FESTx is an online session organized to create awareness on Women in Engineering among the undergraduates of the University of Moratuwa, mainly focusing on the freshers. FESTx was mainly carried out with the intentions of promoting WiE and its functions, gathering a larger volunteer base, and boosting morale of the current volunteers and members. It was held on 16th August 2020, from 04.00 PM to 6.30 PM (GMT+5:30).
The event was started by giving the participants a sneak peek from the past events conducted by IEEE WiE Affinity Group of University of Moratuwa, such as Robotics workshop, Raspberry Pi workshop, Blossoming Smiles and HackDown .Then , a presentation was done by Miss Shakyani Jayasiriwardena, the former chair of IEEE WiE Student Branch Affinity Group of University of Moratuwa. She shared her journey with WiE, what she achieved and how WiE helped her to build herself up to become a confident and able woman engineer. Coming from a person with firsthand experience, her speech was really inspiring to all the participants.
Next was the most awaited segment, a panel discussion with some women engineers who has climbed up the ladder successfully under the guidance and influence of WiE.
- Dr. Rasara Samarasinghe – Senior lecturer, Department of electrical engineering, University of Moratuwa
(Vice Chair – IEEE WiE Sri Lanka Section,
Treasurer – IEEE PES Sri Lanka Chapter)
- Mrs. Dilrukshi Gamage – Founding chair of ACM Colombo, special interest group on computer- human interaction & research scholar at University of Moratuwa
(IEEE R10 Membership Development Committee,
IEEE R10 Student Development Committee,
Former Secretary – IEEE Sri Lanka Section,
Former Vice Chair – IEEE WiE Sri Lanka Section)
- Miss Yasumi Wickramasinghe – Project lead of J-Edu, Embassy of Japan
(Executive Committee member for IAS Strategic Initiatives 2020,
Country lead for IEEExtreme 12.0,
Former Secretary – IEEE CS Chapter of University of Moratuwa)
- Miss Ayomi Gunasekara – Software engineer, Scienter Technology Pvt. Ltd.
(Event Chair – IEEE Techno Meetup 2019/2020,
University Ambassador – IEEE SL Inspire 2019/2020)
The panelists shared their views on how WiE can upgrade a woman’s career in STEM, quoting their personal experiences. They elaborated how WiE can help in creating new connections, building personality and finding opportunities. The session was very interactive as the participants also forwarded numerous questions to the panel members. Most of the questions were about how to join and excel through WiE, and the panelists explained how they first joined as undergraduates and moved up by being vigilant for all the opportunities that came in their way.
FESTx was concluded with a quiz which was conducted to test how interactive and engaged the participants were with the session. It was delightful to see how enthusiastic the participants were, and how much they have absorbed from the session.
FESTx was the first WiE awareness session conducted online by IEEE WiE Affinity Group of the University of Moratuwa. It was beyond successful as the participant count exceeded 75 and comprised of both male and female crowd, disregarding the myth that WiE is only for females. Although it was organized for undergraduates of the University of Moratuwa, there were participants from other universities who were planning to start new WiE Affinity Groups. FESTx was indeed successful in creating awareness and inspiring young engineers to join and support WiE, in the journey of creating opportunities and platforms for women engineers to achieve their highest potential and be successful in STEM careers.
Written By:
Dinithi Amarasinghe
Secretary, IEEE WiE Affinity Group of University of Moratuwa
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