Dr. Malinda Abeynayake, Director (Technology & Innovation) & Founder

Email: academic@empoweru.world

Life achievements:

Since 2016, have been teaching at the Hong Kong University Of Science and Technology in Hong Kong taking on roles to design, develop, and implement teaching and overseeing various projects and find immense joy in mentoring project teams, and guiding learners in transforming their ideas into reality. 

High degree of dedication to teaching and commitment to excellence and received and been recognized through various awards including the Common Core Teaching Excellence Award in 2021, with an honorary mention for outstanding performance in “ Design Thinking for Health Innovation”. As a Teaching Assistant, consistently received Excellent Awards for courses such as Product Design, Design Studio, Cognitive Engineering and Human Performance, and Product Design & Communication.

Possessed industry experiences as a Software Engineer and Design Engineer has further enriched skill sets which proved invaluable for the future roles at the University. As a student, receive the Outstanding Student Project Award from the Hong Kong Ergonomics Society in 2016 for the Master's thesis on the effectiveness of static data representation. Additionally, have actively participated in events such as the Virtual MIT HealthHACK 2020, where the team won the Social Wellness track. In the MIT COVID-19 Challenge, Latin America vs. COVID-19, the team also emerged as winners in Track B.