to a conference in Galway, Ireland. When I was presenting my work there, I met a group of people from a Danish University( which I don’ t remember) and they were looking for a partner from the UK to do a similar kind of research. Then we jointly applied for the European Union Research Grant and we got it. As a part of this grant, Siemens built a static VAR compensator which is a little advanced than the version I did in my PhD. It was a 4 MVar static compensator. It was installed in a wind farm called Rejsby Hede in Denmark. So that’ s how I stepped into the area of wind power generation and I still continue to work on this field.
What would you say that motivated you to do what you do? What are you most excited or passionate about? What are the goals you most want to accomplish in your work? I was always passionate about teaching. That was something I could do. That’ s what I enjoy doing. After the PhD, I came back and changed the style of teaching here. The teachers were very inaccessible those days. Nobody will come and talk to a professor. In my batch, only I went and talked to Prof. Jayasekara. I had a different approach to this with my students. The feedback I get from students is what I really enjoy. I still get good feedback. The feedback I get at Cardiff is pretty lengthy compared to those I receive here. Some of them are very encouraging. That’ s what I’ m passionate about. There are no particular career goals as such, anything which comes in my way- I grab it. If you are working towards grabbing things, then your life is very difficult. I know that things will come on my way, so I just do the things I usually do.
When did you join the faculty staff? What was your first role in joining the department after graduation? Did you not join the industry at any point? If not why? Why do you prefer academia more than joining the industry? I joined the faculty staff as an instructor and then I left for my PhD. Then again I returned to my job from study leave back in 1995. I considered myself to be an academic, but having said that I must also add this; I am not an academic who won’ t do real stuff. Even though I could go to industry, I never considered it to be an option as teaching was my passion.
Tell us something about the path you moved along after you’ ve joined the faculty staff? After I returned from study leave, I was asked to teach few subjects( I taught the second year applied electricity and some part of electrical machines, as far as I can remember). I also introduced a new optional course called“ Power Electronic Applications” to power systems and I had to build two new laboratory setups for this new course from a scratch. Professor Gunawardhana, who was vigilantly watching my work, invited me to teach electronics. Then I started offering a part of electronics course with Professor Gunawardhana.
One of the most memorable days is the day Professor Jayasekara handed over the high voltage lab to me. Normally, Professor Jayasekara would come and do the testing- but on that particular day, we were testing a transformer from Lanka Transformers, and Professor Jayasekara came with a foolscap paper and he was meticulously writing all the steps while we were doing the experiment. At the end of the test, he gave the foolscap paper to me, which I still possess, and handed over the lab to me saying‘’ Now the lab is yours’”. He never returned to the lab for any major work.
I was offering High Voltage subject in the University of Peradeniya as well as in the University of Ruhuna for the first two batches. In 2003, I applied for the merit promotion for Professor and I received it. As I could remember, I was the youngest Professor in the university system during that period. In 2007, I flew back to the United Kingdom and worked at University of Cardiff, UK as a reader till 2012. There I was offering power related courses to postgraduates and undergraduates. In 2013, I came back to Sri Lanka and then I applied for the position of chair, in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and I received the position.
Tell us something about your experience in the faculty as a lecturer. After returning from my PhD, I started enhancing the course I taught. I also slowly started developing my research career. I visited the UK for a few months to do more research. In 1998, I was invited to lead the department here. During that time, we were focusing on the commencement of postgraduate degree programmes in the faculty. Even though the programme did not start during my tenure as the head of the department, the foundation for the postgraduate programme was laid. The staff of the department grew gradually during
22 University of Peradeniya Gauge Magazine