Chamika Sudusinghe, Sectional Student Representative for IEEE Sri Lanka Section
IEEE SL SECTION STUDENT BRANCH OFFICER TRAINING 2020
IEEE Sri Lanka (IEEE SL) Section Student Activities Committee organized theStudent Branch Officer Training program for the fourth consecutive year with the participation of the Student Branch, Student Branch Chapter and Affinity Group representatives from all the 19 Student Branches operating under IEEE Sri Lanka Section. The program was held on 9th March 2020 at the Informatics Institute of Technology, Colombo 06.
The objective of this initiative was to keep the Student Branches and the officers informed on the responsibilities and the work ethics expected by IEEE and the ways in which they can improve the operation of the Student Branches to best serve the needs of the membership. More than 90 Student Branch officers participated in the event, and Dr. Tharaka Samarasinghe – IEEE SL Section Treasurer, Mr Pasan Pethiyagoda – IEEE SPAx Region 10 Coordinator, Mr Peshan Sampath – IEEE SL Section SAC, Mr Kavinga Ekanayake, Mr Dhammika Marasinghe – IEEE SL Section Industry Relations Coordinator, and Mr Chamika Sudusinghe – IEEE SL Section Section Student Representative joined the event as the speakers.
The program commenced with the introduction by Mr. Peshan Sampath, IEEE Sri Lanka Section Student Activities Committee Chair. After that Dr. Tharaka Samarasinghe, IEEE Sri Lanka Section Treasurer gave a speech on the potential of the student volunteers and the significant contribution from the student members for the Section. Mr. Pasan Pethiyagoda did an insightful session about the Student Branch operations which highlighted the fact on the importance of building the next generation of leadership in the student branches. Then, Mr. Peshan Sampath conducted a detailed presentation on student branch reporting and financial handling. There, the office bearers of all student branches were introduced to the “IEEE Student Branch Officer Manual” prepared by IEEE Sri Lanka Section, which assists student branches in streamlining their operations.
Later, Mr Kavinga Ekanayake did a presentation on event management and operations, and shared his experience of chairing the IEEE Region 10 SYW Congress 2015 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Then Mr. Dhammika Marasinghe discussed the newly developed “Industry Engagement Toolkit”, a supportive collection of trackers and documents to reduce the repetitive work done by organizing committees in terms of industry engagement. The final session was conducted by Mr. Chamika Sudusinghe focusing on the opportunities provided by IEEE, as well as awards, recognition and national projects of IEEE SL Section.
All the officer bearers were given an overall idea about the responsibilities and how they can make a substantial contribution while providing the opportunity for these newly elected officers to network with the other student branches. IEEE SL Section believes that the outcome of this program will be pivotal for the success of the projects carried out by the student branches over the year. An enormous support was given by the Student Branch of the Informatics Institute of Technology to successfully conduct the program this year.