Prof. Kiruba Haran’s Visit and Industry–Academia Project Collaboration
Date: July 17, 2025
The visit of Prof. Kiruba Haran on July 17, 2025, from the University of Illinois, USA, marked an important milestone in strengthening international collaboration and industry–academia engagement within the department. During his visit, Prof. Haran conducted a dedicated session at the UBL Incubation Center, introducing Hinetics, a startup initiative under UBL, and exploring potential avenues for collaborative research and development. As part of this collaboration with Hinetics, an electric three-wheeler (EV) project was initiated, involving academic staff and undergraduate students from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, with funding support from Hinetics. The project aligns with the Northern Sri Lanka development vision, focusing on sustainable mobility, renewable energy integration, and energy-efficient transportation solutions.
In addition to the EV initiative, the collaboration extended to broader research activities in renewable energy and energy systems, enabling student involvement in multiple applied projects with real-world impact. Furthermore, through the collaboration with Prof. Arijit Banerjee from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the department received power electronics educational laboratory kits, significantly enhancing hands-on learning capabilities. This partnership has directly contributed to the ongoing development of a modern power electronics laboratory within the department, strengthening practical education, research capacity, and long-term academic–industry collaboration in power electronics and energy systems.