Professor Sivalingam Sivananthan (Tamil: சிவலிங்கம் சிவானந்தன்) is an American academic, scientist, businessman and Director of the Microphysics Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

[1] His father was a Tamil scholar from Valvettithurai and his mother was teacher of religion and science.

[1][2][3] After school he joined the University of Peradeniya's Science Faculty in 1976, graduating in 1980 with a BS degree in physics.

[1][2][3] In May 2013 Sivananthan was awarded the "Champion of Change" (Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Innovators category) by the White House.

[6][7] In 2010 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for "seminal contributions to the growth technology of II-VI photovoltaic materials.".