Twenty five years ago, it was my great fortune to be present at Dr. Kirthi Premadasa’s workshop and lecture on applying for graduate school, which was held at the University of Colombo, Science Faculty lecture room. I had not heard about GREs or TOFEL or had any idea about how to or what graduate school to apply to. The guidance he provided, his natural ability for recognizing what drives or motivates a person, his understanding of the higher education landscape and relentless focus on what actually mattered for the students chartered the beginning of my graduate career. Following his guidance, I applied to many graduate schools in the US and was selected to read for a masters degree at Yale University Forestry and Environmental Studies. After the masters study I completed a Ph.D. at Yale and one postdoctoral study funded by the National Institutes of Health in the US and one by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in China. Today, I teach as a full professor at an international University in China. We then lovingly called Dr. Premadasa “Kirthi Sir”. Today, I still call him Kirthi Sir with great respect for his vision for us and sincere appreciation for the help he gave me and many other students to reach for the highest aspirations in our academic lives. He is a visionary teacher whose importance in a pivotal moment in my career as a scientist cannot be overstated.

Uromi Manage Goodale
Massachusetts, USA

Professor, Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, XJTLU, SuZhou, China; Co-Chair, IUCN Seed Conservation Specialist Group, Species Survival Commission, Switzerland; Editor, Journal of Sustainable Forestry, Tailor and Francis Group, UK