What is your future plan? What do you want to do after you graduate? Do you want to continue your higher studies but you don’t have an idea about the path that you need to take to get there? Higher education not only gives you exposure in the field of your choice, but it also teaches you how to comprehend complicated subject matter, think analytically and effectively communicate your ideas. You will also get to learn important skills like organization, self-discipline, and openness towards diversity. This is why as per the idea of Dr. Rajitha Silva, the Senior Treasurer of the Statistics Society of University of Sri Jayewardenepura, a webinar was organised under the theme “Higher Studies; Learn the first steps to higher studies as a first year undergraduate”. This was especially crafted for the first year undergraduates of the Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura to motivate them and give them a clear vision on their higher studies journey.

The higher studies webinar was successfully held on the 12th September 2021, 06.00 PM onwards via Zoom with over 150 participants who joined with the purpose of getting a clear understanding about higher studies after their graduation. The speakers of the webinar were Ms. Uthmani Ambawattage (MSc student and Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Calgary, Canada) and Mr.Hashan Peiris (MSc student and Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at Simon Fraser University, Canada) who took an unorthodox strategy in making the session interactive and interesting. Ms.Uthmani started the session by sharing her experiences at the University of Calgary and how university undergraduates should plan their strategy in getting ready for their higher studies. Afterwards Mr. Hashan shared his experiences about balancing academics with his professional obligations and extracurricular activities. Finally, participants got a chance to forward their questions to the speakers in the Q and A session and participants got clear answers for their questions.

We thank Ms.Uthmani Ambawattage and Mr. Hashan Peiris from the bottom of our hearts for accepting our invitation and dedicating their time and energy to inspire our fellow undergraduates. Our gratitude also extends to Dr. Rajitha Silva for initiating this event and always being our pillar of strength, encouraging us to organize timely events for our own fellow undergraduates. We are grateful for the immense guidance given by Mr. Janith Wanniarachchi, the President of the Statistics Society for guiding us throughout the organizing and execution stages of the session , Ms. Ishani Upatharitha for dedicating her time towards effective communication about the session, Sachini Silva, Bihari Welikala, Ravindu Jayaweera for moderating the session, and finally to all  the members of the Statistics Society executive board and the Estadistica organizing committee for their immense support and encouragement.

Finally, we thank all enthusiastic undergraduates who participated in this event for your engagement is what propels us to greatness!

Written by :  Ms. Sachini Silva, Mr. Ravindu Jayaweera, Ms. Bihari Welikala

Estadistica Organizing Committee

Statistics Society of University of Sri Jayewardenepura

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The Statistics Society of University of Sri Jayewardenepura embarks on a series of events starting from the 9th of September till 19th of September.

The spotlight is on the Statistics Week which is a  part of Estadistica ’21, the annual statistics day. This year Estadistica ’21 is centered around the theme of Statistics in Research. However, unlike the past years, this year Estadistica ‘21 will not be limited to a single day, but moreover the society has dedicated an entire week to celebrate the accomplishments of researchers of the department through a daily poster series as well as build curiosity on the prominent research in the world through a daily quiz challenge.

The poster series will mainly be showcasing the esteemed alumni of the Department of Statistics who have excelled  in the field of academics and research by sharing their recent publications and the reasons as to why they love doing research. The quiz challenge on the other hand is focused mainly on sparking an interest in the students to read more about research and be open to new ideas that can be explored through statistics in research. Each day a new poll regarding a particular topic will be launched on the society Facebook page where anyone can vote, and at the end of the day, the actual results that were discovered through research would be posted with the source for further references.

Finally as the centerpiece of the Statistics Week there will be two webinars held on the 9th and 11th of September. The first webinar which is happening on the 9th of September at 3.00 P.M. will be conducted by Ms. Dilki Jayasinghe (PhD student at Center for Health Services Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland) mainly focusing on the first steps to become a biostatistician where she will be talking through the things that helped her career and what a university undergraduate can do to polish their portfolio and build the background necessary to form their career as a biostatistician. The next webinar which is on the 11th of September at 4.00 P.M.  will be a more informative and fun webinar focused around  the myths that are surrounding research told through the personal experiences of Dr. Priyanga Talagala, Senior Lecturer, Department of Computational Mathematics, University of Moratuwa.

In addition to these two webinars the Statistics Society has also decided to hold a special higher studies webinar exclusively for the first year undergraduates on the 12th of September 2021 at  6.00 P.M. This webinar will be conducted by two speakers, Ms. Uthmani Ambawattage (MSc Student and Graduate Teaching Assistant at Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Calgary, Canada) and Mr. Hashan Peiris (MSc student and Graduate Teaching Assistant at Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada) who are both alumni of the Department of Statistics, University of Sri Jayewardenepura. . This webinar will focus on educating and inspiring the students to begin their journey towards higher studies.

Apart from the above, with the end of the Preliminary rounds of Pearl Viz ’21 on 9th of September the top 9 finalists from all the three focus areas will be announced. The finals will be taking place on the 12th of September with the participation of the finalists and the esteemed judge panel and  the winners will be announced on the 19th of september as part of the event line-up of Estadistica ’21.

Estadistica ’21, the annual statistics day organized by the Statistics Society of University of Sri Jayewardenepura will be held on the 19th of September which will be a celebration of research done using statistics both by undergraduates and the alumni of the Department of Statistics.On the day of the event, the alumni of the Department of Statistics will be showcasing their thesis in a fun and interesting manner that will encourage students to pursue research based on statistics and make them aware of the different types of research that happen within the Department of Statistics. Additionally, there will also be presentations by the team members of the outliers project where they will be sharing their research findings and article writing experience. Outliers is a project organized by the Statistics Society that is centered around encouraging students to write articles based on real world data analysed through statistical techniques both taught within the classroom and outside as well. The project has been a huge success with three teams already submitting their documents and currently being under review through  the review process. These articles will be helpful for the students when they are applying for higher studies or even in the industry as it can clearly showcase that they have used their classroom textbook knowledge in real life and have already understood what is needed to actually use the techniques in real life.

All in all, these two weeks are quite eventful for the entire Statistics Society and the Statistics Department of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. We hope to see everyone participating and engaging with the content that will be built and shared among everyone. Research should not always have to be a boring dull menacing task, and there are lots of benefits and things to learn when studying about research.

Congratulations! Dr. Chathuri Jayasinghe Receives Presidential Awards for Scientific Publications, 2021

Dr. Chathuri Jayasinghe, a senior lecturer attached to the Department of Statistics received a President’s Award for Scientific Research 2018 organized by the National Research Council (NRC) given to top 100 scientific publications produced from Sri Lanka based on their SCImago Journal Ranking, on 6th of April, 2021. The awarded publication was produced based on a collaborative research project carried out with University of Moratuwa, and The University of Manchester, United Kingdom.

Congratulations! Dr. Chathuri and the team.
Local factors affecting the spatial diffusion of residential photovoltaic adoption in Sri Lanka, N Jayaweera, CL Jayasinghe, SN Weerasinghe
Energy Policy 119, 59-67