ScholarX — Kithmini Herath
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Kithmini Herath, a second-year undergraduate at the Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering department of the University of Moratuwa and mentored by Mr.Sumudu Herath at ScholarX Mentoring Program. She is a member of the Classical Music Society and Rotaract Club of the University of Moratuwa and was a Girl Guide during her schooling years. She is interested in music, machine learning and robotics. She has recently started to write articles in Medium and enjoy sharing her knowledge and thoughts through her articles. She has engaged in projects about machine learning, which increased her interest in machine learning and robotics and has built her first autonomous robot in a team.
What motivated you to join the ScholarX program?
I had interests in a few fields but I didn’t have a clear idea on how I should approach certain people and engage in certain activities to enhance and gather knowledge on my interests while balancing my academics at the university. Therefore, I thought, having a mentor who has excelled in his/her field would be ideal for me to get advice from, based on their experiences as undergraduates and also in the industry.
Your Top 3 learnings from the ScholarX program:
- How I should write a CV and what points I should emphasize on when I’m applying to an internship/job in the industry or for a research internship/job. I also learnt that the CV itself is not enough and that cover letters and recommendation letters also play a major role when applying for internships/jobs. I was told the importance of having a good network around me during the process of applying for internships as the recommendations and contacts of these people will be beneficial in reaching my destination. Therefore, I was asked to reach out to people and start with the professors in my university and engage in projects within the department itself.
- I was advised to maintain my GPA at all times since it plays a key role, especially when applying for research opportunities overseas or for postgraduate studies abroad. Therefore, I was advised to not to overwhelm my self with too many projects and to always balance academics with extra-curricular activities.
- I was motivated to write to a well know online publishing platform called Medium through this program. I began to project my thoughts and knowledge using my writing skills and I gained an audience that read my articles and this motivates me to continue writing in the future as well.
What are your plans after graduation?
I’d probably join research or I may join the industry and I hope to travel around the world.
You have an unlimited pot of money. How would you invest this to improve the education system in Sri Lanka?
I would use it to build/renovate schools, libraries especially in rural areas and build laboratories with sufficient equipment for students to conduct laboratory experiments according to the correct standards. I would also like to fund teacher training programs for teachers to be updated with teaching methods and to be updated with modern technologies that would be needed in the teaching process. Also, I would like to include sessions for all teachers on how teachers should mentor students in order to bring out the best out of those students.
