It is with great pride that I welcome you all to the Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura for the 71st Annual SLAAS sessions. We are enthralled to be the hosts for this year’s event which brings together under one roof, some of the most astute minds and eminent scholars of our nation. Knowledge creation is an important element of an academic’s life and the SLAAS sessions are proof of the rich harvests of our cumulative scientific endeavors, which have been reaped of their rewards, arising from clever planning and a committed work ethic.
This year’s theme “wealth creation through science” echoes the importance of science in a knowledge-nation’s prosperity which trickles down to entail both economic upheaval and social solidarity. It is my sincere hope that the SLAAS sessions will be a source of information and inspiration that will drive home the message that the scientific community of Sri Lanka is diverse in its many allied branches of study and will always remain a powerhouse for the economic and social development of the country.
As a chemist by training, I foresee the importance of the metallurgy of the different elements of science, in both in its pure native form as well as in its alloys, where many disciplines unite to carve open new research findings, which form the cornerstone of a knowledge-economy. Knowledge in itself is a driving force that will one day see Sri Lanka leapfrog ahead in social and economic indices and wealth parity. That will always be the dream of a nation, to be rich in knowledge and to engender the equal distribution of resources, in the absence of ethnic or religious overtones.
It is my hearty wish that each and every participant of the SLAAS sessions will learn from the many orations and presentations, and will be inspired to witness the diversity and the universality of the “scientific endeavor” in our humble nation.
Prof. S. S. L. W. Liyanage
Dean, Faculty of Applied Sciences