Rate My Professor Ranjith Punchi Bandage

Professor Ranjith Punchi Bandage is a prominent civil engineer and academic with extensive expertise in sustainable infrastructure and disaster resilience. He earned his B.Sc. Eng. from the University of Peradeniya in 1991, followed by an M.Eng. in 1995 and a Ph.D. in 1998 from Ehime University, Japan. His career trajectory includes serving as Senior Professor in Civil Engineering at the University of Peradeniya from 2015 to 2024, where he also headed the Department of Civil Engineering twice, from 2014 to 2017 and 2019 to 2020. He held significant governmental roles, including Secretary to the State Ministry of Rural Roads and Other Infrastructure from 2020 to 2022, Secretary to the State Ministry of Rural Roads Development in 2022, and Secretary to the State Ministry of Urban Development from 2019 to 2020. Currently, he is Professor Emeritus at the University of Peradeniya and Professor at Curtin University Colombo, serving as Dean of Engineering. Additional leadership positions encompass Past President and President of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) from 2023 to 2025, Chairman of the Green Building Council of Sri Lanka from 2017 to 2023, President Elect of the Chamber of Construction Industry Sri Lanka, and President of Engineers Without Borders Sri Lanka. He chairs several companies focused on sustainable construction and founded the Graduate Associate Professional Headquarters (gap HQ).

His research specializations encompass sustainable building materials and construction, biomimicry for urban climate adaptation, green innovation and entrepreneurship, disaster mitigation, seismic retrofitting of structures, structural health monitoring, high-performance concrete, earthquake engineering, and sustainable built environments. Professor Punchi Bandage has garnered major awards such as the Young Scientist Award from the National Science and Technology Commission in 2007, the Overseas Prize from the Institution of Civil Engineers UK in 2007, Australia Alumni Excellence Award in 2012, Tier 4* Research Award in 2020, Gold National Educator Award in 2024, and Global Sustainability Lifetime Award in 2024. He was an Endeavour Research Fellow at Monash University in 2008, Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University in 2008, and JSPS Research Fellow at Ehime University in 2007. Key publications include 'An evaluation of availability and adequacy of Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems in Asian countries: A baseline study' (2020), 'Accounting axial-moment-shear interaction for force-based fiber modeling of RC frames' (2019), and 'Full range S-N curves for fatigue life evaluation of steels using hardness measurements' (2016). His influence is evident through board memberships at national institutions like the Ceylon Electricity Board and Sri Lanka Transport Board, and contributions to international networks promoting sustainability in engineering education and practice.