Farewell Note to Eng. (Dr.) Udeni Nawagamuwa, Outgoing Editor –SLEN.

Eng. (Dr.) Udeni Nawagamuwa, who served as EditorSLEN since Oct. 2012, has handed over the reins of Editorship of the SLEN to Eng. Indika Walpitage with effect from Oct 2016. Dr. Nawagamuwa’s tenure had an auspicious start coinciding with the 30th anniversary of publication of the IESL newsletter, firstly as “IESL News “and subsequently under its current name of “Sri Lanka Engineering News”. Felicitation messages from seven former Editors of the SLEN from its inception in March, 1982 were published as a special supplement to mark the milestone reached on the initiative of the new Editor – SLEN.

His tenure also coincided with radical changes that were taking place in the systems and processes of the IESL Secretariat being transformed in to ICT based paperless society. It fell upon Dr. Nawagamuwa to bring corresponding changes to the largely paper based SLEN publications which was at that time mass produced to cater to the entire membership exceeding fourteen thousand. He met this challengeby posting, for general view, thedigital copy of the final proofed layoutin the web interphase through which the membership would invariably interact with the new Membership Management System that was being established. He didn’t forget however to print a limited quantity, in better quality paper for those, particularly among the senior members, preferring the paper based version,

Dr. Nawagamuwa also had the task of publicizing the admission of the IESL to the Washington Accord in June, 2014, using the SLEN. A special edition of the SLEN was published exclusively for this with felicitations received from many professional bodies of many foreign countries who are permanent members in the Washington Accord.The special edition was published to the satisfaction of the Council and distributed among the entire membership.

While appreciating the tenacity he demonstrated in meeting the challenges and wishing him well in his future endeavors the Editorial Board and Staff of the IESL Secretariat will miss his guidanceand overall influence in the entire process of publishingthe SLEN.

Eng. Indika Walpitage is a Fellow Chartered Electronics and Telecommunications Engineer who is also an International Professional Engineer. He obtained his BSc. Engineering degree from the University of Moratuwa and his Master in Business Administration from the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

Eng. Walpitage is employed as Senior General Manager- Network Operations & Service Assurance, Dialog Axiata PLC. He was a representative fellow member in the IESL council for 2015/1016 session. He has served in Professional Standard Management Committee, CPD committee, Electrical & Electronic Engineering Sectional Committee and Financial and Procurement committee of IESL.

In coming SLEN series it is expect to discuss the issues related areas of Engineering Professional Practice and Engineering Education in Sri Lanka. The new editor welcomes members to write on engineering projects, achievements and requests the news from provincial and foreign chapters where much is happening.