ACES Newsletter 2019 - University of Peradeniya
4) These days we see a trend of hackathons
and coding competitions for undergraduates
within the country. Most of the hackathons
encourage the students to go for their own
startups. And we see a great increase in the
number of tech-related startups. What is
your opinion on this?
Graduates who follow any computing
course are capable of coding. The country
needs graduates with innovative ideas.
Hackathons by nature push the participants
to not just think differently and conceive
innovative ideas, but also to implement
them and show them off to the rest of the
student community. The comradery and the
competition bred by hackathons are, in my
opinion, a very healthy way of promoting the
exchange of ideas and developing a passion for
inter-disciplinary product development. Those
who are successful in finding a good idea or
creating a good implementation will not only
perform well in the hackathons, but we have
seen that they go on to develop these ideas
further to make commercialized products
through start-ups.
5) In your opinion, what is the ultimate goal
of the computer engineering department
and where is it leading?
The goal of the Department is to
produce world-class computer engineers who
can contribute to the economic development
of Sri Lanka. I think we are almost successful
in the first goal, yet we continue to improve.
Unfortunately, a lot of our students happily
settle in the industry and are reluctant to take
on the risk of starting their own company so we
believe we still have ways to go in promoting
an entrepreneurial mindset in some of our
graduates. Though it is challenging and risky
to start a product development company, such
endeavors are more rewarding and fulfilling.
Unlike other industries, starting a computing
ACES Newsletter 2019 - University of Peradeniya
company is less capital intensive. Therefore,
while improving the quality of the degree
program, the department is aiming to produce
computer engineers who are not just job
seekers, but job creators.
"The goal of the Department is
to produce world-class computer
engineers who can contribute to
the economic development of Sri
Lanka"
Nuwan Jaliyagoda, currently a third year student at the Computer
Engineering Department was awarded “Emerging Innovator of the
Year - 2018" at Google IO Extend, Sri Lanka which was held at the Sri
Lanka Exhibition and Convention Center on the 9th of May, 2018.
6) What is your message to the students?
First, I request our students to make
use of the unique and rare opportunity they
got by entering to the Computer Engineering
Department of Peradeniya that only a fraction
of students in Sri Lanka gets. Then, remember
the free education they have received and the
obligation they have in paying the debt back by
serving our country and the society who paid
for the opportunity they got to achieve what
you have.
Secondly, with the rapid commercialization
of the world, human values are depleting and
we often tend to neglect our responsibilities
and talk only about our obligations. Therefore,
I request the students to become not only a
great computer engineer but also to become a
great human being with good human qualities
such as empathy, responsibility, kindness, and
honesty. I implore them to work with integrity
and have an awareness of both the short and
long term impacts of their actions. Also, I
request our students to use the opportunity
they have as a member of the Faculty to vow
to be such a person from today onwards. If you
are successful, as I always say, we can proudly
say that computer engineering graduates of
Peradeniya are a special breed of engineers
with an excellent technical skillset and a great
moral compass.
Hishan Indrajith won second place in the second round of Code-
Conquest, which was organized by 99X Technology and held in
February 2018. He was also shortlisted for best 50 contributors
of Codezilla which is an open-source product development inter-
university hackathon organized by Mozilla Campus Club - Uva Wellassa
University. This open source hackathon was held from 10th of May
2018 to 24th of May 2018.
16
The team CrunchCode consisting of Rahal Medawatte, Sanoj Punchihewa, Hiruna
Samarakoon, Anjana Senanayake won the first runner up for the project Radio Book at iHack
4.0 which was held on the 6th and 7th of October, 2018. This hackathon was organized by the
ISACA Student Group of the University of Colombo School of Computing.
17