Mother, daughter graduate as chemists from ICC more than three decades apart

The Institute of Chemistry Ceylon yesterday announced the graduation of Sachinie Goonetilleke as a chemist following in the footsteps of her mother Kumudinee Goonetilleke, who had graduated from the same institute a couple decades ago.

A press release issued by the ICC said: Kumudinee Goonetilleke began her academic journey at the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon (ICHEMC) in 1981. She graduated in 1985. After completing her degree, she took on a role as a temporary demonstrator at the Open University of Sri Lanka. Over the years, she built an impressive academic career, earning a postgraduate diploma and an MA in Distance Education from the Indira Gandhi National Open University, and an M.Phil degree in Chemistry from OUSL. With four decades of experience, she now serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, at the Open University of Sri Lanka. She successfully served as the Head of the Department of Chemistry for a three-year term, commencing 2015, perhaps the first graduate from the Institute of Chemistry to serve as a Head in the Department of Chemistry; that is indeed a unique achievement.

As a full corporate Member and Chartered Chemist, Kumudinee has served the ICHEMC with distinction in various capacities over the last three decades or so; she continues to be closely associated with the ICHEMC activities.

Sachinie Goonetilleke, Kumudinee’s daughter, is a proud graduate of the Institute of Chemistry Ceylon having successfully completed the Graduateship in Chemistry (GIC) programme in 2018. She first enrolled for this programme in 2015. Upon her graduation in 2018, she joined Intertek as a lab analyst. Since 2020 she has worked as an executive at Stretchline in Biyagama. She is planning to continue her post graduate studies in Australia.