FEATURED NEWS

The Christmas celebrations of the Department of Civil Engineering were held on the 21st of December, 2022 from 4.30 pm onwards at the Civil Engineering Auditorium. This was organized as part of the initiative by the Head of the Department, Prof. (Mrs.) Chintha Jayasinghe, to promote social harmony within the Department. The event was organized by the students of Intake 2020, under the guidance of Dr. Lakshitha Fernando, Mr. Nipun Kumarage, and Ms. Sharon Vanmathy. The event was attended by the staff and the students of the Department, Rev. Rajeev Palihawadana, children and guardians from the Homes of Diri Daru Piyasa-Maharagama and Suhada Lanka Children's Home-Willorawatta.

Mr. U.A.K. Premakumara from the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa, has won the prestigious award given by the Sri Lankan Association for the Advancement of Sciences (SLAAS), namely the ‘Manamperi Award’ under the Merit category, at the 78th Annual Sessions of SLAAS. This award was presented for Mr. Premakumara’s final year project titled “Development of an Overall Construction Productivity Assessment Framework and an Improvement Model,” conducted under the supervision of Dr. C. S. A. Siriwardana at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Moratuwa.

IHE Delft (Netherlands), in partnership with the University of Moratuwa and SLASS, conducted a workshop on extreme sea levels (ESL) and coastal flooding projections for Sri Lanka at SLASS auditorium in Colombo 7. The event was held on October 26 with the participation of the Deputy Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Sri Lanka and Maldives. Prof Roshanka Ranasinghe (IHE Delft/Deltares/University of Twente), presented the ESL projections for the entire Sri Lankan coast and highlighted potential techniques for coastal flooding protection for Sri Lanka.

IHE Delft, together with the Vrije Universitiet Amsterdam is currently investigating how extreme sea levels ( ESL = relative sea level rise + storm surge + wave setup ) might change under different global warming levels ( 1.5 to 5 degrees warmer relative to pre-industrial ) at global scale. The projections are derived for a range of ESL ,

The Seventh Asian Preparedness Partnership Regional Steering Committee Meeting (APPRSC) took place on 24th August 2022. The partnership’s key stakeholders gathered in Bangkok, Thailand to focus on regional updates. These reflections included appraising the key tools and guidelines that have been developed as well as South-South knowledge sharing through the regional technical working groups (RTWG) and digital platforms.

A well-equipped Smart Classroom consisting of the newest devices related to smart learning aspects is now handed to the Transportation Engineering Division, Civil Engineering Department of the University of Moratuwa, funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union. The classroom specifically promotes visual learning using smart technology devices such as an Interactive whiteboard, a Smart Podium and Motion Sensor Cameras. It facilitates carrying out lecture sessions smoothly for both in-class and online participants simultaneously with many teacher-assisting functions. The Smart Interactive Board consists of a completely interactive screen with many inbuilt tools that could be used in explaining concepts, drawing graphs and images, annotating hand notes onscreen, and highlighting required sections in a lecture slide.