiting ), CY Cergy Paris Université, France. 
2023 Associate Professor (visiting ), Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Japan. 
2023 Japanese science exchange program, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Sakura Science Program, Japan. 
2022 Open Partnership Joint Research Project between Hokkaido University (Japan) and Gothenburg University (Sweden), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. 
2021 Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Japan. 
2019 Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Japan. 
2017 Visiting scholar, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.  
2016 Visiting scholar, Department of Chemistry, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
2014 Japan Society for the Promotion of Science postdoctoral fellowship, Japan. 
2013 Marie Curie ITN fellowship, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. 
2011 WATOC poster prize, World association of theoretical and computational chemists meeting, Spain. 
2007 CRC press award for the best poster, 7th Canadian computational chemistry meeting, 
2008 The Jim Gatheral Scholarship, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. 
2006 WestCHEM postgraduate scholarship, University of Glasgow, United Kingdom. 

Links

My chemistry family tree: CHEMISTRY TREE

Prof. John McGrady (Oxford University)
Prof. Feliu Maseras (Institut Català d'Investigació Química)
Prof. Gunnar Nyman (Göteborgs universitet)
Prof. Keiji Morokuma (Fukui Institute for Fundamental Chemistry)
Kirsten Knudsen (Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology)