News & Events
“Yaya Padhura”
“Yaya Padhura”, a musical evening organized by the level 1 undergraduates of the Chemical and Process Engineering Department, was held on the 8th of December 2016. The Head of the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Dr. (Mrs.) S.H.P. Gunawardena graced the occasion along with the academic staff and the undergraduates of the University of Moratuwa.
The event showcased the talents and abilities of the undergraduates as well as the academic staff in a spectacle of song, dance and drama that invoked feelings of nostalgia for all to enjoy.
National Chemical & Process Engineering Conference - COMPASS
The Department of Chemical and Process Engineering of the University of Moratuwa with the partnership of the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Sri Lanka and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Sri Lanka, successfully conducted the National Chemical and Process Engineering Conference, COMPASS on 25th of November 2016 from 12.30p.m. onwards at the BMICH (Committee Rooms). The conference was held under the theme of “Sustainable Consumption and Production”, with the participation of over 40 eminent speakers.
The conference was aimed at bringing together personnel from Government organizations, Non-governmental organizations and the Corporate Arena and Academia for an intellectual dialogue based on exploring the opportunities available to use Engineering Skills and knowledge, especially those of Chemical & Process Engineering, in the journey towards achieving Sustainable Development in Sri Lanka. Sustainable consumption and production being the main focal point of the conference, the event agenda was structured to include a main session followed by a two-hour period during which four parallel sessions were conducted simultaneously based on 4 selected UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely, SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 6: Clean Water & Sanitation, SDG 7: Affordable & Clean Energy and SDG 9: Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure. The sessions included keynote speeches by experts, dynamic panel discussions on relevant topics and real life case studies on sustainability.
The distinguished chief guest at the event was Mr. Ranjith Page, a chemical engineer by profession and the CEO of Cargills Ceylon PLC, one of country’s leading organizations to have enthusiastically incorporated concepts of sustainability into their business agenda. Using his own experience at Cargills, he demonstrated how entire business models could be designed around concepts of sustainability. The plenary session of the event consisted of two keynote speeches and a panel discussion on “Sustainability, Policy and the Chemical Engineering Perspective”. The first keynote speech of the day, on the main theme of the event was delivered by Professor Ajith de Alwis, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering and the Project Director at the Coordinating Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (COSTI). The second keynote speech of the day on “Product Designing for Sustainability” was delivered by Mr. Tilak Dissanayake, CEO of Ants Global (Pvt.) Ltd and a former product design engineer at Boeing and Xerox.
The event was attended by over 350 participants comprising of industry delegates, academics, representatives from government and non-government bodies, students and general public with a keen interest towards sustainability. The Department of Chemical and Process Engineering is strongly committed to build on the significant momentum gained through this event and positively contribute toward the sustainability efforts of this country. Therefore, it could very well be stated that the end of the event COMPASS marked the beginning of another challenging journey.
EXORIOR 2016
“EXORIOR”, the official outbound event of the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering was held for the 4th consecutive time on 26th May 2016 at the University premises. The event comprised many group activities to develop the leadership skills of the students and also to enhance the vital skills like teamwork, creativity, willingness to go out of comfort zones, respect, patience, and endurance; all of which are needed in both academic and industrial environments.
Members of the academic staff and non-academic staff participated along with the alumni members and students of the department (batch ’14 and batch ‘12) to grace this memorable event. The event was a great opportunity to tighten the bonds of the DCPE family. The event was organized by the ‘13 batch students in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering.
DICB MEETING
The meeting of Department Industry Consultative Board (DCIB) was held on 24th June at 3.00 pm at the board room of Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Moratuwa. Industry specialists representing a wide variety of industries including Holcim, Glaxo Smith Kline and Ceylon Tobacco Company participated in the meeting, along with the academic staff members of Department of Chemical and Process Engineering.
The objectives of this meeting was to improve the network between university and the industry, and to identify the improvements which can be done in curriculum and educational system so that our graduates are well equipped with the knowledge and skills required for the industry. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Shantha Walpalage and contained six sessions on curriculum, Quality Assurance Program, industrial training, research projects and university-industry collaboration. Industry specialists made number of suggestions such as case study type assignments, introduce quality assurance as an elective subject and adopting a 360 degree lecturer feedback system. The importance of improving the networking among alumni members was also emphasized.
In a nutshell, DCIB meeting was a fruitful step in the journey towards improving the collaboration between department and the industry, and sharpening the skills and knowledge of our graduates to suit the requirements in the industry.
New equipment to the department under NRC public – private partnership grant scheme
A laboratory scale twin screw extruder was purchased to the Polymer Processing laboratory of the Chemical and Process Engineering department under a public-private partnership grant of National Research Council. This PhD study grant is to develop a natural rubber- polyethylene blend to use as a roofing material to substitute asbestos. The private sector partner is Samson Compounds PLC. The extruder will be used to process thermoplastics compounded with fillers and other chemicals to produce master batches and to prepare thermoplastic elastomers and thermoplastic vulcanizates.
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