Nuwan Ishanta Senaratna's Website

About me

My Country

Sri Lanka is a small island in the Indian Ocean, a few degrees north of the equator and is world famous for Tea, Cricket, Ancient Historical Sites and Beautiful Scenery.

My Family

I was born in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, to a fairly scholarly family. We were not a ‘family of doctors’, or a ‘family of lawyers’, or a ‘family of physicists’. I am very grateful for this because never in my life was I ever pressured into a particular path in life. My parents never told me ‘You must become a lawyer’ or ‘You must go to Medical College’. All they said was ‘Do what you love doing, but whatever you do, do it to the best of your abilities’.

My School

I had my primary and secondary education at Royal College, Colombo.Royal College was founded in 1835 in the British Public Schools Tradition. and was also the school of my father, both my grandfathers and my mother’s only brother. At Royal I was exposed to many sports, games and other extra-curricular activities. I also had the opportunity to captain the College Quiz team. In this capacity, I was also able to travel abroad both as a competitor and as an ambassador representing my country. In addition to the chance to explore foreign lands, this gave me the opportunities to meet many young people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and many other countries. From such experiences I learnt much about other people – but I also learnt much about myself. One such was the fact that I am someone who revels in diversity. I love to hear new ideas, discover new ways of looking at things, see how new cultures perceive the world and its concepts.

My Undergraduate Education

I had my tertiary education at the University of Colombo. At the University of Colombo, the faculties of Science, Law, Management and Arts are all located in close proximity. Hence, the campus is effectively a collection of students with a wide range of talents and outlooks. To me, this diverse intellectual exposure was very important as it helped me broaden my perspectives in many areas, such as drama, economics and the political sciences that were not directly related to my academic work in Computer Science. The desire to learn has always been one of my strongest inclinations. However, even stronger is the desire I’ve always had to ‘apply’ and ‘create with’ what I’ve learnt. While I was at university, I always took the opportunity to engage in whatever research and project opportunities that were available to me – so around two years into my bachelor’s degree when I got several offers to work on research projects with commercial industry, I grabbed them with both hands. The opportunity to create was definitely a joyful experience. ‘Joyful’ might at first sight seem to be a grandiloquent adjective, but that is exactly what it was. It was joyful in that, for the first time in my life I realized what I really wanted to do with life. It was not a mere dream or an unplanned plan. It was realistic, and the results I achieved and the experiences I gained served as proof enough to convince me that I could succeed.

Completing my bachelor’s degree is the most significant thing I’ve done in life so far. To be more accurate, I believe the four years I spent at university were the most significant years of my life. Academically, I achieved all that I had set out to achieve – I topped my batch, with the highest ever aggregate score. However, what I considered a much bigger achievement was that I had the opportunity to achieve many other things that were far more important in life. I had the opportunity to pursue many of my pet interests like music and drama. I had the opportunity to travel and broaden my horizons. I had the opportunity to meet a lot of new people and build new relationships. Most importantly, I have identified what exactly I want to do in life and my life is moving in the direction I want it to – forward.

My Graduate Education

I am currently in Master's Student in Computer Science at Stanford University.