From ‘minority’ in engineering to innovator in Artificial Intelligence

Prof. Shanika Karunasekara focuses on AI and women in engineering at 33rd Pulimood Memorial Oration

The 33rd annual Susan George Pulimood Memorial Oration of Visakha Vidyalaya was held on July 23rd, featuring Prof. Shanika Karunasekara as this year’s orator. Prof. Karunasekara is the Deputy Dean (Academic) of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her theme, “Artificial Intelligence: The Dream, Nightmare and the Reality,” was timely and focused on the challenges faced by women in engineering.

“It is somewhat sad,” Prof. Karunasekara remarked, noting that engineering remains a male-dominated field in the 21st century.

“There exists a significant female under-representation and gender-based stereotyping in industry and academia,” she added.

Reflecting on her journey through engineering, Prof. Karunasekara shared that she chose physical sciences for her Advanced Level examination due to her love for mathematics. “At the time, there was only one physical sciences class at Visakha Vidyalaya, which less than 10% of the cohort chose. It did not occur to me then that I was embarking on a lifelong journey in a minority club,” she said.

When Prof. Karunasekara joined the University of Moratuwa to pursue engineering, she had been one of 23 female students in a cohort of over 230. “Here was the 10% minority again, and I began to wonder if I had made the right choice. I can give you a simple example of stereotyping in engineering. From my first year at the University of Moratuwa, I was often the only female student in a group for group work. It was no coincidence that my male colleagues appointed me as the note-taker every time, while they took on the more interesting engineering tasks. I am not pointing fingers at any of them—most likely, they meant well. They thought engineering tasks were too tough for females; but it is a stereotype. In the latter years of university, my default role as note-taker changed after I proved that I was as good as them in engineering tasks. My point here is that females must always prove themselves in engineering,” she observed.

Mentor 

Now, as a mentor to many female engineering students, Prof. Karunasekara reminds them not to be the default note-takers in their groups—a practice that, she says, still continues in many cases. “Fortunately for me, several female role models in engineering inspired me to keep going. Of them, the major inspiration for me was Prof. Indra Dayawansa, the Head of the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering at the University of Moratuwa. She was an exceptional engineering educator who demonstrated that females could not only succeed in engineering but also lead and excel.”

Looking back on her 35-year engineering career spanning across four continents—Asia, Europe, North America and Australia—Prof. Karunasekara noted that she was often part of the “under 10% minority.”  “Engineering involves creativity and problem-solving, areas where females excel and exhibit profound passion. However, it is disheartening that they haven’t achieved anywhere close to parity in the field. Consequently, society is deprived of the invaluable female perspective in engineering. Throughout my career, I have actively pursued opportunities to advocate for increased female participation in engineering,” Prof. Karunasekara said.

Prof. Karunasekara also spoke about her work integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in transportation to optimise drive times and enhance road safety. “We are moving towards a future dominated by connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). Automated vehicles, or self-driving vehicles, can sense the environment and operate without human involvement. Connected vehicles can communicate with other vehicles as well as road infrastructure such as traffic lights and stop signs. As we move towards CAVs, the synergy between vehicles and infrastructure becomes paramount. Our research group has developed a cutting-edge traffic simulator called SMARTS, capable of simulating city-scale CAVs faster than real time. This system serves as a crucial asset for developing and validating AI-based traffic management algorithms. SMARTS is available in the open source for anyone to use,” she said.

Traffic management

She added that her research team has also developed AI-based solutions aimed at improving traffic management. “These solutions include algorithms for autonomous intersection management, dynamic lane configuration, and traffic safety improvement. The main scientific contribution of this work is the novel use of a technique called deep reinforcement learning. These solutions help us move towards a safer, more sustainable, and more efficient transportation system.”

Prof. Karunasekara’s team also developed a real-time social media analytics platform called RAPID. “RAPID monitors social media on topics of interest to users and provides insights into online activity in real time. It incorporates data-analytics algorithms developed by our research group, as well as other state-of-the-art algorithms. The novel AI capabilities we have developed include deep learning-based algorithms for the timely detection of misinformation and coordinated malicious activity on social media,” she emphasized.

Prior to delivering her oration, Prof. Karunasekara also took the time to sit with the Daily Mirror for a brief interview. Excerpts of the interview are below:

 How do you perceive AI being introduced into the national school curricula?

“I might be biased, but I feel it’s a good thing because being aware of AI is better than not having knowledge of it and worrying about it. AI can be used in a host of ways, including to enhance learning. There is a dilemma now as to how we can assess students’ work and determine its authenticity. On the flip side, how do we use these technologies to enhance learning? I still think that we need to strike a balance. At the University of Melbourne, we are taking things slow because we are still trying to comprehend the actual ramifications. We should use it, but ensure to take it slow and steady. When calculators were introduced, there was extensive debate about whether students should know their basics in mathematics. You need to know the basics, but if the application gets easier through this technology, then why not utilise it?”

 How does it feel to be a female in the field of engineering?

“Females are a minority in engineering. There is a lot of stereotyping, so you have to prove yourself. When a man gets into engineering, they are perceived as being capable of doing the job, but when a woman comes, they don’t think she is capable. Hence, it takes a lot to prove yourself to get ahead of the game, and that requires a lot of courage and increased participation.

Throughout my career, I have advocated for females in engineering. Even in the Faculty of Engineering, female representation was very low; and as you get to the professorial level, it gets lower and lower. That shows how difficult it is to get up the ladder. We have put initiatives in place, sometimes advertising positions for academics calling for ‘females only.’ Then, there’s also a debate about whether this is discriminatory. But we feel that in a field where women have always been overlooked, we have to take some proactive measures to increase female participation. It should also be said that the women we hire do well and are fully capable. It is difficult to get above these barriers, so the journey wasn’t easy.

The mindset shift should start from schools, especially girls’ schools. It’s an area that needs a lot of work, and this is not just in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka can be considered better than some countries.”  

 Have you seen an increase in women joining the engineering field?

“It’s getting better, but not as fast as it should be. In some countries, overall engineering numbers are going down among women. I haven’t studied this much, but in some countries like Australia, there are few qualified in mathematics. In schools, mathematics is not taken up much, and you need mathematics to get into engineering.” 

 How do you view the current state and future prospects of AI in Sri Lanka?

“I try to work with Sri Lanka and help out the universities. To use AI today, we need a lot of digitisation, but Sri Lanka doesn’t have a good base for that yet. However, I know that there are many projects happening in the digitisation area. For countries like Sri Lanka, it’s important to achieve digitisation quickly so that they can harness the capabilities of AI.”