The KDU Student chapter is registered under the Highway Engineering Society (HES) Sri Lanka. The chapter was established in June, 2017 upon the request through the faculty board paper 51/06 in May, 2017. Since then the student chapter was performing with successful achievements.
The chapter is advised by its chapter advisor, Dr. TWKIM Dias, who was the secretary (2018/2019) of the HES – Sri Lanka. According to its constitution, the purpose of this chapter shall be to promote the advancement of transportation and traffic engineering by fostering the association of student with transportation and traffic engineering professions and the HES.
Any student enrolled in the program BSc in Engineering, specializing in Civil Engineering at KDU is eligible for membership of the society. An eligible can become a member by going through an application process.
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The KDU Student Chapter for Highway Engineering Society held a webinar on planning and implementation of the new Kelani bridge project on the 24th of March 2022. The resource person of this event was Eng. (Mrs) DAS Jayasekara. The webinar was aimed to inspire undergraduates of KDU on Highway and Transportation Engineering.
On October 13th, 2022, the KDU Student Chapter for Highway Engineering Society organized a webinar featuring Eng. (Mrs) Thamara Wijewardena as the resource person. The purpose of the event was to motivate KDU undergraduates studying Highway and Transportation Engineering and to offer insight into the intricacies of constructing Sri Lanka’s first expressway.
The Highway Engineering Society had the ability to perform the Los Angeles Abrasion test. A live demonstration of the test was conducted and recorded for YouTube, thereby providing access to a wider audience who could learn from the demonstration.
“Athwela” was a charity project conducted by the Civil Engineering students of Kotelawala Defence University on the 12th of January 2021 at the Moragoda Parshada Vidyalaya Anuradhapura. 108 students were given school items such as a school bag, lunch box, pencil case, and other stationery items. Sports items, cupboards, printers and clocks were also given for the welfare of the school administration. The students expressed their gratitude to everyone who helped make the project a success.
The Student Chapter of the Highway Engineering Society at KDU recently hosted a webinar on the subject of “Sustainable Transportation towards Carbon Neutrality.” The event took place on the 23rd of November 2021, starting at 7:00 PM, and was conducted virtually through Zoom. The guest speaker for the webinar was Dr. Thusitha Sugathapala, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Moratuwa.
Year 2018 – 2020
The Highway Engineering Society of Sri Lanka organised a field visit to the New Kelani Bridge Project Construction Site on August 24th, 2018. This bridge is Sri Lanka’s first bridge that is built as an Extradosed Bridge. Therefore students were able to get a good understanding about new technologies which are introduced in Sri Lankan civil engineering.
The KDU Student Chapter for Highway Engineering Society organized a guest lecture event on the 23rd of July 2018. The event featured Mr. Thilan Wijesinghe, the chairman of the National Agency for Public Private Partnership (NAPPP). The lecture focused on the “Relevance of public private partnerships and role of Engineers.” Under the supervision and guidance of Dr. TWKIM Dias, the advisor for the KDU Student Chapter, the event was a resounding success, attracting 70 participants.
The KDU Highway Engineering Society (HES) recently hosted a guest lecture featuring Dr. Dimantha De Silva, focusing on various aspects of modernized transportation systems. The lecture highlighted topics such as an electrified railway system, a modern rapid transit system, an inland water transport system, and a new boat/ferry service. The event garnered significant interest, with 120 participants in attendance.
The KDU Student Chapter for Highway Engineering Society organized a field visit to the Central Expressway Project, with 110 undergraduates from the Department of Civil Engineering. The visit was organized under the guidance of Dr. Ishani Dias, and students were able to gain practical knowledge from the theory.
KDU Student Chapter for Highway Engineering Society organized a guest lecture, on the topic of Western Region Megapolis Master Plan, on 26th April 2018, under the guidance and supervision of adviser of the student chapter Dr. TWKIM Dias. The resource person was Dr. Dimantha De Silva who is a senior lecturer in Civil Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Moratuwa.
100 students from all intakes participated actively in this event. Dr RMNT Sirisoma, Dean of faculty of Management and Social Sciences, Dr Nilupul Gunasekara Head of the Civil Engineering Department, Dr. DDTK Kulathunga, senior lecturer of Department of Civil Engineering also participated in the event.
The president of the student chapter Lathika Abeygunasekara welcomed the guest lecturer, invities and the students participated. The aim of the event was to extend knowledge on future development plans in Sri Lanka and to encourage the students on the subject. Students were able to gain much knowledge on the conceptual framework of the project, recent transport master plans considered when developing the Western Region Megapolis Master Plan, how collecting and analyzing of resources was carried out to form the Plan and about new technologies and strategies discussed in the Western Region Megapolis Master Plan etc. Amaaya Suraweera, the secretary of the student chapter, presented the vote of thanks concluding the day.
Finally, a token of appreciation was presented to Dr. Dimantha De Silva by Dr RMNT Sirisoma, Dean of faculty of Management and Social Sciences and adviser of the Student Chapter, Dr. TWKIM Dias.
The first field visit organized by the student chapter of KDU for HES, for the year 2018 was scheduled on 12th of May 2018 to visit the construction site of the Central Expressway Project. 110 students, three staff members from the Engineering Faculty including the chapter advisor Dr. TWKIM Dias and two instructors from Department of Civil engineering of KDU participated the visit.
The construction site in Giriulla and the precast yard were mainly observed in this field visit. An introduction about the project as well as the construction process that were being carried out at the site were explained by two site engineers at the construction site in Giriulla. Further explanation on technical aspects on steel reinforcement, concrete design and engineering applications were done by on-site engineers from ICC. A presentation was also done regarding the project and the construction techniques, at the RDA office in Giriulla.
Overall, students were inspired by the scale of the construction and its engineering applications and were very enthusiastic in gaining knowledge and new experiences regarding road construction.
Special thanks should be given to the Engineers of RDA and ICC for supporting to make this event a success.
KDU Student Chapter for Highway Engineering Society organized a guest lecture as its third event for the year 2018 and was held on 23rd July 2018 under the guidance and supervision of adviser of the student chapter Dr. TWKIM Dias.
The resource person was Mr. Thilan Wijesinghe who is a currently the chairman of National Agency for Public Private Partnership (NAPPP).
70 students from all intakes, lecturers and instructors from Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Management, Social Sciences and Humanities also participated in the event.
The Secretary of the student chapter Amaaya Suraweera welcomed the guest lecturer, invities and the students participated. The aim of the event was to extend knowledge on role of engineers for economic development of Sri Lanka and to encourage the students on the subject. Students were able to gain much knowledge on public private partnerships, country’s economy, how a successful public private partnership can be implemented as well as the importance of knowledge of finance for engineers etc. Many questions were asked by the audience after this very interesting guest lecture and the students actively participated for the event. The president of the student chapter Lathika Abeygunasekara presented the vote of thanks concluding the day.
Finally, a token of appreciation was presented to Mr. Thilan Wijesinghe by the adviser of the Student Chapter, Dr. TWKIM Dias.
Student Chapter for Highway Engineering Society of General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) organized a guest lecture as its event for the month and was held on 19th July 2017 in the main auditorium of the university.
The resource person was A/prof. Russel Thompson who is an associate professor in Transport Engineering in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
The adviser of the student chapter Dr Ishani Dias welcomed the chief guest lecturer, invities and the students participated. Lecture was conducted by A/prof Russel Thompson under the topic of Logistic Modelling.
The aim of the event was to extending international knowledge on logistics and encourage the students on the subject.
Dr WCDK Fernando dean of the Engineering faculty, Captain Janaka Gunasekara dean of Computing, Dr Nilupul Gunasekara head of the Civil Engineering department, Dr RMNT Sirisoma head of the Management and Finance department, Mrs PPSS Pussapitiya head of Mechanical Engineering department were also participated in the event.
This guest lecture was initiated by Mr Loshaka Perera who is a PHD student of prof Russel Thompson and Dr Ishani Dias who is a senior lecturer of Civil Engineering department, faculty of Engineering of KDU.
A dominant guest lecture organized by the student chapter of KDU for highway engineering society was held on 28th September 2017 in faculty premises. The invited guest lecturer was Mr. Hudson De Silva who was the president of Highway Engineering Society Sri Lanka and also the director of Environmental and Social development at Road Development Authority.
Mr. Namal Abeysiri the president of the student chapter of KDU for HES welcomed the guest lecturer and Dr N.K. Gunesekara head of the department of civil engineering along with adviser of the student chapter Dr Ishani Dias prior to the lecture. Then he delivered the presiding to the guest lecturer Mr. Hudson De Silva. The lecture was on “Land acquisition procedure for national development”. There he explained how the land acquisition procedure was very important as handling ordinary people is somewhat difficult in reality. 90 students were participated and well interested and actively joined with the lecture.
Lecture proceeded for around one hour. Next a token of appreciation was presented to Mr. Hudson De Silva by Dr N.K Gunasekara.
Finally Miss. Tharaka Ranasinghe the secretary of student chapter of KDU for HES presented the vote of thanks concluding the day.
The first field visit organized by the student chapter of KDU for HES was scheduled on 28th of October 2017 to visit the construction site of the Southern Expressway Expansion Project (section 3). 70 students, two staff members from the Engineering Faculty including the chapter advisor Dr. Ishani Dias and Management Assistant of department of civil engineering of KDU participated the visit.
Two main destinations were observed which are the construction site in Watiya, and the Magampura Mahinda rajapaksha Interantional Harbor. In the construction site, engineering applications and technical aspects were expkained by RDA representative Eng. Lolitha, on site engineers from RDA, consultancy firm for the project china Railway first survey and design institute(FSDI) and the foreign nationalist from china state construction engineering corporation (CSCEC). At the Magampura Mahinda Rajapakshe International Harbour the students were given the opportunity to board the Tug vessel “Vasabha” maintained by SLNA. The tug master Mr. Karunarathna and a young navy lieutenant whom was a former KDU student gave an immense support throughout the visit.
Overall, it can be considered as a successful one-day visit which ended by reaching new opportunities.