Vindula Jayawardana
vindula [AT] mit [DOT] edu
I am a PhD student in computer science at MIT.
I am fortunate to be advised by Prof. Cathy Wu
in the Laboratory for Information and Decision
Systems (LIDS).
Earlier, I completed my bachelors at
University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka.
Before graduate school, I was a part of Mobility,
Algorithms, and Society Lab at Cornell University and Data Science,
Engineering & Analytics Research Hub of University of Moratuwa. I have
also spent time at NVIDIA, Toyota, WSO2,
PickMe, and Trancite24.
I am broadly interested in learning-enabled autonomy. In light of this, I am interested in making
multi-agent reinforcement learning seamlessly generalize across problem variations (solving Contextual MDPs).
Real-world application-wise, I am interested in planning for autonomous vehicles with
problem variations. In the past, I have also worked on mathematical programming for combinatorial optimizations
and natural language processing for information extraction. Currently, I am also leading the project Greenwave.
[New] I'm on the job market 2024-2025. Feel free to contact me if you know of a position for which I could be a fit.
Resume  | 
Google Scholar  | 
LinkedIn  | 
Github  | 
Blog
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Research
For a complete list of publications, please visit my Google
Scholar page.
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Reinforcement Learning
Learning for Control
Combinatorial Optimizations
Intelligent Transportation Systems
Natural Language Processing
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IntersectionZoo: Eco-driving for Benchmarking Multi-Agent Contextual Reinforcement Learning
Vindula Jayawardana,
Baptiste Freydt,
Ao Qu,
Cameron Hickert,
Zhongxia Yan,
Cathy Wu
In review 2024
code |
project page |
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Model-Based Transfer Learning for Contextual Reinforcement Learning
JungHoon Cho,
Vindula Jayawardana,
Sirui Li,
Cathy Wu
Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) 2024
European Workshop on Reinforcement Learning (EWRL) 2024
arXiv |
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Mitigating Metropolitan Carbon Emissions with Dynamic Eco-driving at Scale
Vindula Jayawardana,
Baptiste Freydt,
Ao Qu,
Cameron Hickert,
Edgar Sanchez,
Catherine Tang,
Mark Tylor,
Blaine Leonard,
Cathy Wu
In review 2024
project page |
arXiv |
Media:
New Scientist |
The Cool Down
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Generalizing Cooperative Eco-driving via Multi-residual Task Learning
Vindula Jayawardana,
Sirui Li,
Cathy Wu,
Yashar Farid,
Kentaro Oguchi
International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2024
Generalization in Planning workshop at NeurIPS 2023
Machine Learning for Autonomous Driving Symposium 2023
project page |
arXiv |
poster |
slides |
video |
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Learning-Augmented Vehicle Dispatching with Slack Times for High-Capacity Ride-Pooling
Youngseo Kim,
Vindula Jayawardana,
Samitha Samaranayake
Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies 2024 (major revision)
arXiv |
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Model-free Learning of Corridor Clearance: A Near-term Deployment Perspective
Dajiang Suo*,
Vindula Jayawardana*,
Cathy Wu
(* equal contribution)
IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (T-ITS) 2024
arXiv |
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The Impact of Task Underspecification in Evaluating Deep Reinforcement Learning
Vindula Jayawardana,
Catherine Tang,
Sirui Li,
Dajiang Suo,
Cathy Wu
Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) 2022
project page |
arXiv |
video |
poster |
slides |
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Learning Eco-Driving Strategies at Signalized Intersections (MIT Homepage Spotlight)
Vindula Jayawardana,
Cathy Wu,
European Control Conference (ECC) 2022
Robotics for Climate Change at ICRA 2022
project page |
arXiv |
video |
poster |
slides |
Media:
MIT News |
Tech Crunch |
NPR |
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Multi-behavior Learning for Socially Compatible Autonomous Driving
Sanjula Jayawardana,
Vindula Jayawardana*,
Kaneeka Vidanage,
Cathy Wu*
(* equal supervision)
IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC) 2023
paper |
poster |
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The Braess Paradox in Dynamic Traffic
Dingyi Zhuang*,
Yushu Huang*,
Vindula Jayawardana,
Jinhua Zhao,
Dajiang Suo,
Cathy Wu
IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC) 2022
arXiv |
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Mixed Autonomous Supervision in Traffic Signal Control
Vindula Jayawardana,
Anna Landler,
Cathy Wu
IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference (ITSC) 2021
paper |
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Fleet Management for Ride-Pooling with Meeting Points at Scale: A Case Study in the Five Boroughs of New York City
Motahare Mounesan,
Vindula Jayawardana,
Yaocheng Wu,
Samitha Samaranayake,
Huy T. Vo
arXiv |
code |
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Word Vector Embeddings and Domain Specific Semantic-based Semi-supervised Ontology Instance Population
Vindula Jayawardana,
Dimuthu Kariyawasam,
Nisansa de Silva,
Shehan Perera
Keet Sugathadasa,
Buddhi Ayesha,
Madhavi Perera
International Journal on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions 2017
Seventeenth International Conference on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions 2017
paper |
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Deriving a Representative Vector for Ontology Classes with Instance Word Vector Embeddings
Vindula Jayawardana,
Dimuthu Kariyawasam,
Nisansa de Silva,
Shehan Perera
Keet Sugathadasa,
Buddhi Ayesha,
Seventh International Conference on Innovative Computing Technology (INTECH) 2017
paper |
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Legal Document Retrieval using Document Vector Embeddings and Deep Learning
Keet Sugathadasa,
Buddhi Ayesha,
Nisansa de Silva,
Shehan Perera
Vindula Jayawardana,
Dimuthu Kariyawasam,
Madhavi Perera
Computing Conference 2017
arXiv |
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Synergistic Union of Word2vec and Lexicon for Domain Specific Semantic Similarity
Keet Sugathadasa,
Buddhi Ayesha,
Nisansa de Silva,
Shehan Perera
Vindula Jayawardana,
Dimuthu Kariyawasam,
Madhavi Perera
IEEE International Conference on Industrial and Information Systems (ICIIS) 2017
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Selected Open Source Contributions
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Workshop Organizer
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AVAS (RSS)
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Conference Reviewer
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NeurIPS, ICML, AAAI, ICRA, ITSC, TRC30, TRB, MERCon
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Journal Reviewer
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T-RO, T-IST, Physica A
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Workshop Reviewer
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CCAI (NeurIPS), WMLMDS (AAAI), R2HCAI (AAAI)
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1.041/1.200/11.544: Transportation Systems Modeling: Teaching Assistant, MIT, Fall 2020/2021.
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CS4622: Machine Learning: Teaching Assistant, UoM, Spring 2019.
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CS2022: Data Structures and Algorithms: Instructor, UoM, Spring 2019.
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CS3042: Database Systems: Teaching Assistant, UoM, Fall 2018.
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CS2052: Computer Architecture: Teaching Assistant, UoM, Fall 2018.
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CS2062: Object Oriented Software Development: Teaching Assistant, UoM, Spring 2018.
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CS3962: Research and Report Writing : Teaching Assistant, UoM, Spring 2018.
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Template adapted from 1 and 2.
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