“CINEC is a Great Place to Study, Work and Build Your Future”
Iam a proud Mahindian from Galle. I stepped foot on CINEC soil for the first time in September 2012. CINEC gave me the opportunity to study Automotive Systems Engineering, which has been my passion since childhood. As a person who sets targets and aims before anything, I wanted to raise the bar further, this time to become the best in my batch. In 2016, I was able to graduate from University of Wolverhampton with a First-Class Honours in Automotive Systems Engineering achieving my aim of becoming the batch top in the Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering.
Even before my graduation ceremony, in March 2016 I was recruited to CINEC as a Research Assistant to work under Professor N. Rajkumar a well experienced visiting professor in Finland and Norway. Within the first few weeks itself, I could become the team leader at Orange Electric – CINEC collaborative Research Centre with three research teams and it was a very challenging task at the time. But I must say, this was an unparalleled opportunity offered by CINEC. I could not only work alongside with the Research and Development team of Sri Lanka’s largest Electrical and Electronics products manufacturer but also, I was assigned to conduct lectures to engineering undergraduates from January 2017 as a part time Assistant Lecturer. At CINEC I was being challenged all the time so that I could bring the best out of myself. By doing so, I was also able to present my first Research Paper at IEEE Sponsored, International Conference on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions and an extended abstract was published in the International Journal on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions as well as IEEE Xplore digital library. During my tenure, I was able to complete two Research Papers and three Journal Papers which was a significant achievement for any academic.
Soon after my graduation I was able to get the Associate Membership at Institute of Mechanical Engineers, UK. In July 2017, as an initiative to expand Open Innovation concept in Sri Lanka, I was able to undertake many responsibilities to establish another collaborative Research Centre with MAS Holdings, one of the world’s most recognized Design–to-Delivery Solution Providers. It was their first ever collaborative Research Centre with a higher educational institute in Sri Lanka. By working closely with two corporate giants, I was able to find my passion to pursue postgraduate studies. By proving the recognition of the CINEC’s qualification internationally and my experience as a Research Assistant helped me secure two unconditional offers from two of UK’s most renowned Russell Group Universities and two of top 1% Universities in the World, University of Manchester and University of Nottingham for Master of Science in Engineering. Rewarding my commitment and enthusiasm I was awarded the Developing Solutions Masters Scholarship, the University of Nottingham’s Flagship International Scholarship Programme, which aimed at reaching out to Excellent Postgraduate Masters Students from Developing Countries who have the potential to make a real difference to the development of their Home Countries to study Master of Science in Industrial Engineering and Operations Management.
My journey was not an easy one but I had right people around me and right choices to drive me forward. Among them, CINEC took a major role and therefore, I am indebted to CINEC for not only creating a graduate but also nurturing a leader out of myself. I would humbly like to offer my sincere gratitude to Professor N. Rajkumar for giving all the advice, all my beloved lecturers for giving necessary guidance and all the staff members of CINEC for making my stay a memorable one. It is obviously true that. CINEC is a great place to study, work and build your future!