Dr. Dharshi Bopegedera has been a faculty member at The Evergreen State College since 1991. She completed her B.S. Honors degree in Chemistry with Mathematics minor at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. Her Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry with inorganic chemistry minor is from the University of Arizona. Her Ph.D. dissertation, completed under the supervision of Professor Peter F. Bernath, was on "Dye Laser and Diode Laser Spectroscopy of Gas-Phase Free Radicals". She completed a two-year post-doctoral research project at the NOAA, Environmental Research Laboratory in Boulder, CO, before starting her academic position at The Evergreen State College.

One of Dr. Bopegedera’s passions is to help TESC students into teaching careers (K-12) in chemistry. In order to promote science education in local schools, she conducts science experiments in K-12 classrooms.

Dr. Bopegedera's research interest is infrared spectroscopy of gas phase free radicals.

During the spring quarter of the 2005/06 academic year, she will be teaching in two academic programs: Atoms, Molecules and Reactions and Symmetry in Nature.

Dr. Bopegedera is the Past Chair of the Puget Sound Section of the American Chemical Society. She has been the National Chemistry Week Coordinator for the Puget Sound Section during the past seven years.

Dr. Bopegedera can be contacted at:
The Evergreen State College
Department of Chemistry - Lab I
Olympia, WA 98505, U.S.A.

Telephone: (360) 867-6620
Fax: (360) 867-5430
Office: Lab I, Room 2006

Email: bopegedd@evergreen.edu

Photo taken in 2004