![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Vimantha-Bamunuarachchi-CROPPED.jpg\")
<\/a>Vimantha Bamunuarachchi said UToledo’s career fairs, required co-ops, undergraduate research opportunities and professional education were key to his success, as were \u201cstar friends\u201d at the University who pushed him to do better.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unbelievable. I can\u2019t think of doing anything better at this time,\u201d Bamunuarachchi said. \u201cEveryone here is amazingly passionate and trying to push the boundaries of science. I\u2019m proud to be a part of this journey to save the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the time he was a young student, Bamunuarachchi had big ambitions. Attending college in the United States was one of them. He credits his parents with letting him spread his wings. He is fiercely independent and wanted to succeed on his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom made so many sacrifices for me. She quit her job to raise me and to get me the education no one had in my family. She never doubted my abilities,\u201d Bamunuarachchi said. \u201cMy parents never forced me into one field. If I wanted to be a singer, they would have supported me.\u201d<\/p>\n
While his parents supported him at home, the first-generation student found an equally supportive network on campus and at his co-op sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so glad I picked UToledo,\u201d Bamunuarachchi said. \u201cIt has an amazing co-op program, and [faculty and staff] always pushed us to find the best opportunities out there. UToledo helped make my dreams a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
From his first semester on campus, Bamunuarachchi sought out chances to build his skills and knowledge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI joined a research program as a freshman,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I first walked into the lab, I had no clue.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it didn\u2019t take him long to befriend the graduate students in the lab and learn from them. He joined another lab and found a mentor in Dr. Ana Alba-Rubio, who was conducting research on sustainable and green energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cVimantha was a highly motivated and determined student,\u201d Alba-Rubio said. \u201cHe was learning and pushing hard in the lab while looking for the next co-op. He always dreams big and will achieve whatever he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bamunuarachchi also found part-time jobs on campus as a building manager at the Thompson Student Union and as a math tutor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really quiet as a freshman. The part-time jobs helped me improve communication skills,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWhen I went to my first career fair as a sophomore, I had the soft skills to answer the behavioral interview questions and the technical skills because of research.\u201d<\/p>\n
The job experiences, coupled with his leadership and impressive research experience, caught the eyes of recruiters from AstraZeneca, a leading pharmaceutical company. But they also were impressed by something else, said Anh Boester, interim validation manager at AstraZeneca.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat struck us was his level of excitement and passion for research and science,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bamunuarachchi was the first UToledo engineering student to intern at AstraZeneca and the first company intern to be named one of three Future Scientists scholarship recipients in the U.S. by Kelly Services.<\/p>\n
Boester worked directly with Bamunuarachchi in his third co-op at AstraZeneca, where he continued to impress her with his work ethic and professionalism.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted him to join me on a project. The part I was testing was completely new to him,\u201d she said. \u201cHe asked intelligent questions and patiently worked through the problem with me. He was 100% in, even though he had to work extra hours that day to complete another project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout his UToledo career, Bamunuarachchi did five research and industrial internships, including three for AstraZeneca, his introduction to pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n
During his second co-op, he posted an article on LinkedIn: How to get the best out of engineering school: A proven strategic approach<\/a>. He shared tips on why it is important to take advantage of all the opportunities you\u2019re offered.<\/p>\n At UToledo, he said the career fairs, required co-ops, undergraduate research opportunities and professional education were key to his success. He also recommends finding your \u201cstar friends,\u201d like those he found at UToledo who pushed him to do better.<\/p>\n Ibeh Omodolor, a UToledo Ph.D. candidate, worked with Bamunuarachchi in Alba-Rubio\u2019s lab. He became a mentor and friend, and the pair traveled to conferences together to present research.<\/p>\n \u201c[Vimantha] was always willing to learn and help others,\u201d Omodolor said. \u201cHe\u2019s a good ambassador of the department, and I see him rising to the highest level in any company where he finds himself.\u201d<\/p>\n In the end, Bamunuarachchi was the arbiter of his own success, just as he told his parents he wanted to be.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you put in the hard work, not even a global pandemic can stop you,\u201d he said. \u201cBut you might be able to help stop the global pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After his December graduation, Vimantha Bamunuarachchi joined Moderna, one of the three pharmaceutical companies whose COVID-19 vaccine was granted emergency use authorization by the F.D.A., as an analytical development engineer. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":837,"featured_media":64933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,34,1,71,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64926"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/837"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64926"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64945,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64926\/revisions\/64945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>