Ms. Nishanthini Jegatheesan
Senior Lecturer Grade II
Department of Civil Engineering
B.Sc.Eng.(Hons)(Ruhuna), MPhil(Ruhuna), PhD (Reading, Universiti Malaya), AMIE(SL), RM(SLSTL)
Research interests : Highway Engineering, Traffic & Transportation
nishanthini@eng.jfn.ac.lk
+94-21-206-0160
Ms. Nishanthini Jegatheesan joined the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Jaffna as a Senior Lecturer (Grade II) in February 2026. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the Universiti Malaya, Malaysia, where her research focuses on making roads more sustainable. Her research explores the modification mechanisms of terminal blend asphalt, specifically the physical and chemical interactions between recycled tire rubber and bitumen, to transform waste tires into durable, eco-friendly paving materials. Earlier in her career, she earned an M.Phil. in Transportation Engineering (2019) and a B.Sc.Eng. (Hons) in Civil and Environmental Engineering (2016) from University of Ruhuna.
Ms. Jegatheesan has built her career through a mix of teaching, research, and engineering industry experience. While pursuing her doctorate in Malaysia (2022–2025), she worked as a research and teaching assistant under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme from the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia. Her industry background includes nearly a year as a Project Coordinator at Summit Engineering Services and Consultant (Pvt) Ltd. for an ADB-funded Sustainable Urban Development Project in Trincomalee in 2020. Before moving into full-time research, she spent a few years teaching, serving as a Temporary Lecturer at the University of Ruhuna (2019–2020), a Visiting Lecturer at the Sri Lanka Advanced Technological Institute, Galle (2018–2019), and a Visiting Instructor at the University of Ruhuna (2017–2018).
Her research interests are:
-
Highway Engineering
- Performance evaluation of flexible, semi-flexible, and rigid pavements
- Development and optimization of crumb rubber-modified bitumen
- Formulation and testing of polymer-modified asphalt binders
- Incorporation of recycled and waste materials in pavement construction
- Laboratory and field assessment of asphalt mixture performance and durability
- Investigation of aging, moisture damage, and long-term pavement behavior
- Application of machine learning in pavement materials characterization
-
Traffic & Transportation
- Transportation planning and network optimization studies
- Traffic capacity evaluation and congestion management
- Pavement performance under varying traffic loads
- Universiti Malaya Scholarship Scheme (2023–2024), awarded during Ph.D.
- Best Paper Award, 1st International Conference on Civil Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (2023).
- Best Paper Award, 7th International Symposium on Advances in Civil and Environmental Engineering Practices for Sustainable Development, University of Ruhuna (2019).
- Outstanding Oral Presentation Award, 13th International Conference of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (2019).
- Best Oral Presenter, Undergraduate Research Symposium on Recent Advances in Civil Engineering, University of Ruhuna (2017).
- Migara Rathnatunga Award, Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL), for the Undergraduate Industrial Training Project (2016/2017).
- LANWA Scholarship for Academic Excellence (2016), awarded to a top 10-ranked undergraduate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Ruhuna.