Some Interesting News from the Past (May 1998 - Dec 2014)

Extracted from News and Announcements of the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Moratuwa (Editor: Prof Lucas 1998-2008)

1. Professor Rohan Lucas took over the post of Head of Department  Dated: 15/05/1998

   Professor Rohan Lucas took over the post of Head of Department from Dr Prinath Dias on 15 May 1998 after returning from his sabbatical leave in New Zealand, at the University of Canterbury as a visiting Erskine Fellow and at the University of Auckland as a visiting Professor.

2. Fifth EESoc Annual Get-together  Dated: 31/10/1998

   The 5th EESoc Annual Get-together was held on Saturday 31st October 1998 under the patronage of Professor J R Lucas. The get-together commenced with the sports carnival where the 6-a-side cricket tournament took p ride of place. There were also a Tug-of-war and a an distance-egg-catching cont est among other events. The staff, students and graduates all took part in thes e events. A Drama, a modern version of Maname adapted to the University environ ment, was performed by the Final Part I students. The AGM took place where Dr P D C Wijayatunga was re-elected uncontested. It was followed by the get-together/dinner.

3. Manamperi Award for the best Engineering Student Project by the SLSI   Dated: 14/12/1998
   

   The project "Optimisation of Transformer Design based on Load Curve" by K K A S D Kumarasinghe, R L I K Dias (Ms), U A D R Athukorala and P G A Gunawardena supervised by K B M I Perera and J R Lucas, was awarded the Manamperi Award for the best Engineering Student Project by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science for the Year 1998 at their Annual Sessions on 14th December 1998.
   His Lordship the Hon. G.P.S. de Silva, Chief Justice was the Chief Guest at the Ceremony.

4. EFAC '69 Batch Get-together    Posted: 29/11/99
   The 30th Anniversary EFAC '69 Batch Get-together was held at Palm Village Hotel at Uswatakeyawa on Sunday 28th November 1999. A crowd of about 60 participated in the outing with over 35 batchmates. Among those present was Professor Rohan Lucas who graduated on 1 September 1969 from the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya.

5. Millenium Year  Posted: 31/12/1999

   Let me wish all my readers, A Very Happy & Prosperous Millenium Year.

   First to Cross the Millenium

   I am glad to report that we were the first to cross the Millenium today (31st December 1999). The News page crossed the Millenium (of visits)at 1305 hrs Sri Lanka Time (0705 hrs GMT). We thus crossed the Millenium even before Pitt Island in New Zealand crossed theirs today.

   An Interview on Y2K Compliance for Mid-Night Revelry (Partying)

   At an Interview at Lanka Transformers Limited this morning (31st December) both the Design Engineer and the Factory Manager assured me that their transformers (although very modern and has a single foil as one of their windings) are fully Y2K compliant. [The product has no date keeping function and Year 2000 compliance is not applicable]
   They said that they have even checked the transformer oil for Y2K compliance and has found that even the oil flow is not micro-processor controlled.
   They also assured me that their transformers (90% of the distribution transformers in Sri Lanka) will not fail on 31st December night during your revelry (merry making) due to the time bomb.
   So enjoy your night.

6. Electrical Engineering Guest Book  Posted: 27/12/1999

   A Guest Book has been launched in readiness for the Y2K

   Please send a message/comments to be included in the book. [If you have not already done so and received an acknowlegement]. The form has been updated and should work without any problem.

7. Life threatening Y2K Problems at Professor's Home Site   Posted: 03/01/2000

   A life threatening Y2K problem has been detected on the roll over from 31^st December 1999 to 1^st January 2000 on the Home site of a Professor in Sri Lanka.
   The outlet from the tank at the home site, spewed out a trickle of rusty coloured substance instead of the usual gush of the clear hydrogen to oxygen.In fact the contents of the tank was found to have changed from "1" to "0" at approximately 2345 hrs Sri Lanka time on the 31^st December 1999. This has never happened before in over 15 years of its life. (It did not occur at midnight probably because the internal time clock was 15 minutes in advance).
   It was found on examination that the tap had been switched off by the Y2K problem. The problem was manually corrected by switching on the tap.
   Shortly after midnight, the Y2K time bomb this time caused the tank to overload causing havock in the neighbourhood. It was found that the contents of the tank had suddenly changed from "0" to "1" causing the fault. It was also detected that the control valve had been disconnected by the time bomb.
   Investigations are still going on at the time of writing. Further developments, if any, will be reported in due course.
   [The above report is a factual statement verified by the author himself, although it may be a little bit over dramatised]Hydrogen to Oxygen- H₂O

8. Y2K Problems at Home Site - Update Posted: 13/01/2000.

   

   Regarding the Y2K problem reported in this column earlier (3 January 2000) investigations have revealed that the circuit diagram for the equipment where the problem occured is as shown on the right.
   It is now clear that the Y2k problem is not computer related, and not even electricity related.
   It appears that the problem arose in a concrete water tank fed by mains water pressure when someone had accidently left the mains tap closed a few days prior to the dawn of the year 2000. Coincidently, the tank had become empty (level "0") a few minutes before midnight on 31st January and the settled rust at the bottom of the tank had come out as a trickle. Had the owner drunk this rusty water, it could have been a serious health hazard.
   Subsequently after the tap was opened at 2345 hrs on 31st January 1999, the tank had very quickly filled up. Unfortunately, the float valve had come out from the pipe, probably due to the high pressure when the tap was opened. Thus within a short time, in the early hours of 1st January 2000, the tank had overflowed (level "1") causing water to splash and disturbing the neighbours.
   Note by the Editor: Although the problem is not computer related, since it occured during the cross over from 1999 to 2000, it can technically be considered a Y2k problem.

9. EE Homepage featured in 'Pariganaka'  Posted: 17/07/2000

   Vishaka Nanayakkara has sent me a scan of the article which appeared in Vol 3 No 11 July 2000 issue of Pariganaka with the following note: "I think that following news item from the July issue of Pariganaka (which is a premier computing magazine among Sinhala readers) on your web page as one of the very regularly updated sites in Sri Lanka is a real tribute to your hard work.
   Don't let your other work keep you away from the web page."

10. Authorities of the Skies         Posted: 07/10/2000

    The authorities of the skies had scheduled two days of heavy rain for Friday 6th Ocotber and Saturday 7th October. He had filled up all the clouds to its brim and charged them with High Voltage in readiness to produce Lightning. It was then discovered that EESoc was having the annual get-together on 7th October and the Patron was the Lecturer in High Voltage. So an emergency session was held in the skies and it was decided to empty the whole supply of water for the two days, plus any standby supplies, within a few hours on Friday only so that very little will be left for Saturday. Unfortunately this unplanned increase caused flooding and havoc in Colombo, but Saturday was clear for the EESoc Activities with only a few drops scheduled to fall during the day.
    The authories of the skies wishes all EESoc members a happy and enjoyable day.

11. EESoc Get-together, AGM and Drama          Posted: 07/10/2000 - 2200hrs

    The EESoc get-together has been very successful so far. It is now time for dining and merrymaking.
    From the morning Six-a-Side Cricket was played as a tournament between the staff, groups of students and the graduates. The EESoc Sports Carnival finished with a variety of items such as catching fresh eggs thrown from a distance, feeding your partner with "sau" while blind- folded, passing a ring from person to person using a straw held in one's mouth and a tug-of-war.
    At about 7 pm, the AGM commenced where the outgoing President Dr Priyantha Wijetunga handed over the reigns to the newly elected President Dr Jahan Peiris. This was followed by a variety of Songs and a Drama.
    The Drama could be titled An Electrical Engineering Instructor looks for a Bride. This Drama was very well presented by the Final Part I Students (Junior). It was very hilarious and everyone enjoyed it very much.
    Merrymaking is now going on and will probably go on till the early hours of the morning.

12. The EESoc Drama as seen by a front row spectator             Posted: 09/10/2000

    The story unfolds with the frustrated Electrical Engineering Instructor seeing his very much younger uneducated brother flirting at the Bus Halt.
    The Instructor had failed to get hitched, or even flirt, during over 4 long years years of undergraduate studies, over 4 months of training and a period as an Instructor (where he repeatedly wrote "please see me" instead of giving a mark on the coursework of pretty girls in the junior batches).
    He is enraged and tells the brother that he will go and complain to their parents.
    .......................................
    The story ends with the Instructor accompanied by his parents and brother visiting a prospective bride and the bride falling for the younger brother.

13. IEE Sri Lanka Centre, Chairman's Talk - Professor J R Lucas          Posted: 20/11/2000

    Professor J R Lucas delivered the IEE Sri Lanka Centre, Chairman's Talk on Historical Development of the Transformer at the Hotel Galadari on Tuesday 14th November 2000. About 70 members of all categories were present at this talk.

14. Donation of a Jaipur foot to a disabled soldier           Posted: 20/11/2000

    The IEE Sri Lanka Centre donated a Jaipur foot to a disabled soldier at the Sambodhi Viharaya, Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo on Il Poya Day Saturday 11th November. Among those present at the donation were Mr D C Wijeratna, Immediate Past Chairman; Professor J R Lucas, Chairman; Mr D R Pulleperuma, Vice Chairman; Mr M S Jayalath, Honorary Secretary; Mr Senanayake and Mr Yatawara, committee members. For pictures of the event, click here

15. Seniors and Freshers enjoy a day of fun and frolic          Posted: 20/12/2000

    The two week orientation programme for the BSc Engineering New Intake came to an today. Last afternoon (Tuesday 19th December) the Senior Students of the Faculty of Engineering organised an afternoon of fun and frolic for the freshers where the Seniors freely mingled with the freshers. Among the games organised were passing a reel of sewing thread through the clothes in one hand and taking it out from the opposite trouser leg, moving a small cardboard box across a distance of about 100 m using only the pendulum action of an onion suspended from a thread from the waist, passing a ring down a row using drinking straws held in the mouth, blowing a balloon to bursting, busting a balloon tied to another's leg while preventing one's own balloon from being busted and the catching an egg thrown from an ever increasing distance.
    The events were well organised with the freshers being first separated into five groups (namely red, yellow, orange, green and blue). All freshers took part in at least one event and the lady freshers, who were much fewer in number in the group, taking part in many events. In each event a senior group also took part so that it was not a one way process of enjoyment. I am very happy to note that both the freshers as well as the seniors and the few academic staff members present thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. I am also happy to record here that the Senior students generally went out of their way to welcome the freshers to the Faculty, and a special tribute should go to the first year batch rep who I understand has won the gratitude of the freshers with his devoted service in organising his batchmates in a pleasant manner to guide the freshers during the two weeks.
    I understand that the orientation programme ended today with a concert organised by the senior students.

16. Appointment of Acting Dean, Faculty of Engineering          Posted: 19/03/2001

    Professor J Rohan Lucas has been appointed by the Vice Chancellor, University of Moratuwa as the Acting Dean, Faculty of Engineering with effect from Thursday 22nd March 2001. The appointment will be valid until the formal appointment of the Dean.
    Professor Lucas has agreed to accept the acting appointment, but has indicated that he is not willing to consider accepting the permanent post due to personal reasons. The permanent post is expected to be filled in about 2 weeks.

17. "We are with You!" Programme          Updated: 14/06/2001

    EESoc will be conducting the We are with You! programme for children of the Deaf School, Ratmalana on Poya day 5th June 2001 at the University of Moratuwa premises. The children will be brought in 3 age groups: 5 - 9 yrs, 10 - 14 yrs and 15 - 19 yrs. Over 150 children are expected to take part in the memorable events organised for this day. Miss Indunil Weeraratne is the livewire behind the project. She and a group of friends have organised a similar event at a smaller scale last year at the premises of the Deaf School. It was on her initiative that this project was taken over by the EESoc.

18. New Faculty of Information Technology at University of Moratuwa gazetted   Posted: 03/07/2001

    The Faculty of Information Technology of the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka has been established by Government Gazettedated July 02, 2001.

19. Award Ceremony to felicitate outstanding Researchers   Posted: 20 August 2001

    The Award Ceremony to felicitate Outstanding Researchers took place at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) on Thursday 16th August 2001. The chief guest for the occasion was Professor Ranjit Mendis, Chairman, University Grants Commission.
    The three emeritus professors of the University, namely Professor K R S Peiris, Professor K K Y W Perera, and Professor P A de Silva were the guests of honour and had their citations read by the Vice Chancellor and scrolls handed over.
    Professors W P S Dias and P G R Dharmaratne, and Associate Professor J A K S Jayasinghe, whose appointments were approved by the University council during the year 2000 were introduced by the Dean, Faculty of Engineering.
    The following Outstanding Researchers received their awards from the chief guest. Prof M W G Mendis (15 year & 3 year awards), Prof S R de S Chandrakeerthy (15 year & 3 year awards), Prof L L Ratnayake (15 year award), Prof J R Lucas (15 year award), Prof W P S Dias (15 year & 3 year awards), Prof P G R Dharmaratne (15 year & 3 year awards), Prof K A M K Ranasinghe (15 year & 3 year awards), Prof S S L Hettiarachchi (15 year & 3 year awards), Prof Mrs N Ratnayake (15 year award), Dr K A S Kumarage (15 year & 3 year awards), Dr A A P de Alwis (15 year award), Dr M T R Jayasinghe (3 year award), Dr R L M P D C Wijayatunga (3 year award), Dr R A Attalage (3 year award), Dr N T S Wijesekera (3 year award), Dr Mrs G H U Karunaratne (3 year award) and Dr M P R Emmanuel (3 year award).

20. EESoc AGM and Drama          Posted: 17/09/2001

    The AGM of the Electrical Engineering Society (EESoc) commenced at 1900 hrs. Dr Jahan Peiris was re-elected uncontested as the President for the Year 2001-02. Dr Nishantha Nanayakkara was re-elected as the Senior Vice President and Ms Anula Abeygunawardena was re-elected as the Senior Treasurer. Songs, a Panel Discussion and a Drama were the other items for the AGM. The Drama was titled Hena Gediya and was about a TV crew from the Wala TV interviewing people about the Power Crisis for the Hena Gediya Programme. Three people are shown to be interviewed during the blackout. The first person inteviewed was wearing a black mask covering the eyes only and carrying a gunny bag. The inteviewer asked the man what he was carrying. He says that they are goods like computers which he was carrying from one place to another. When questioned further about his job, he explains that he regularly carries things from one place to another without the owners knowledge as he does not want to worry the owner and he normally does it during power cuts, and that the power cuts at night had been a blessing for him. He also said that once one of the owners had trapped him in a third storey of a house and the only escape was from two windows which overlooked a 11 kV line and a 33 kV line respectively. So he jumped from the window on to the 11 kV line to break his fall. He explained that as the power cut was still in force, that was great.
    The other two who were interviewed were the President of the Unemployed Electrical Engineers Society and a Georgeous Housewife who gives the inteviewer a slap. However I will not go into this discussions.
    The drama was followed by the distribution of awards and the dinner in a pleasant outdoor atmosphere under colourful parasols in the quadrangle of the Sumanadasa Building.

21. Hospital Cleaning Programme - an Update     Posted: 18/10/2001

    The Cleaning of the Meegahatenna General Hospital, Matugama and the repairing of some of the facilities was undertaken by the BSc Engineering 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 batches on Saturday 29th September 2001. Some information and pictures are available on the Web.

22. Annual General Meeting of the English Literary Association          Posted: 30/11/2001

    Scene from a Play The English Literary Association or ELA held its annual general meeting at the Electrical Engineering Seminar Room this morning (30 November) under the patronage of Professor GTF de Silva the staff advisor. Professor JR Lucas also graced the occassion.
    At this meeting Heminda Jayaweera took over the reigns of office from Tivanka Dedigama. Asanga Amarasinghe was elected the Vice President, Ramesh Nanayakkara the Secretary, Roshanthi Lucas the Junior Treasurer, Tilanka Chandrasekera the Assistant Secretary, and Dimuthu Leelaratne the Editor. The following were also elected to the committee: Rohan Jayaweera, Avantha Serasinghe, Edgar Melan, Siddhantha Thanthrimudalige, Hasitha Liyanage, and Swetha Perera.
    Picture: Some of the committee acted in the Play It runs in the Family, with Heminda shown wearing a tie and coat draped over one shoulder posing for photgraph.

23. Glossary of Electrical Engineering terms inaugurated at Moratuwa           Posted: 11/12/2001

    A comprehensive Glossary of Electrical Engineering Terms was ceremoniously inaugurated by Professor J R Lucas today 11th December 2001 at the auspicious time of 1701 hrs in the presence of a largezero gathering of distinguished personnel. It is hoped that this searchable glossary will come in very handy to his students.
    The time is auspicious as that was the time at which the final nail was put into the html document.

24. Professor J R Lucas to attend IEE Council meeting & Conference in London          Posted: 18/12/2001

    Professor J R Lucas will be leaving for London on 2nd January 2002 to attend a conference on Engineering Education 2002 organised by the Institution of Electrical Engineers on 3rd and 4th January, and the IEE Council Meeting to be held on 10th January. Professor Lucas is presently the Chairman of the IEE Sri Lanka (a branch of the IEE) and the representetive of the branch on the IEE Council.

25. EE Final Year Group Photograph and Farewell - 23rd October 2002    Posted: 23/10/2002

    This Electrical Engineering Final Year Group Photograph was taken this morning by a professional photographer and scanned in two parts and put on the Web. These students who have just completed their final examinations also had a farewell party for the academic and non-academic staff of the department in the afternoon to show their appreciation.

26. Sandun Wickramasinghe becomes a Millionaire      Posted: 24/10/2002

    Sandun Wickramasinghe who worked at the Business Education Center (BEC) in Turkey during his training has become a Millionaire. He has been paidRupees Two hundred million per month during his training. His work had included making inspection reports for Conformity Europe. Some of the currecy that he received is shown on the left hand side of this news item. [Perhaps the unit of the currency was not Sri Lankan Rupees but Turkish Lira]

27. IEE Recruitment Drive          Posted: 28/11/2002

    The University of Moratuwa IEE Sri Lanka - Younger Members Section organised a recruitment programme to the IEE at the University of Moratuwa on Wednesday 27th November 2002. The immediate past Chairman of IEE Sri Lanka, Professor Rohan Lucas and the Honorary Secretary of IEE Sri Lanka, Professor Mrs Indra Dayawansa spoke to the gathering about the IEE and the YMS respectively. Over 50 students, mainly from Level 2, participated in the event. Students in Electrical, Electronics, Communications, Computer, Information Technology and Manufacturing Engineering are invited to join the IEE as student members.

28. Biographies of Scientific Personalities related to Electrical Engineering           Updated: 14/02/2003

    I have compiled a the Biographies of Scientific Personalities related to Electrical Engineering. This includes mainly persons who made contributions before the first half of the 20th Century.
    The biography of D J Wimalasurendra one of the greatest sons of the soil, an engineer par excellence and a dedicated politician is also included. I also hope to include shortly a biography of Professor R H Paul the father of electrical engineering education in Sri Lanka.

29. IEE Sri Lanka Workshop for School Children -2003 - Update 2           Posted: 21/02/2003

    The Academic Staff and students of the Departments of Electrical Engineering, Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering, and Computer Science & Engineering of the University of Moratuwa conducted the 2nd Workshop for Schools on 20th February at the University Premises on behalf of the IEE Sri Lanka. Around 150 advanced level school children from 10 schools from the Southern Province and about 15 teachers participated in this one-day workshop.
    Mr D R Pullaperuma Chairman, IEE Sri Lanka, Prof Malika Ranasinghe Dean/ Engineering, Prof Priyantha Wijayatunga Dean/Information Technology, Prof Mrs Indra Dayawansa Secretary, IEE Sri Lanka & Organiser of the Event, Prof Rohan Lucas Immediate Past Chairman, IEE Sri Lanka & Head/Electrical Engineering, Dr Mrs Dileeka Dias Head/Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering, Dr Ashok Peiris Head/Computer Science & Engineering, and Dr Pani Dharmawardena were present at the inauguration. Some pictures of the event

30. Lucas CT Model in Master Library of PSCAD     Posted: 07/03/2003

    Dr. Dharshana Muthumuni has written informing us that the new version of PSCAD has been released for the commercial users. Under new features, is the 'Lucas' Current Transformer model which is now in the official master library of PSCAD. He has attached a screen shot of the 'Help' for that model. He has also informed us that the work that Prof Rohan Lucas initiated during his time in manitoba (1989-90) has led to lots of important work and findings on magnetic core modeling.

31. Absentminded Professor takes photos          Posted: 31/03/2003   Updated: 01/04/2003

    A certain Professor was seen taking very many photographs at the function of the month held during the weekend. It appears that most of the photos taken have not come out. It is suspected that it may be due to one of the following facts.
    

    • The camera had never been loaded with a film roll. Although this is a fact, it does not explain why some of the shots taken have come out quite well
    • The camera was not connected to a Computer. Although this is also a fact, it too does not explain why some of the shots taken have come out quite well
    • Although not loaded with a film, the Camera thought it was its duty to take 24 shots (normal number of shots in a film roll) This is also a fact as the number of photos taken before the AGM is 24. It had not realised that this limit does not apply when a film roll is not present, and had only realised this fact during the dancing session.
    • The camera had an aversion to undergraduate females. This may well be true as none of the pictures that have come out show undergraduate ladies. All pictures taken of undergraduate ladies (welcome desk, audience, compere, fashion show) have been completely sensored by the camera.
    • The learned Professor was a little late arriving at the location of the AGM having actively taken part in the sports carnival earlier, which incidently finished quite late. The ladies at the Welcome desk refused to accept any of his excuses and did not allow him to sign the attendance list. Perhaps the learned Professor wanted to teach them a lesson (which obviously professors are supposed to do) and appeared to meticulously take their photos.
    • The camera had an aversion to invited dignataries. None of the dignataries presenthave come out although several pictures were taken during lighting of the oil lamp and the speeches..
    • The camera likes only lively activities. All the shots that have come out have been those from the sports carnival or from the lively "dancing"
    • The camera does not like the AGM. None of the shots corresponding to the AGM or its crowds at tables that were taken have come out.
    • The camera did not have sufficient time to do all the calculations to set its illumination levels as the stage and lighting arrangements had not been completed prior to the start of the AGM. By the time the computer program was written and executed, all the items other than the final dancing session was left.
    • The camera does not like to associate with ghosts which it found in the grounds before it decided to switch itself off.
    • The camera was practicing how to avoid getting abused by Level 2 students during their June Term Technical Subject.
    • The Professor being a Professor was naturally absentminded and did not have the camera in the correct configuration to take photos.
    • None of the above/All of the above Only other available options in an MCQ type
32. EESoc AGM and Get-together           Posted: 31/03/2003

    The EESoc AGM & Get-together held on Saturday 29th March was a resounding success.
    The event started with the Sports Carnival in the morning and afternoon - students interbatch 6-a-side Cricket Tournament, followed by a 6-a-sde Cricket tournament involving students, graduates and academic staff in the late afternoon. Among the senior academic staff to take part were Professor Rohan Lucas and Dr Nishantha Nanayakkara, who both scored briskly and heavily, defeating the students by a massive 50 odd runs. This was followed in the early evening by events such as "Kana Muttiya", Tug-of-war, drinking fanta through a baby's sucker, throwing raw eggs over a distance, "andayata kiri kaweema", a relay race, and ending up with "kotta pura". Both senior staff members as well as the graduates and the students took part in almost all the activities. This was followed by the AGM and other events near the Chemical Engineering Quadrangle.

    The Chief Guest on the occassion was Professor KKYW Perera Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy and the Guest of Honour was Mr M Zubair Chairman, CEB, LECO and LTL. Dr Ray Wijewardena, Professor Dayantha Wijesekera and Professor Malik Ranasinghe had sent in their apologies. All senior academic staff members, except Professor Dias who is due to go abroad shortly, including emeritus Professor S Karunaratne were present.

    Formalities of the AGM took place with Dr Nalin Wickramarachchi handing reigns to Dr Nishantha Nanayakkara. This was followed by speeches by the Guest of Honour and the Chief Guest.

    The function was compered by Ms Faslina Yaheya and Mr Swetha Perera.

    As is customarily, the Level 2 students performed a very high quality Drama titled the "Wedding Festival" - A mud slinging affair. In it the father calls all his 3 unmarried sons and says that he wants to have a common marriage for them. Among the highlights are that

    • the function must take place before the "Bak Festival" and hardly a month to go.
    • approval must be obtained from the grandfather for the function to take place.
    • relatives want the affair to be an outdoor affair and not in a traditional hotel, as had been stated at the wedding of an elder son last year
    • sons want it in an established hotel as has been done by their next door neighbours
    • the bride does not like the outdoor function and runs away when it appears as if it is going to rain
    • "Handun" wants to have a non-stop sing-a-long and dancing after the main wedding function

    [Editor's note: The wedding festival smells a lot like the EESoc AGM and get-together where the graduates at the last get-together had indicated that they would rather have the festival outdoors at Moratuwa rather than at a hotel.]
    After a sumptious dinner followed by songs, an out-of-the-ordinary fashion show was held. Dresses included in the show includedd those suitable for beauty contests, for daily wear, for modern style veddahs, for mariakade type women ready to cut your throat. There was a lot of oohs and aahs and hooting during this fashion show. This was followed by a non-stop sing-a-long dancing session.

33. The Turkish trainee to sue the Level 2 Drama Company          Posted: 31/03/2003

    The Turkish trainee who meticulously build up his trade mark of back to front cap and waist pouch over the last three years was dumb struck when, not only his trade mark rights were infringed by the Level 2 students during their Drama, but even his name was distored to "Handun". He is planning to spend millions in suing the Level 2 students and clearing his trade mark.

34. Clarke marooned in exotic island   Posted: 29/05/2003    Updated: 30/05/2003

    Clarke enjoyed a one week challengin holiday (Sunday 17th May to Sunday 25th May) in an exotic island resort on the banks of the Kaluganga. Among the many exotic sports available on the island were rafting, canoeing, river bathing, swimming and diving in waters upto 15 ft (5 m) deep in strong currents. To add to the excitement and challenge, electricity and fresh water supplies had been disconnected for the duration of the holiday. This permitted studies to be done on the use of river currents for the generation of electricity and purification for drinking purposes for those inclined in that direction. The holiday had been granted by courtesy of the gemming town of Sri Lanka. The creators of the island spared no expenses to enhance the quality of this temporary island. They had even dissolved 25,000 hand crafted pre-baked clay bricks available in the premises to get the rich muddy effect to the water.

    Editor's correction: Clarke should read as clerk of the department of electrical engineering. Ratna - gem, Pura - town

    P.S. The University has collected food, clothing and other materials to be distributed to help rehabilitate those displaced by the recent floods in the Ratnapura, Matara and Kalutara districts in Sri Lanka. The University is also helping to assess the damages caused by the floods and in other relief measures.

35. 150 pens saved from destruction    Posted: 24/06/2003

    Around 150 pens were saved from destruction at the end of the BSc Engineering, Final Part III Examination paper yesterday. The students were expecting a certain Professor to be supervising at the examination yesterday and had planned to break their pens at the scheduled end of the paper on the announcing of Stop Work so that even accidently the pen would not write beyond the scheduled time. The said Professor is said to be very strict in this regard as he does not want those who abuse the system to get an advantage over those who do not. The pens were saved as the said Professor, although he came to the examination hall for a short time, was not present at the scheduled close.

36. The native mongoose stakes a claim in landmine detection     Posted: 11/07/2003

    

    The mongoose, who is native to the north of Sri Lanka where the mine fields are located, has good olfactory powers and can be trained to sniff plastic explosives. He is thus claiming his place in the University of Moratuwa>IARC led research on land mine detection over the bionic Mongoose could tranmit the locations of detected landmines through wireless communications to remote monitors who could then remove the mines using remotely controlled robots.

37. IEE Sri Lanka Website migrated to "iee.org"    Posted: 03/09/2003

    TheIEE Sri Lanka Website has just been migrated to http://www.iee.org/OnComms/Branches/Asia/SriLanka, a site at "iee.org" in the format of other IEE websites. This site will still be maintained by the IEE Sri Lanka web-master (presently J R Lucas). The location at http://elect.mrt.ac.lk/IEE will not be updated in the future. Please change your link to the new site. The IEE Sri Lanka wishes to thank the Department of Electrical Engineering for hosting the site for many years.

38. පැහැසැර   Pahasara - Cultural Festival    Posted: 18/09/2003

    Pahasara, an annual cultural festival organised by the Students Union of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa is now on. It commenced on 16th September and will finish today 18th September. Among the events are a "daha-ata sanniya" (or a traditional Sri Lankan dance of 18 devils), a "vidi natya" (or street drama), a "Rukada Natum" (or puppet show) by a specialist group from Ambalangoda, a "Kathuru unchillawa" (or giant wheel), a "Kavi Maduwa", a Film Festival, a short Drama competition, talks, and finishing tonight with a Musical night with events performed by Engineering Students of this University. Pahasara FM on 96.1 MHz was broadcast throughout the duration of the Festival.

39. High Praise for Fresher's design projects at IEE YMS Sri Lanka Sessions 2003      Posted: 21/09/2003

    Thirty-three high quality papers were presented at theAnnual Sessions of the Younger Members Section of the IEE Sri Lanka Saturday 20th September 2003 at the Electronics & Telecommunications Building of the University of Moratuwa.

    The judges were unanimous and high in their praise for efforts taken, especially by the undergraduates at the end of their first year of study at the University. They were happy to note that these first year students  had paid a great deal of attention to detail, and had come up with working andmarketable prototypes, starting from the basic design concepts, within  five weeks of the assignment being given. Details included an initial market survey, design, circuit simulation, computer aided drawings, physical process animation, PCB design, PCB manufacture, construction of prototype, cost analysis for mass scale production, marketing strategy, sales brochures, user leaflets, attractive packaging and in one case even a complete web-site to market the product. The Power Point presentations made by the students were also of extremely high quality. These first year projects had been done inorder to fulfil the requirements of Engineering Design and Engineering Skill Development in the degree course.

    Among this is the automatic coffee maker shown (together with the packaging), to make coffee automatically at a pre-determined time. Freshly brewed coffee had even been drunk by the university panel during their undergraduate presentation.

40. Electrical Nite 2003 - an update      Posted: 04/10/2003

    Electrical Nite 2003 for welcoming the Level 2 students to the department, by the Seniors, took place in a grand scale with banners lining the roadway from the gate to the entrance of the Sumanadasa Building and flames lighting the way from the entrance to the Electrical Engineering Seminar Room.

    The evening got underway soon after 7 pm, with the traditional lighting of the oil lamp and very brief speeches by Prof Rohan Lucas and Prof Priyantha Wijayatunga. Among the other Senior Academic Staff members present were Dr Ranjit Perera, Dr Thrishantha Nanayakkara and Mrs Janaki Premaratne. A feast of entertainment had been laid out for the enjoyment of all, even surpassing in quality, the high quality events of the previous years.

    A neat souvenir with messages, articles, jokes, cartoons about the batches were distributed to the gathering. One of tohse taht cuahgt my eye was tetild thePweor of the Hmuan Mnid.
    A high class and innovative computer presentation by EUA creations was projected on the wall to welcome the guests. It started with coursework flying from one folder to another and ended with electrical engineering in the form of a sinusoidal wave terminating in a beautifully made 2-D transmission line.

    As has been the practice in recent years, a highly creative Drama was enacted by the Level 2 students where patients with various illnesses are brought before the Doctor and the Matron by the attendant to the mental hospital. Among the patients were a pair who had identical prescriptions (probably copied from one another) rolled up in their trouser pockets. Another was plea bargaining with the Doctor about the punishment for coming late.
    [More details of the Drama will probably be unfolded in the next few days. The editor is happy to note that a young lady (in saree) took part in the Drama and that a male actor did not have to play the part of the Matron.]

    Among the other events which were interspersed between Sinhala and English songs were the following.

    • Interviews with Level 2 students about interesting facts in their lives (and not mud slinging මඩගැසීම). [The interviewers specifically and repeatedly reminded the audience that they wanted to to ban mud slinging in the Universityand eradicate it and that they even hope to get the ban backdated].
    • E-nite 2003 Award winners සම්මාන පිරිනැමීම in the different categories. For each Award, Three prospective nominees were called up to the stage and the judged award winner being presented with the award by the "last year's winner" of the event. Reasons for choice was ably presented by the compeer. The categories were
      1. සවප්නපති (the Lord of Sleep)
      2. පැණිපති (the Lord of Flirts/honey)
      3. (කන්තා)K-Guardපති (the Lord of the Ladies Guard) 
      4. ගැටඵපති (the Lord of Academic Queries)
      5. විශේෂ coursework සම්මානය (Special Coursework Award)
      6. මධුපති (the Lord of Drunkards)
      [Note by the editor: names of award winners have been withheld to avoid them being besieged by newspaper reporters, fans and well-wishers].

    The entertainment was followed by the staff and students mingling with each other and followed by a sumptuous buffet dinner. The senior academic staff left at about 1130 pm. The students would have then gone on to enjoy the common DJ with the computer and electronics students which would have gone on to the early hours of the morning.

41. Await the 19th Curse a.k.a. Christmas /Haloween       Posted: 27/10/2003

    On 31^st October, Computer Engineering persons (including many Electrical, and Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering students) will be celebrating the  19th Curse also known as Christmas, while the rest of the world will be celebrating Haloween. This is because those who are in the computer field are well aware that "Curse 19" (Hex 19), Christmas (Dec 25) and Haloween (Oct 31) are computationally identical. They are said to prefer Christmas (when they get gifts of a computer or computer parts) to "Haloween" or "Curse 19" (as they do not like witches or their spells). Editors'sNote: If you do not understand this, or at least OCT 31 or DEC 25 or HEX 19, you should not expect to understand the internal working of a computer - click here.

42. Happy Sinhala & Tamil New Year - Yesterday       Posted 02/04/2004

    Happy Sinhala & Tamil New Year.
    Sorry for the belated greetings, as I was out of the Island till yesterday and could not update the web.
    Did the Sinhala & Tamil New Year really originate on All Fools Day ?. Perhaps it did.
    As is now well-known, for over 1600 years upto about 1582, the beginning of the year occured all over the world around the 1st of April (Julian Calendar with 365.25 days). In 1582, the Gregorian Calendar was introduced to correct an error that had crept in as the year was only 365.2425 days (now known more accurately as 365.24219 days). The accumulated error by then was 11 days. Thus Thursday, Oct. 4, 1582, was the last day of the Julian calendar and the next daybecame Friday, Oct. 15, 1582 the first day of the Gregorian calendar. With this change, the beginning of the year was shifted to 1 January.
    However, people in many countries disregarded the change and continued to celebrate the new year on 1 April and hence were known as April fools. They also did not correct for the fractional error till centuries later (ex. Britain in September 1752). When the fractional error was subsequently corrected, the beginning of the year shifted to around 13th April (instead of 1st April) which day we (and many countries in south east asia) still celebrate as the New Year.

43. New IEE International Membership Adviser       Posted 23/04/2004

    Prof J R Lucas, Immediate Past Chairman of IEE Sri Lanka has been requested by the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) to be the next International Membership Adviser (IMA) for Sri Lanka with effect from April 2004. Professor Lucas attended a conference at the IEE office at Savoy Place at the end of March in preparation for this appointment. Mr M Zubair's term as IMA terminated on 31 March 2004.

44. Postgraduate Studies at AIT       Posted:30/08/2004

    Nuwan has sent me a news item for the web that he has received from the AIT Reporter. It is said that all postgraduate students at AIT travel by bike and those who come afresh have to learn to ride. The text in the accompanying picture has been deleted as it is factually incorrect.
    P.S. It appears that the Reporter is a Mahadanamutta and has added one plus one to make ten (01+01=10) since he knows a micro-amount of arithmetic and a micro-amount of binary and has got the two mixed up. He has got two facts correct (1. Girls and Boys are students at AIT, and 2. Students use the bike as the main mode of transport) and has made up the balance eight (10-2=8), all of which now appear to be grossly incorrect.

45. Priyantha marries Ameesha           Posted:20/09/2004

    Priyantha Wijayatunga recently got married  to Ms Ameesha Padmasiri and will come home to the hotel this evening. Our best wishes go the Priyantha and Ameesha on this happy occassion. 

46. Inauguration Ceremony of the Gavel Club of University of Moratuwa      Posted:06/04/2005

    The Inauguration Ceremony of the Gavel Club of University of Moratuwa will be held on 6th April, 2005 at 5.30pm in the Textiles Auditorium.
    This Club is facilitated by the Rotaract Club of the University in collaboration with the IESL Toastmasters Club.
    The main aim of the Gravel Clubs is :
       * Deliver great presentations
       * Easily lead teams and conduct meetings
       * Give and receive constructive evaluations
       * Be a better listener

47. Eligible Electrical Engineer working overseas seeks CDMA bride       Posted: 29/08/2005

    A young and eligible Electrical Engineering graduate, who has recently gone abroad on a telecommunication assignment, is seeking a CDMA bride who can be obtained with lessපෝලින්  (less queues) and who will cause lessකරදර (less trouble), lessකුරුකුරු (less rumble) and who will lessවියදම් (cost less) to maintain. Since he has very little leave, he would like to ආවා, bride  ගත්තා off-the-shelf, ගියා (come, take a bride off-the-shelf and leave).
    Note: The editor has lost the contact information of the prospective groom, and would like both the groom and any prospective brides to respond - c/o news item 68, EE News.

48. Summary of Results of Theory of Electricity           Posted:10/10/2005

    The preliminary unconfirmed results of the course EE201 - Theory of Electricity have been displayed on the notice board, since Friday 7th October, for student comments. There is no reference as to what the abbreviations for the grades refer to. So I have reproduced a summary with the relevant descriptions.
       * Inventive - 0.5%,
       * Fantastic - 0.5%,
       * Excellent - 0%
       * Distinctive - 0%,
       * Less (-) Creditable - 5%,
       * Creditable - 9%,
       * Extra (+) Creditable - 5%,
       * Less (-) Bad - 5%,
       * Bad - 9%,
       * Extra (+) Bad - 5%,
       * Less (-) Awful - 22%,
       * Awful - 23%,
       * Extra (+) Awful - 25%.
    Note: The editor has just reproduced figures displayed and takes no responsibility for the very poor performance of the students.

    EESoc Award for the Best Final Year Project       Posted 13/10/2005

    The Final Year Projects in the Electrical Engineering Stream which were demonstrated at the BMICH at the Innovations UOM 2005 in September 2005 and thereafter presented to the staff and students, was evaluated by a panel consisting of all the Senior Academic Staff of the Department of Electrical Engineering. Due to the high quality of the projects, it was with a lot of deliberation that the following was selected as the Best Project for the EESoc Award.

         Design and construction of a constant voltage transformer

         Wijesinghe KC (010440)
         Yatiyana EMMB (010448)
         Mendis NNR (010232)
         Vithya V (010414)

    The Project was supervised by Prof Rohan Lucas, Prof Ranjit Perera and Mr Kosala Gunawardena (Lanka Transformers Ltd)

49. Electrical Nite 2005 - an Update       Posted: 24/10/2005

    The Electrical Nite 2005 was successfully completed recently with many entertaining items, including songs in Sinhala and Tamil. The highligh of the event was the ever popular drama created and directed by the new Level 2 students who were beings welcomed to the department by their seniors. The drama was about the choice of ward 3 in the lunatic asylum, about the plucking of fruits, and about treatment at the lunatic asylum.
    The Editor interprets the story to be based on field selection in the engineering faculty to the Electrical Engineering department, registration of courses with the academic adviser and about the lack of computer resources in the department. The full script of the play has been translated and is available, with an ingenious method of giving the hidden meanings in relevant places

50. Manamperi Memorial Award 2005          Posted:08/12/2005

    The project "Design and construction of a constant voltage transformer" submitted by the following group of electrical engineering undergraduate students and supervised by Prof J R Lucas, Prof H Y R Perera and Mr Kosala Gunawardena (Lanka Transformers Ltd) has been selected as the winner of the Manamperi Memorial Award - 2005 by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science. The award will be made on Monday 12th December at the BMICH.
         Wijesinghe KC (010440)
         Yatiyana EMMB (010448)
         Mendis NNR (010232)
         Vithya V (010414)

51. J R Lucas breaks the ice          Posted: 17/01/2006

    Toastmaster J R Lucas made his ice breaker speech titled How I do things differently at the University of Moratuwa Toastmasters club on 9th January. It is expected to be interesting reading, especially for students regarding communication skills.

52. Electrical Level 2 Student Hansi publishes a Novel       Posted: 21/06/2006<

    Ms Hansi Nilanka Rajapaksha, Level 2 student in Electrical Engineering, has done us proud by showing her talents as a writer.  She has just published a sinhala novel Sandani-1 සඳනි-1, the cover of which is shown on the right.   An autographed copy of the book was handed over to Prof Rohan Lucas.

    The novel has been reviewed by Jayantha Kumari Samanabedda.

    Our students are not only good academically, but are also display their literary skills.  We are proud of their achievements and wish them well.

53. Prof. Rohan Lucas resumes duties after sabbatical leave     Posted:01/11/2007

    Professor Rohan Lucas resumed duties in the department of electrical engineering, on 22nd October 2007, after spending one year sabbatical leave at the University of Manitoba, Canada. During his stay in Canada he developed a module for the inclusion of small signal stability analysis to the widely used software package PSCAD/EMTDC. His research was carried out in collaboration with the Manitoba HVDC Research Centre.

54. Mr. Yakdedehige Dayananda retires after 34 years     Posted:25/02/2008

    Y. Dayananda who faithfully served the Department of Electrical Engineering, having been stationed in the Power Systems Laboratory of the Department of Electrical Engineering for over 30 years retired today. The department organised a farewell party for him. All the academic and non-academic staff of the department were there to wish him well. Both the academic staff as well as the non-academic staff spoke very highly of him during the period in our department. In reply, Dayananda also spoke, recalling times at Katubedda even before his time in the department, when he first worked for the Canteen in the early sixties, and how he had been like a body-guard to the Dr L H Sumanadasa. The Head of department gave him a token gift on behalf of the deparment.

55. Congradulations and a Rare coincidence     Posted: 15/05/2008

    Asha Pubuduni, who obtained a Second Class Upper Division Honours in Electrical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa and has since completed an MSc at the University of East London, UK in February 2008 with Distinction. Our Best wishes go to her.
    She has sent in the following "Rare Coincidence".
    "I remember meeting Roshanthi as she was also getting ready to move to University of Cambridge to start her MBA in Sep 2006.
    Last Saturday, I went to Cambridge with some of my friends and that was my first visit to Cambridge as I live in London. It was such a surprise to find Roshanthi walking in front of me at St. John's Street wearing her gown just about to be graduated! I was so happy to see her and it was such a surprise to meet her on the exact day of graduation in my first visit to the city. I took a photo with her and have attached it here as well."

56. Short Course on Lightning Protection & Electrical Safety      Posted: 18/07/2008

    A Short Course on Lightning Protection & Electrical Safety is being conducted by IET Sri Lanka Network on 6 Saturdays from 5th July 2008 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Colombo.
    The Resource persons for the Short Course are Prof Rohan Lucas, Dr Chandima Gomes (University of Colombo) and Eng Bernard Perera.

57. Guru Upahara 2009 Posted: 04/11/2009

    The Students from the Electrical Engineering Department organized a surprised event to celebrate the Teachers' Day on 5th September, 2009 at the EE seminar room. They marked this day to honor and show their gratitude to the EE academic staff members. This event of felicitation of lecturers was attended by Dean/Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Ananda Jayawardena, Head of the Department, Dr. JP Karunadasa and all the other lecturers in the Department. After the formalities of lighting the oil lamp, two speakers from Level 3 welcomed the distinguished guests and compered the event. All the lecturers were gifted the token of appreciation which was designed and made with involvement of Level 3 students. All the students worshiped all the lecturers to show the deepest gratitude.
    Though the celebration of the Teacher's Day is a normal thing in the Schools, Such an event had never been held in the Faculty and the effort was praised a lot since these felicitations are somewhat rare in University community. Before completion of the event, Prof. Jayawardane and Dr. Karunadasa expressed thoughts of rejoice as we were so touched by the event. The event came to an end with vote of thanks and special refreshments were served at the end.

58. Observer to IEAustralia Accreditation Visit      Posted: 18/07/2008

    Prof J R Lucas has been nominated by the University of Moratuwa and the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka to be an Observer in the Engineers Australia Accreditation team evaluating two Universities (University of New Castle, and the University of Swinburne) in Australia. The visit will take place from 13 August to 22 August 2008.

59. Prof Rohan Lucas completes 40 years service to the University     Posted: 07/04/2010

    Prof Rohan Lucas Senior professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering completed 40 years of continuous and meritorious service to the University. Prof Rohan Lucas joined the staff as a Lecturer in Electrical Engineering on 13 March 1970 and left for higher studies at Manchester, UK in 1971. On returning with his PhD in 1974, he was made an Assistant Lecturer in Electrical Engineering. Since then he has risen through the ranks of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and Professor to reach that of Senior Professor.

     We would like to put on record our appreciation for his long valuable service to the Department and wish him to continue his invaluable services to the Department in many more years to come.

60. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Moratuwa Promotes Green Technologies      Posted: 28/07/2011

    Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Moratuwa has taken further measures to promote the use of Green Technologies (GT). On 26th July, 2011, Department of Electrical Engineering initiated a collaboration project with Energy Plus in order to introduce Net-metering at the department with solar power generation. Dr. JP Karunadasa, Head/Electrical Engineering, Ms. Isabel Bogorinsky, CEO/Energy Plus, Prof. Rohan Lucas, Prof. Ranjit Perera, Prof. Lanka Udawatta, Dr. Satish Namasiwayam, Eng. Chandana Halgamuge participated in the discussion. This project has been initiated by Prof. Lanka Udawatta in order to promote green and clean technologies at Department of Electrical Engineering.

61. Donation of Equipment for Power System Simulator Model     Posted: 09/03/2012

    A Power System Simulator model, an important tool for the power industry, is being developed as a teaching tool for the Department of Electrical Engineering through a series of undergraduate projects. The power system simulator model will, in time, form the basis of an integrated laboratory to conduct experiments as part of a system rather than as isolated experiments. During the past two years, the design and part of the construction of the model, utilising actual vacuum circuit breaker panels, has taken place. The hardware is designed to mimic real systems and modern practice, comprising of generators, generator transformers, transmission lines, substations, distribution lines and accessories with real protection relays and metering facilities. This is being developed in the power systems laboratory. 18 used vacuum circuit breaker panels (removed during system rehabilitation) have been donated by the Ceylon Electricity Board. 4 specially designed transformers and components for inductors have been donated by LTL Holdings Ltd and funding for the construction of transmission line models have been allocated by Lanka Electricity Company Ltd. The A synchronous generator and a VSD panel to be used for controlling the generator has been donated by Haleys (Pvt) Ltd. An induction motor used as the prime mover has been donated by FDK Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.

62. Technical Visit of Lotus Tower Sri Lankan Consultants to Beijing     Posted: 21/02/2013

    The 350m Lotus Tower to be designed and built by a Chinese conglomeration is to be the tallest tower in south asia. Design review and project management consultancy services are provided by the University of Moratuwa. A group of Sri Lankan Consultants visited Beijing in connection with this. Among those who undertook the visit are Prof Nimal De Silva, Prof Samitha Manawadu, Prof Rohan Lucas, Prof Priyan Dias and Dr Chinthaka Mallikarachchi from the academic staff of the University.

63. Twin Awards of Excellence for Prof. J R Lucas       Posted: 12/11/2013

    On 24th September 2013, Prof J Rohan Lucas was given an "Engineering Excellence Award" by the Chief Guest Hon Basil Rajapaksha, Minister of Economic Affairs at the IESL - Engineering Excellence Awards, 2013 organised by the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel.

    On Wednesday, 25th September 2013, Prof J Rohan Lucas received a "Teaching Excellence Award" at the UoM Awards Ceremony 2013 at the Civil Engineering Auditorium of the University of Moratuwa. The Department of Electrical Engineering would like to congratulate Prof. Lucas on his achievements.

64. Prof. JR Lucas retires from University service       Posted: 6/5/2014

    Prof. Joseph Rohan Lucas, who was a Senior Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering, retired from the University service after 44 years of invaluable service rendered to the University of Moratuwa at all levels on 31st March 2014. He first joined the Ceylon Collage of Technology, Moratuwa (as it was then known) on 13th March 1970. His pioneering and untiring efforts, together with other staff members at the time, made the Electrical Department achieve the highest national and international recognition that it enjoys today. The Electrical Engineering Department is proud to have had a distinguished professor like him in the field of Electrical Engineering whose service is always sought nationally by both the Government and Private sectors.

    The Department organized a felicitation ceremony and a farewell party for him on 28th March 2014 to appreciate his service to the Department. A memento and some presents as tokens of appreciation were given to Prof. Lucas by the academic and non-academic staff members of the Department.

    A felicitation ceremony in honour of Prof. Lucas was organized by the Dean/Faculty of Engineering on 3rd April 2014 at the Board Room of Faculty of engineering prior to commencement of Faculty Board meeting. A special speech was made by Prof. Samantha Hettiarachchi of the Department of Civil Engineering to appreciate the inimitable and distinguished service of Prof. Lucas to the University. Three mementos were given to Prof. Lucas by the Dean/Engineering Faculty, Director/Postgraduate Studies Division and the Director/Undergraduate Studies Division at this felicitation ceremony. Prof. Lucas made a presentation on his life to the audience before saying Goodbye to the Faculty.

    The Department of Electrical Engineering wish his service would be available for the Department for many more years to come. We wish him a long and happy life ahead.   Click here to view the photographs of the farewell party.

65. Felicitations to Prof. JR Lucas on his retirement     Posted: 5/5/2014
    Prof. Lucas had received the following felicitations and tributes on the occasion of this retirement.
    1. 3rd April 2014 – A plaque from the Faculty of Engineering at a special felicitation ceremony at the commencement of the April Faculty meeting.
    2. 31st March 2014 - An plaque of appreciation, with a standing elephant, from the President of the University of Moratuwa Teacher's Association (UMTA) at a special lunch hosted by the UMTA Committee at the K-zone, Katubedda.
    3. 28th March 2014 - A plaque of appreciation from the staff of the Department of Electrical Engineering at a felicitation ceremony at the department seminar room.
    4. 27th March 2014 - A plaque from the members of the Academic Committee of the Faculty given by the Director Undergraduate Studies in appreciation of services rendered.
    5. 20th March 2014 - A plaque of appreciation from the Director Postgraduate Studies of the Faculty on behalf of the members of the Board of Studies of Postgraduate studies and Faculty Higher Degrees Committee.
    6. 13th March 2014 - A plaque of appreciation from the Electrical Engineering Society (EESoc) of the University of Moratuwa on the event of the AGM and get-together (2009 Intake).
    7. 16th January 2014 - A plaque of gratitude from the IET Young Professionals, University of Moratuwa Chapter at the IET YP AGM held at the University of Moratuwa.
    8. 20th December 2013 - A plaque of gratitude from the students of the 2008 Intake.
    9. 25th September 2013 - A "Teaching Excellence Award" from the Vice Chancellor at the University of Moratuwa Awards Ceremony 2013 at the Civil Engineering Auditorium.
    10. 24th September 2013 - An "Engineering Excellence Award" from the Chief Guest Hon Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Affairs at the IESL - Engineering Excellence Awards 2013 at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel.
    View the plaques
66. Prof. Lucas conferred the Emeritus Professor Award Posted: 5/5/2014

    The University of Moratuwa conferred the title of Emeritus Professor on Prof. JR Lucas with effect from 1st April 2014 upon his retirement. The Emeritus Professor Award is one of the highest academic awards conferred by the University to individual professors in recognition of his/her meritorious service to the University. It is a title which recognizes the value the individual has earned due to his/her record of teaching, research and service with the University.

    The Department would like to congratulate Prof. Lucas on receiving the Emeritus Professor title.

67. Seminar on Fire Barriers & Sealing Systems for High Rise Buildings       Posted: 25/8/2014

    Prof. J. Rohan Lucas - Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Moratuwa, gave the keynote address on "Necessity for adopting International Standards" at the OBO Betterman Seminar on Fire Barriers and Sealing Systems for High Rise Buildings. The other speakers at the Seminar were Mr. S. Gopa Kumar - Managing Director - OBO Bettermann India on "OBO Range of Fire Protection Systems", Mr. P.N.R. Fernando - Chief Fire officer - CMC on "Importance of using Fire Sealants in modern high rise buildings" and Dr. L. N. Senaweera - Director General - SLSI on "Stakeholders Involvement in Developing & Implementation/adopting IEC Standards" in Sri Lanka.

68. Launch of new Web-site and Autobiography of Prof Rohan Lucas Posted: 13/11/2014

    A modern well developed web-site a href="http://www.prof.rohan.luas.lk/>prof.rohan.lucas.lk</a> for Prof Rohan Lucas was launched by Prof Gihan Dias on 17th October 2014 at the Wimalasurendra Auditorium of the IESL to a packed audience. The web-site has a very interesting selection under "My Creations" in the Gallery.
    The web-site launch was followed by the launch of "A Tongue-in-cheek Autobiography of Prof. Dr. Eng. Rohan Lucas" which is the self written story of the life and times of the Emeritus Professor who is an International Professional Engineer with a Doctorate in Electrical Power Systems. Fiction has sometimes been used in the narrative to depict his true character. The autobiography is so named because it is humorously written and because the author is known to have his tongue physically pressed against the cheek when he is thinking. These together is symptomatic of the character of the author who is both a serious educator and is a stickler for discipline, as well as a very jovial and compassionate person who cares a lot about his students.The Foreword to the autobiography has been written by Professor Willie Mendis, Vice Chancellor 1983-1988, University of Moratuwa.
    The autobiography is available at Rs 700/= with Expographic (with branches at the University of Moratuwa, Main Street Colombo and Pannipitiya Road Battaramulla). It can also be obtained from the office of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Rs 500/= . Details of the book is available on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/dp/9554182104#. Profits from the sale of the autobiography would go towards assisting students in their undergraduate projects. You may also contact Prof Lucas directly at his email address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

69. University of Moratuwa felicitates Prof. JR Lucas     Posted: 19/02/2015

    Prof Ananda Jayawardena, Vice-Chancellor, University of Moratuwa presented a memento to Prof J R Lucas on 19th December 2014, in appreciation of the invaluable services and guidance provided to the University of Moratuwa during his tenure.