You are an Associate Member of the Institute of Chemical Engineers, UK, an
Associate Member of the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka, a member of Sri Lanka
Energy Managers Association. Can you tell us something about it?
For the recognition of your capabilities, you must be a member of respective professional bodies.
You will get opportunities to enhance knowledge by attending activities organized by those professional
bodies.
Professional organizations represent the views and rights of their membership at forums where
your presence is valued.
Do you think being away from Colombo is
disadvantageous??
Yes of course. So many professional activities of our interest happen in Colombo-the commercial
hub of the country. By being 5 hours away from Colombo, we find many hardships to attend
them.
However, with the advancement of technology, there should be ways and means to get involved
in such important activities.
Can you share the experience you
gained through attending conferences
and publishing research papers?
I have attended many workshops, training
programmes and conferences related to my
work. They provide opportunities to fast track
into new knowledge.
What are the other activities you
engage in as an engineer other than
lecturing? What is your contribution
towards them?
I was serving as a Cabinet appointed expert in
the SOREM (Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery and
Expansion and Modernisation) project. I represented
Sri Lanka as a National Mirror Committee
member at ISO13065 (2015) standard
formulation meetings held in many parts of
the world. At present, I serve as a Cabinet appointed
National Steering Committee member
for the China-Sri Lanka Research Grant
project on CKDu. Personally, I believe that
all teachers in Engineering education should
engage in consultancy work. Engineers are
practitioners. Practitioners should update
their knowledge for dissemination. Since the
industrial atmosphere is changing very fast,
we should engage in industrial activities to
experience the changes.
As a policy, lecturers in my department are
given the freedom to engage in industrial
consultancy activities. I, myself have involvements
in a few industrial projects.
We would like to know some details
on these projects if possible.
At present, I am handling a very challenging
project with one of the leading vegetable oil
manufactures. Due to a specific geo-political
reason, they are not supposed to discharge
their wastewater even after treated to the permissible
discharge levels. A team of consultants
from our faculty is trying to establish the
first ever zero discharge wastewater treatment
plant of the country at their facility.
In another project, my involvement is to upgrade
the environmental performances of a
reputed beverage manufacturer.
GAUGE Magazine
University of Peradeniya
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