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INSTITUTE
OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS
SAMOA
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IPES
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P.O.Box
9581, Apia, Samoa - ph: (+685) 22906 - fax: (+685) 22913 - email:
info@ipes.ws
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IPES
Celebrates and awards new memberships
View Event Photos
The Institute for
Professional Engineers of Samoa (IPES) got together
on the Talofa Cruise on Friday evening 6th December to celebrate the
end of an eventful year for the organisation. The end of year function
was well attended by local members of the Institute both in the public
and private sector.
IPES President Tologata
Galumalemana Tile Le’ia Tuimalealiifano thanked
the members for their roles in the continuing growth of the Institute
and also raised the importance on some works that the Executive is
planning to implement in 2014. Most importantly the President also paid
tribute to one of the founding members of IPES, Afioga Melei Ufi Tone
who passed away early this year. One member based in New Zealand
travelled over specifically for the event. “I wanted to meet up with
some of my engineering colleagues and also look at opportunities where
our company in New Zealand could help out with IPES” said Glen Cossey
from Markplan Consultants based in the Auckland - North Shore.
As well as celebrating
the end of the year, the event doubled up as a
ceremony to award certificates to some of the Institute’s members who
have achieved higher honours. Five (5) graduate engineers have been
successful with their applications to become Certified Professional
Engineers (CPEng). They are Ms Levaai Faamoe Toremana, Ms Stephanie
Vaganā Lomitusi, Ms Nuulopa Pereira Hill, Ms Raema Schuster Adam and Mr
Ioane Viliamu Punivalu. The President congratulated the new chartered
engineers and he specifically highlighted the fact that four of them
were women. Engineering is one of the few professions that is
still dominated by men and to see a significant number of female
graduates in the past couple of years is very encouraging for any young
woman who is interested in a career in Engineering.
The new chartered members
are already building successful careers
within the various organisations they are employed in. Ms Faamoe
Toremana who graduated from the University of Canterbury is the Rural
Manager for the Samoa Water Authority. Ms Vaganā Lomitusi graduated
from the Auckland University of Technology and is now the Electric
Power Corporation Manager for Savaii. Ms Pereira Hill graduated from
the University of Sydney in Australia and works as the Power System
Planner for EPC. Ms Schuster Adam another University of Sydney graduate
is the project engineer for EPC’s Supervisory Control and Data
Acquisition (SCADA) system. Mr Punivalu who graduated from Victoria
University Melbourne (Australia) is currently taking a sabbatical from
engineering while he diverts his energy to coach the Manu Samoa 7s
Rugby team.
According to Ms Pereira
Hill, her journey to becoming a chartered
engineer started when she graduated five years ago and she had worked
hard to ensure she met all the criteria required of a CPEng holder.
“Being chartered has added more value to my engineering degree, because
it means I am now able to sign off on jobs and make important decisions
on projects I am in charge of”. Ms Faamoe Toremana added, “Having the
CPEng means taking ownership, responsibility and striving for
excellence to uphold a high standard of engineering practices”.
According to the IPES
Registrar, the road from being a graduate
engineer to that of the Chartered one is quite challenging and can be
long for some applicants depending on the nature of their chosen work.
It requires a minimum of four years of graduate work experience and
then an intensive interviewing process by a selected panel of
experienced engineers. All graduates are encouraged to work towards
achieving their CPEng.
In addition to the CPEng
certificates, Associate memberships were also
received by John Salā and Siatua Lautua of the Samoa Water Authority as
well as Mark Williams of OSM Consultants. A graduate membership was
awarded to Ms Rusetaneti Taaloga who had just completed studies at
Canterbury University and now works for the Land and Transport
Authority.
In concluding the
formalities, the IPES President wished all members a
happy festive season.
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View Event Photos
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