Dr. Fernadno is an experienced Proteomic MALDI-MS analytical chemist and a teacher-scholar with a lifelong commitment to excellence in science research and education.

Dr. Fernando Joined Cottey College in 2008 and is an active member of the American Chemical Society and the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. She chairs the local ACS MO-Kan-OK section and continues to offer outreach opportunities to promote chemistry and STEM to area youth through National Chemistry Week (NCW) celebrations, 4H and other local organizations. She is a member of the University of MO Extension Council for Vernon County and serves as an ambassador for USA Pickleball. She was awarded a Missouri Campus Compact mini grant for her Chemistry Outreach project “C3O – Cottey Chemistry Community Outreach”. She serves as the advisor of the International Friendship Circle (IFC), Pickleball club and Bible studies club at Cottey College.

Dr. Fernando loves to travel with the college and with her family. She has traveled to 42 states and 9 countries. She traveled to London and Paris with the college and offered two Spring break modules. She and her students visited the Science Museum of London to explore the Large Hadron Collider exhibit and visited “Musee Curie” – Marie Curie’s chemistry laboratory in Paris. She and Dr. Oindrila Roy co-lead a college sponsored trip to Sri Lanka and India in 2018. They accompanied 10 Cottey students on a 12-day service-learning trip to their home countries.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Proteomic Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization (MALDI) Mass Spectrometry

Forensic Application of mass spectrometry

Cyanotoxins analysis in lakes and drinking water supplies around Nevada, MO

Effect of heavy metals on the growth of cyanobacteria

Disability and Rehabilitation in Developing Nations: Sabbatical Research in Sri Lanka

During the summer and fall 2017 semesters, Dr. Ganga Fernando spent seven months in her native country of Sri Lanka in order to gain knowledge of access to healthcare for disabled children following the 25-year civil war. Dr. Fernando conducted her research in collaboration with two colleagues who specialize in the healthcare field and received permission to complete this work from Rajarata University and from His Excellency, the President of Sri Lanka.

The research was composed of meeting with specialized healthcare providers at healthcare facilities, visiting special programs and schools for disabled children, and conducting home visits with parents of disabled children in rural locations throughout the country. Shortly after arrival in Sri Lanka, Dr. Fernando attended the 3rd International Conference on Public Health: Strengthening the Public Health Infrastructure Towards Healthy Communities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In November, Dr. Fernando attended the 2^nd World Conference on Disability and Rehabilitation: Inspiring Possibilities…Enhancing Opportunities for Ability in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

During the spring-break trip to Sri Lanka this March, Dr. Fernando will introduce students to her collaborators and visit one of the healthcare facilities with which she became familiar as part of her research project. Dr. Fernando hopes to present her research next year at the 4^th Global Health Conference Midwest hosted by the Creighton University School of Medicine).

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Wadzanai Ndambakuwa a, Yustinah Ndambakuwa a, Jonghyun Choi b, Ganga Fernando a, Dipesh Neupane c, Sanjay R. Mishra c, Felio Perez d, Ram K. Gupta b,* “Nanostructured nickel-cobalt oxide and sulfide for applications in supercapacitors and green energy production using waste water”, Surface & Coatings Technology 410 (2021) 126933.

Kolli, V., Roth, H. A., De La Cruz, G., Fernando, G.S., Dodds, E. D., “The role of proton mobility in determining the energy-resolved vibrational activation/dissociation channels of N-glycopeptide ions”, Analytica Chimica Acta 896 (2015) 85-92.

Rathore, D., Aboufazeli, F., Huang, Y., Kolli, V., Fernando, G. S., Dodds, E. D., “Ion Dissociation Methods in Proteomics”, Encyclopedia of Analytical Chemistry, Online: 10 Sep 2015, DOI: 10.1002/9780470027318.a9310.

Wong V.N., Fernando, G., Wagner, A.R., Zhang, J., Kinsel, G.R., Zauscher, S., Dyer, D.J. “Separation of Peptides with Polyionic Nanosponges for MALDI-MS Analysis” Langmuir, 2009, 25 (3), 1459–1465.

Li, M., Fernando, G., Van Waasbergen, L.G., Cheng, X., Ratner, B.D., Kinsel, G.R. “Thermoresponsive MALDI probe surfaces as a tool for protein on-probe fractionation” Analytical chemistry, 2007, 79, 6840-6844.