5.
How
was
your after I went to Texas Tech, in actually we (he and his
experience at the faculty 1999, that I really felt like I wife) finished our studies
was learning and performing in 2003. But we stayed in
as an instructor?
We did our A/Ls in 1989 and
came to the University in
1992. When I graduated in
1997, I was 27 years old. After
that, I stayed in the maths
department until August
of 1999 where I worked
on teaching and research.
Working with professor
Walgama in doing the MPhil
thesis paved the way for me
to do higher studies in the
US. During the time I spent
as an instructor, I met my
wife and I got the chance
of getting to know people
from four to seven batches
junior to us. For example,
Dr.
Shameen
Jinadasa,
Dr.Lilantha Samaranayake,
Dr. Lalith Wickramaratne and
Dr. Asela Kulatunga were
in the first year when I
was an instructor.
6. What were your
research interests
when you were
reading for your
PhD?
It
is
only
PAGE| 26
at my full potential. I did a
lot of maths courses and
courses related to dynamic
systems and controls. One of
my supervisors was professor
Dayawansa, an alumnus of
the faculty and the other
one was a native of the US.
Both of them were into
this area called differential
geometry and it was initially
pretty hard for me because
my math background was
poor. Gradually along with
their guidance, I started
to learn things and apply
those to various situations.
So, this is where I started
learning all over again from
a scratch. In fact, I should say
my academic career started
in 1999. Until then
it was everything
but academics
(smiles).
7. Did you join
academics
right
after
completing your
h i g h e r
studies?
No,
University of Peradeniya GAUGE Magazine
the US until 2006. I worked
as a postdoctoral research
associate and did part-time
teaching there. We came
back to Sri Lanka in 2006. I
initially joined the Faculty of
Engineering of the University
of Ruhuna at Hapugala. I
joined the University of
Peradeniya in 2009. The
reason we came back to Sri
Lanka was because both of
us had this sense of duty.
Being products of the free
education system, we felt
that we should try to give
back something to the society
which had given us so much.
8. Why did you select
University of Peradeniya
for your carrier as a
lecturer?
Well, I didn’t want to come
to Peradeniya. I wanted to
stay at University of Ruhuna.
The reason was that it was
a new faculty. Hence there
were more opportunities to
do new things than here in
Peradeniya. Here the systems
are entrenched and you have
certain traditions, (work,
education, culture) which are
extremely difficult to change
due to the huge inertia. These
types
of
p ro b l e m s
are
not
there
in
a
new
u n i v e r s i t y.