Multiple awards for Lankan teen at science fair in USA

The winner of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) Junior Inventor of the Year (JIY) competition 2009, Ganindu Nanayakkara, has won several top awards at the 2010 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), in San Jose, California.

Ganindu, a product of Ananda College, Colombo, has won the First Award of US$3,000 for his project Novel Computer Controlling Wireless Device for Handicapped People, a device that allows persons with disabilities to wirelessly operate a computer, in the Computer Science category at the Intel ISEF 2010 Grand Awards Ceremony held last Friday, by the Society for Science and the Public in partnership with the Intel Foundation. According to IESL's JIY Committee Chairman Jayavilal Meegoda, who was in San Jose California with the Sri Lankan contingent, Ganindu's project has also won three special awards, at the Special Awards Ceremony, Thursday night.

He has received a US$1,000 cash award from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance and the Lemelson Foundation which recognizes the innovation and invention that addresses critical basic human needs. Symantec Corporation has awarded Ganindu another US$1,000 cash award.

China Association for Science and Technology has granted him a trip to attend the China Adolescents Science and Technology Innovation Contest in August. The award is inclusive of round trip flights, accommodation and cultural visits, Meegoda said.