IEEE University of Moratuawa Student Branch - Newsletter 2014/2015

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IEEE University of Moratuwa Student Branch Newsletter Issue 2014

[email protected] | http://ieeeuom.net

You volunteer for something expecting nothing. But of course when it comes to paying

off, even though you expected nothing the payback is sweet.

The IEEE student Branch is undoubtedly the best place for an undergraduate to put the

foundation for his or her volunteering activities. Since the carrier doesn’t end there, the

more you are rewarded once you go up the ladder. The Student Branch of University of

Moratuwa indeed made this platform for me and everyone else volunteering here and

surely for the newbies to come. It trains one to excel in his or her academic skills while

shaping his or her path as a volunteer. Since IEEE is the world’s most renowned

professional body where engineering professionals from each and every discipline meet,

the value added is immense. We, the IEEE Student Branch of University of Moratuwa

has the humble pride of launching the first ever newsletter to be launched by a student

branch in Sri Lanka. And here, we continue it launching the next issue for 2014.We

present here a look back towards the activities undertaken by the Student Branch and its

affinity groups. We hope that this would ultimately inspire our young undergraduates, of

course not only from University of Moratuwa but also from other universities island wide

and motivate them to contribute IEEE in its path in “Advancing Technology for

Humanity”.

Sachinthana Pathirana

mailto:[email protected]%20%7C%20http://ieeeuom.netnet


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Message from the Branch

Counselor

Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) is undoubtedly the most reputed global

body for electronic and electrical engineers all over the world. They under the vision of

“Advancing technology for humanity” are undertaking several community service projects and

technical programs in order to uplift the mankind via technology amelioration.

The student branches appear to be the link that bridges the professionals in the industry and the

university undergraduates. It is with great pleasure that I mention that we too are privileged to

be a part of this huge global authority. The IEEE student branch of University of Moratuwa,

since the date of its establishment has reached a remarkable exuberance during the past few

years, currently having a member density of more than 350.

The student branch together with its WIE affinity group has pioneered many recognized events

during the last year also.

IEEE Xtreme 7.0 is the one stands high upon every one of them where the undergraduates of

the university proved their excellence once more in this worldwide overnight coding challenge.

It backed the 19th ERU symposium organized by the Engineering Research Unit of university

of Moratuwa, for it is the breeding ground for the innovative ideas of the engineering

masterminds.

Inauguration of the IEEE Power and Engineering society student chapter was one peculiar event

that took place within the past year. Field visits, IEEE talk sessions were some other mini

projects of the student branch.

Moreover, we celebrated the IEEE Day on 1st of October and many sub events such as the

CodeExpertz 1.0, the first ever island wide coding challenge for school children, Xtravaganza

took place in cohesion with that.

Personally, it is a pleasure for me to see the status the UoM student branch has currently

achieved. Yet, the target is still far. We are half past the way to it and a longer distance to travel.

So, I wish the student branch good luck to accomplish the goals successfully during the year

ahead.

Prof. Sisil Kumarawadu

Branch Counselor



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Message from the

Chairman

IEEE is the world's largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological

innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global

community through IEEE's highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and

professional and educational activities. When it comes to student branches, IEEE University of

Moratuwa student branch undoubtedly occupies a remarkable position among other student

branches in region 10.

Comprised of more than 400 student members, IEEE UoM Student branch has reached a

number of remarkable milestones within its few years of operation. IEEE UoM student branch

was established in 2008 with the leadership of Mr. Kasun Chathuranga with guidance of Prof.

Sisil Kumarawadu, senior lecturer in department of Electrical Engineering.

As a student branch, our main objective was to provide benefits to our student members by

exposing them to dynamic technical advances in the world and link them with technology

through numerous activities conducted by student branch. A member of IEEE UoM student

branch indeed acquires knowledge and experience which are beyond the usual study scope for

a university student.

The last official year 2014/2015 was a major success in the history of our student branch.

Student branch achieved a great victory by securing the 3rd place in IEEExtreme 8.0 worldwide

programming competition held on October 2014. Sticking to the initiative of ‘continuous

growth’ as always, our members were able to add something more to what has been there by

adding a few completely new and successful projects to the SB event calendar. I take this

opportunity to thank everyone who helped us throughout this year and I wish my heartiest

regards to the newly appointed executive committee as well as board of directors for a

successful year ahead.

Thank you,

Samith Sirimanna

Chairman, IEEE SB UoM



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Driving Forces behind Success…

Activity

Lahiru

Malepathirana

Education

Dhanushka

Dissanayaka

Finance

Rajind

Ruparatne

Int. Realations

Dimuthu

Punsara

Pub. Relations

Himantha

Alahakoon

Editor

Sachinthana

Pathirana

Web Admin

Madawa Soysa

Organizing

Hasala Sakvithi

Chairman

Samith

Sirimanna

Secretary

Kasun

Gunathilake

Treasurer

Nadira

Edirisinghe

Vice Chairman

Malintha

Fernando

Board of Directors



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IEEE Women In Engineering

Chairman

Nadee

Seneviratne

Secretary

Ashani

Muthumala

Treasurer

Sanjeewani

Jayasekara

Vice Chairman

Sanduni

Premaratne

IEEE Power & Energy Society

Chairman

Akila Shan

Udage

Secretary

Sameera

Nanayakkara

IEEE Robotics & Automation Society

Chairman

Peshan

Sampath

Secretary

Ishara

Paranavithana

Treasurer

Eranga De Silva



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IEEE Robotics & Automation Society

Chairman

Omalka

Menuwan

Secretary

Lihini

Senanayaka

Treasurer

Dumira

Athukorala



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“It began with the forging

of fresh young engineering

students to IEEE mindset.

PES was introduced to

Electrical Engineering

Students, who above all

desire power. Computer

Society to Computer

Science Engineering and

Information Technology

students, great coders live

in computer labs of the

mountain halls. RAS to

Electronic Students, wise

creators of robots. Yet,

deep in the field of

engineering, masters of

automobiles, Mechanical

Students were forged to this

ally for strength and will of

each field to advance

themselves”

The awareness session was

organized with the

intention of enhancing the

awareness of the new blood

to the university about the

IEEE, its vision, mission, objectives and the

role of IEEE Student Branch of University of

Moratuwa within Sri Lankan context. The event

took place on the 20th of February, 2014.

An insight to the student branch was given here.

Moreover, each branch chapter and the WIE

Affinity Group were introduced. The fresh

undergraduates were made aware about the

activities carried out within the past year by the

student branch and its associated chapters

including WIE Affinity Group. It gave them a

rough introduction to the upcoming activities of

the student branch. Hopefully, the session was

successful in arousing the desire and developing the appetite of

the fresh undergraduates towards volunteering in the IEEE.

Awareness

Session That’s how it all began…


Malintha Fernando



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Enumero 2014, the first

ever open workshop on

advancing technology,

organized by the IEEE

UoM SB, was held on 05th

of April 2014 in the Civil

Engineering complex of

University of Moratuwa. It

was a platform which built

up the interaction with the

IEEE Power and Energy

society (PES), IEEE

Robotics and Automation

society (RAS) and IEEE

Computer society (CS).

‘Enumero’ was a technical

workshop organized with

the utmost intention of

accreting the technological

knowledge of

undergraduates. On the

other hand it was a platform

to build up the collaboration among the

members of the IEEE UOM student Branch.

Therefore it was an enormous opportunity for

the students who are with the thirst of hunting

modern technical advances.

In this workshop there were two parallel

sessions on Robotics and Automation and Computer.

ENUMERO The Advancing Technology Workshop Sachinthana Pathirana, Madeesha Fernando



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“ROBOZONE”, the

session organized by the

Robotics and Automation

Society (RAS), included

sub sessions on

‘Quadcopters’ by Mr.

Eranga Fernando and

‘Unmanned Arial Vehicles’

by Mr. Chamika Gamage

from Department of

Electronic &

Telecommunication

Engineering, ‘Generations

in prosthetic arm

designing’ by Mr. Sanjaya

Bandara and an

‘Introduction to MEMS

and NEMS’ by Dr. Ranjith

Amarasinghe from

Department of Mechanical

Engineering.

Meanwhile, the event

organized by the Computer

Society, HACKERSPACE,

included sessions on

‘Telecommunication

frauds and prevention’ by

Mr. Venura Athukorala

from Wavenet,’ Social

Engineering’ by Mr. Kasun

Chathuranga from

TechCERT and finally an

interesting session under

the theme ‘Think Like a

Hacker’, which discussed

about require VMware,

virtual installation of Kali

Linux by Mr. Dilan

Warnakulasooriya from

99x.

All the speakers who

conducted the sessions

were renowned experts in the relevant areas from the

University of Moratuwa and well-known Technology

providers in the country.

This was followed by an open event conducted by the IEEE

Student Branch which let the participants to have hands on

experience on what they learnt in the morning sessions. Not

only that, but the participants enjoyed the event to the

maximum since it had been organized so that collaborative

efforts lead towards the success.

It is worth mentioning that this massive event honored by the

participation of the Chairperson of IEEE Sri Lanka Section, Dr.

Jayathu Samarawickrama and the IEEE UoM Student Branch

Counselor, Professor Sisil Kumarawadu, was enriched with the

friendly accompaniment of the members from the IEEE

Student Branches of University of Colombo, School of

Computing and SLIIIT.



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“The sky is the limit”, they

say.

Never dare utter this before

an IEEE Xtreme coder.

Because, for them, the sky

is too close and the limit is

in their imagination.

Yes! Members from 70

countries from every

region, more than 2,250

teams registered, with over

5,900 students and 600

proctors, over 310,000

solutions compiled and

tested by teams thus

marked the end of the latest

episode of IEEE

Xtreme, the

world’s most

enthusiastic battle

of the minds,

IEEEXteme 8.0.

We, the IEEE

Student Branch of

University of

Moratuwa, owe the

humble pride of

having contributed a remarkable weight of the

total participants from the Asia Pacific region.

‘The harder the battle, the sweeter the

victory!!!’

Our passionate and elegant geeks, wrote the

history back again this time also, bringing the

title back to Mora.

They were just awesome. Having resolved all 23

brain-teasers in style, they secured the third place from the

entire community of the mind battlers. Thilina

Ambagahawaththa, Varuna Jayasiri and Nipuna Samarasekara

representing the Department of Electronic and

telecommunication Engineering, placed third due to just a few

minutes delay in submission time.

Not only that, the teams Ewoks, Nuostabus, AngryBirds and

BigOH1 securing the positions 15th, 53rd, 70th and 99th

respectively in the first 100 allured the victory much more.

The Legend

Continues! University of Moratuwa Student

Branch Wins the Third place of

IEEEXtreme 8.0!

Sachinthana Pathirana Team Oops!



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The IEEE Student

Branch of University of

Moratuwa, was the

massive support behind

putting up this grand show.

If it was not for their

immense dedication, not

only on the 18th day of

October, but since the end

of Xtreme7.0, they put their

maximum strength in

making the episode

Xtreme8.0 a reality. It is

with pleasure we extend

our sincere gratitude to,

“Atrenta”, for being the

Platinum sponsor and

‘WSO2’, for being the

Silver sponsor, backing the

play.

But it is obvious that a

warrior can never win a

battle alone, he should

always be backed by his

followers. That’s it. Just as

that behind all these

victories there is one big

family including the IEEE

Student Branch of

University of Moratuwa

and the “LK Domain

Registry”. We could never

forget the immense

corporation provided by

our proctors for IEEE

Xtreme including the

university staff members.

The IEEE Student Branch

was fortunate enough to

have their hand all the time

up to date from the past few years.

Having all the players, performing the best in their roles, the

show ended with glamour, accreting greed for even more gold

at IEEE Xtreme 9.0.



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The earth was drenched in

overnight downpour. There

were doubts as to whether

the heavens would open up

again in the dawn. Then it

was the red rim of the Sun

rising through the horizon

that elicited our hearts.

Finally we were ready for

the most awaited event in

the IEEE calendar; the

Annual Charity Project.

IEEE Student Branch of


initiated the Annual

Charity Project for 2014/15

with the intention of

bringing up a smile in the

faces of little kids, who are deprived of

love and care of their parents at the

dawn of their lives. Members of the

student branch felt it is their duty to

uplift the state of humanity, while

working for the advancement of

technology as the tagline of IEEE

reads: ‘Advancing technology for

Humanity’.

Members of IEEE Student Branch,

along with members of WIE Affinity

group managed to reach ‘Isuru Uyana

children’s home at Kuruwita around

10.00 a.m. They were greeted with

warm smiles by little children, the

matron and care-takers of children’s

home.

Since it was the ideal time for a

morning snack, little kids were served

with sweets and tea. It was the

opportunity for both little children and

members of IEEE student branch to share the whereabouts with

each other.

Afterwards, little children showcased their talents by singing

ear-soothing songs and performing eye-pleasing acts. Then it

was the opportunity for young engineers to time travel twenty

years back in their lives. Their gleaming eyes and facial

expressions spoke as to how much they enjoyed the

opportunity while singing songs from ‘Amba Yaluwo’.

Necessities in the categories of stationary, medicine and toys

were donated to the children’s home. Sun-shades were also

fixed onto the windows at pre-school which belong to the

children’s home. Eventually, each kid was presented with gift

packs. Their eyes were lit and a silent ‘Thank You!’ was

written all over their faces. It was a very emotional moment for

the little kids, as well as the student branch members.

As the hours passed by, it was time to bid adieu. On the way

back, young engineers had a dip in Bopath Ella to freshen up.

Annual Charity

Project “There is nothing more beautiful than a child's

smile”

Himantha Alahakoon



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By and by, the moments

filled with excitement,

energy, care and

brotherhood came to an

end. As the twilight made

the goodbyes to come

sooner, everyone had a

bright smile on their faces.

Simply, that was an

unforgettable day with

IEEE fellowship and we

hope it marked a

prosperous end to an

eventful calendar.



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IEEE student branch of

University of Moratuwa in

collaboration with IET


chapter launched their first

joint effort on the 08th of

May, 2014, introducing the

‘School Workshop and

Seminar on Electronic’ to

their calendar. This is the

first ever joint project done

by the two leading

Technology chapters

functioning within the

university.

The project basically

targeted the students in the

suburban areas of Sri

Lanka, that

comparatively find less

opportunities to widen

their knowledge on

Electronics. The

Advanced Level Physics

syllabus taught in Sri

Lankan schools includes

some basic electronic

theories. But due to the

lack of knowledge bases

the students of rural

schools find it

difficult to clearly

grab the essence of

the subject. This

makes most of them

to drop away the

area and henceforth

their appetite for

electronics is

declined.

So this was intended to be a helping hand for them to regain

their appetite towards electronics. The workshop was held in

the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication

Engineering. It was patronized by the Chairman of the IEEE

Sri Lanka Section, Dr. Jayathu Samarawickrama and President

of the IET Sri Lanka Section, Prof. (Mrs.) Indra Dayawansa.

A number of enthusiastic students and teachers from schools

around the country participated. They were taught the basics

through methods easily understandable, by the final year

Engineering Undergraduates of the Department of Electronic

and Telecommunication Engineering and Department of

Electrical Engineering.

Moreover, they were given hands on experience on how to

apply what they learned into practice within the laboratories.

Electronic Seminar

for School Students Joined Project by IET Chapter and IEEE Student Branch




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It was a great pleasure that

just in within the first

attempt, the workshop

turned out to be a huge

success. The IEEE Student

Branch and the IET

Chapter of University of

Moratuwa have future

plans of extending this

project further as a

community service project

to enhance the

Technological knowhow of

the Sri Lankan school

community, not only in

electronics but in many

other novel areas of

Technology.



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Writing the next chapter

of the legend, IEEE Student

Branch of University of

Moratuwa is launched in

style, the next step of

CodeExpertz, the first ever

coding competition for the

students of Sri Lankan

schools. Having

successfully completed the

CodeExpertz 1.0 in 2013,

we are with the humble

pride of organizing

CodeExpertz 2.0 on 19th

July 19, 2014 from 9.00 am

onwards at University

premises.

The competition provided a

platform to,

• Motivate school students

to be technologically sound in

solving real world problems,

especially using computer

programming

• To provide students an

online competitive environment

to investigate their talents in

programming.

• Give IEEE Student

Members a challenge to

embrace team work – an

important skill to develop for

career success.

Students, who are currently

studying in a school (O/L &

A/L) and students just finished

their advanced level

examinations, were eligible to

take part in this competition.

As an initial step, an introductory session was conducted to

give the participants a brief introduction on the competition

structure and coding fundamentals. This was held at the

university premises on 5th July, 2014.This workshop was

conducted by our high caliber undergraduates representing the

technical committee. All of them are members of the IEEE

Student Branch of University of Moratuwa.

This cutting-edge competition was praised by many people

including the Principals, teachers and the school children as

well. They are eager to participate in these kinds of events each

year. It’s a pleasure to know that this unique experience had

made most of them realize about their hidden skills which they

can improve in the future.

As we hoped we were able to retain the momentum in this

year’s competition as well and produce the winners of this

year’s competition,

CodeExpertz 2.0 Successful Second Step Toward making of School

Code Geeks




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1st Place – acftw from

Ananda College,

Colombo

2nd Place – master_coders

from Rahula College,

Matara

3rd Place – devanscoders

from Maliyadeva College,

Kurunegala

The winners were awarded

at the IEEEXtreme 8.0

introductory session and

CodeExpertz 2.0 awarding

session.



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Having successfully

concluded the next big step

of Sri Lanka’s first ever

Coding Fest for school

children, Code Expertz 2.0,

the IEEE Student Branch of

University of University of

Moratuwa was left with one

more, yet the most

important event of the

process, ‘Awarding the

Winners’.

It was with this this

intention that we organized

the awarding ceremony of

the Code Expertz 2.0 in

style along with the

introductory session to

IEEE Xtreme 8.0 on 16th

October, 2014.

The winners of the contest

were awarded fabulous

prices for their excellence

in collaboration with the

Institute of Java and

Software Engineering

(IJSE), the main sponsor

for the event.

CodeExpertz & Xtreme

7.0 Awarding Ceremony Recognizing Young Enthusiastic Coding Geeks…




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A successful career has an

invaluable impact on the

overall wellbeing of an

individual. It is the platform

that will guide the life in

proper direction. Though

there can be twists, turns

and unexpected

opportunities that come on

the way, it is better to map

the direction first and let

chances have a secondary

impact, not a primary effect

on career goal. With this

intention on focus, IEEE

Student Branch of

University organised a

session under ‘IEEE Talk’

in collaboration with IEEE

Young Professionals Sri

Lanka to emphasize young

undergraduates on the

value of proper career

planning.

‘From Good to Great’ was

held on 7th August 2014

with the participation of

undergraduates from

Faculty of Engineering,

University of Moratuwa.

The keynote speaker was

none other than Mr.

Aravinda Perera, who is a

graduate of Department of Electrical Engineering, University

of Moratuwa, currently working as a development Engineer in

Siemens Power Electronic Centre in Norway.

The event was added more value with Mr. Aravinda Perera

sharing some of his personal life experiences.

Further he advised the participants on adding both short term

as well as long term goals.

As the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu once said, "The journey

of a thousand miles begins with a single step", Mr. Aravinda

Perera proved the statement with his own experiences in life.

As the dusk began to fall for the day, young undergraduates left

the Seminar Room with comforted thoughts as they succeeded

in defining new horizons for their careers.

“From Good to Great” IEEE Talk Event

Himantha Alahakoon



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The event ‘Make Them

Smile’ was organized for

the first time in WIE history

of University of Moratuwa

as a community service

project with the intention of

serving the nation as lady

engineering

undergraduates.

This was suggested with

the motive of fulfilling our

duty towards the society as

to-be-professionals. We as

young lady engineering

undergraduates always

believe in contributing to the

betterment of the humanity by

every means and we are definite

that ‘Make them Smile’ helped

reach a step higher in the journey.

All the student members of IEEE

Women in Engineering (WIE)

Affinity Group of University of

Moratuwa got together to make

the 9th August 2014 a memorable

day for the sisters of

Gangodawila Girls’ Children

Home in Nugegoda.

We were able to provide morning

tea with gift packs for all the

children and we donated story

books and educational books

worth of LKR 8000 for their

library. A cash donation of LKR

2500 was made for the future

development of the place. The

small kids loved the company of

our members and we did few games and entertainment

activities with the small kids.

“Make Them

Smile” Community service Project by IEEE WIE Affinity

Group of University of Moratuwa

Nadee Seneviratne



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These interactive sessions

created an environment full

of fun, joy and happiness.

Few motivational

discussions were conducted

with the girls who were

getting ready for the GCE

Ordinary Level

examinations in this year

and they seemed to be quite

influenced by hearing to

our small speeches.

They were made aware of

what the society expects

from a successful woman

and how education could be

the sole reason for one’s

success.

At the end of the day

nothing is more rewarding

than the smile we draw on

the little ones’ faces as we

returned back from their

place.



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‘Limelight 2014’ was a

panel discussion organized

by the IEEE WIE affinity

group of University of

Moratuwa, to empower

tomorrow’s leaders with

the hands on experiences of

today’s elite lady

personalities. Knowing the

fact that lacking confidence

and inability to identify the

true potential and

becoming second in the

engineering field by

thinking engineering is

meant for males and always

lagging behind them, we

introduced this novel event,

‘Limelight 2014’, starting

from this year for the very

first time in order to help

the young female

undergraduates of University of

Moratuwa to unveil their immense

potential to be at the heights they

deserve to be at in the future and to

uplift their confidence,

competencies and personality to

operate in a corporate environment

meeting high level industry

standards.

And the inaugural chapter was

successfully held on 20th May

2014 from 5.30pm to 7.30pm in

Department of Electronic and

Telecommunication, University of

Moratuwa with the participation of

today’s elite lady personalities and

few lady undergraduates of

different fields.

The panel consisted of Prof. (Mrs.)

Dileeka Dias (Professor at University of Moratuwa), Mrs.

Samadani Kiriwandeniya (Chairperson, Sanasa Development

Bank), Mrs. Indrani Fernando (Chairperson/Managing

Director at New Philip Hospitals (Pvt) Ltd) and Mrs. Indira

Kulatilake (Managing Director, Universal Labels (Pvt) Ltd).

The four panelists appeared on the event were interested to

share their experiences with the young undergraduates. The

four panelists appeared on the event were interested to share

their experiences with the young undergraduates.

Mrs. Indrani Fernando, a delightful personality shared her

inspiring business experience with us while Mrs. Dileeka Dias

shared her educational experiences and family life experiences.

Mrs. Samadanie Kiriwandeniya who was ranked as one of the

50 most powerful women in Sri Lanka taught how to face to an

interview successfully by sharing her life experiences. Mrs.

Indira Kulatilake showed us the interpersonal ability of women

which leads to the success of whole family.

As expected this event was a massive successful one. The

feedbacks given by the participants revealed their enthusiasm

Limelight A panel discussion featuring today’s elite lady

personalities to empower tomorrow’s leaders

Nadee Seneviratne



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on programs like these,

specially focused on the

female engineers in

molding their characters

enabling them to get on

with the rapidly moving

industrial world. Thus, it is

also evident that the event

was a great success.



IEEE University of Moratuawa Student Branch - Newsletter 2014/2015

Government & Nonprofit

Transcript of IEEE University of Moratuawa Student Branch - Newsletter 2014/2015