IEEE and Sri Lanka have been having a very close relationship for the past few decades and here are some of the major events that happened in our journey till today.
- Late Sir Arthur C. Clarke, ex-chancellor, University of Moratuwa and the first non-citizen in Sri Lanka to be granted “Resident Guest” status in 1975 received the 1984 IEEE Centennial Medal.
- Mr. Mohamed A. Haleem received the Certificate of Merit in IEEE Postgraduate Student Paper Contest conducted by the IEEE Hong Kong section in 1994.
- Prof. S.Ratnajeevan H. Hoole was awarded an IEEE Fellow in 1995. He was the Vice Chancellor of University of Jaffna in Sri Lanka while seconded from his position as Senior Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
- Mr. N.Rajkumar was the Power Engineering Chapter Chair for the Singapore Section in 1996/1997. Prof. Wamadeva Balachandran was the recipient of the IEEE John Melcher best paper award in 2000.
- Dr. Sanath Alahakoon of the University of Peradeniya initiated a petition to start the IEEE Sri Lanka Section, with the IEEE Sri Lanka Section being formed 14th November 2003. The boundaries of the Section are the country of Sri Lanka.
- A tsunami hit Sri Lanka on 26 December 2004. The IPDPS flagship activity of the IEEE Computer Society’s Technical Committee on Parallel Processing sadly lost Mrs. Isabelle Attali who served as the Industrial Chair traveling to the University of Ruhuna on the southern coast.
- In May 2005, the Sri Lanka Computer Chapter was started (C16). Mr. K.P.Hewagamage is the first Chapter Chair.
- IEEE RAB Approved the formation of the IEEE Sri Lanka Central Region Subsection of the Sri Lanka Section on 12 Nov 2005.