International Exchange Internship Program /FAS, University of Sri Jayewardenepura-Sri Lanka
University of Sri Jayewardenepura has been expanded its boundaries towards international relationships as another step of touching the peak, by signing the contract with Cottey College, Nevada, USA for an exchange internship program for three years, starting in May 2016. This work has been initiated by the University-Industry interaction cell of the Faculty of Applied sciences for encouraging in seeking internships for our undergraduates not only in Sri Lanka but also around the globe. The objective of this program is to enhance and share the learning experience through joint research activities and to build the exchange internship possibilities between two universities. Under this program, the first research internship was successfully completed by Ms. Peace Olaoluwa on June 23-August 14 at the Department of Chemistry, under the supervision of Dr. Pahan Godakumbura.
Ms. Olaoluwa is a final-year undergraduate student at Cottey College, Nevada, USA working on a Bachelor’s of Science in Health Sciences. Ms. Olaoluwa’s interest lies in the field of Asian traditional medicine, and was seeking internship opportunities in Asian countries for completion of her degree. The research work and learning experience obtained in USJP will play major role in her medical school application as she is concentrating medical field for higher studies at USA. With much dedication and hard work, she was the recipient of the international research grant offered by Cottey in 2016.
In USJP, she did a research with the aim of investigating the medicinal properties in a whole plant sample of dried polpala (Aerva lanata) by preparing decoctions and infusions. Today at the NFC seminar room at FAS she had presented her research finding on the topic of “Investigating the Chemical Composition and Bioactivities of Infusions and Decoctions Prepared from Aerva lanata (Polpala)”. Moving along with her future endeavors, she is hoping to continue on this field of research further under the supervision of Dr. Ganga Fernando, Associate professor in Cottey College.