Nimal Rajapakshe

After a year in a school in his village near Attanagalla, he came to Olcott College and after a year entered Ananda College in grade three.^{[citation needed]} Four generations of his family studied at Ananda College. He gained admission to the University of Ceylon in 1973 from where he graduated with a degree in civil engineering in 1977.^{[citation needed]}

He received a scholarship to study at Asian Institute of Technology in 1979, from which he received a master's degree in 1981 and a Doctor of Engineering in 1983.^{[citation needed]} He was a recipient of Thai King's Scholarship for doctoral studies. Asian Institute of Technology honored him as the Notable Alumni Speaker of the May 2017 graduation.^[2]

He was the Vice-President (Research and International) of Carleton University from September 2015 to October 2016.^[3] He was a department head and civil engineering professor of University of Manitoba from 1985 to 2000.^{[citation needed]} He served as department head and mechanical engineering professor of University of British Columbia.^{[citation needed]} He became the Director of ICICS at UBC in 2007 and served until 2009. He was Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences in Simon Fraser University from 2009 to 2015.^[4][5]

He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada, and the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering.^{[citation needed]} He has received several prizes and awards for research and professional excellence.