Janaka Wijesinghe

About Janaka Wijesinghe

Associate Technical Fellow (ATF), Boeing Designated Expert (BDE) and Technical Lead Engineer (TLE) in Aerospace Structures. The Boeing Technical Fellowship is a highly exclusive technical leadership path reserved for the top 1% to 3%. Extensive experience in Static Stress Analysis, Fatigue, Fracture, Composites, Metallics, Implicit Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Mechanical Vibration, Testing, Coding and niche areas of Optimization, Design of Experiments (DOE), Explicit FEA, Vibroacoustics and Low Cycle Fatigue. Experienced in most FEA solvers commonly used in Aerospace. Significant experience with propulsion related space and airplane hardware. • Made significant impact to the development of a diverse product line including the NASA Space Launch System, New Midsize Airplane (NMA), 737 MAX and 787 Dreamliner. Contributions include new designs, novel analysis methods development, Design Practices (DPs), inventions and new analysis software development. • Experienced technical leader in product development, technology development, tiger teams and spacecraft & airplane programs. Often led multiple teams in conjunction. Leadership Next Class of 2024 - Boeing leadership development program for high performing employees.• Proven problem solver. Served as core member on technical review boards, performed design reviews and non-advocate reviews. Sought out to lead or for consultations on tiger teams. Recipient of cash awards (top tier Boeing awards) for problem solving. • Proven innovator with experience developing multiple novel analysis and design methods with 1 patent and 2 trade secret inventions. The innovated novel methods of developing propulsion structures were institutionalized in design best practices. Engaged in the creation of next generation analysis tools to enable digital threads using DevOps principles in collaborative environments such as GitLab.• Transitioned knowledge to hundreds of engineers and a mentor to several engineers. Participated as a Society of Woman Engineers (SWE) mentor, ‘JumpStart Mentoring’ mentor and Finite Element Analysis Community of Practice mentor. Provided lectures on aerospace structures to hundreds of engineers. Vibroacoustics Community of Practice leader and Propulsion Structures Optimization Community of Practice author.

Experience

1. Associate Technical Fellow (Atf) Boeing Designated Expert (Bde) Technical Lead Engineer (Tle)

   Boeing

   Mar 2020 — Present · Huntsville, AL, US

   NASA Space Launch System (SLS)| Propulsion technology development and functional excellence, Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA)| Huntsville Design Center• Currently supporting initiatives for BCA new business capture at Huntsville Design Center.• Lead Engineer for Fracture on Space Launch System Main Propulsion System, Thrust Vector Control and Reaction Control System Components. Fracture reviewer and approver for ~50 components on SLS Exploration Upper Stage & Block 1B Core Stage. Fracture technical oversight and guidance for ~15 Boeing and supplier analysts. Components include valves, actuators, pumps, flex joints and rocket engine modules.• Space Launch System Stress, Fatigue and Fracture Subject Matter Expert and technical leader for tiger team on Thrust Vector Control (TVC) in the lead up to Artemis 1 flight readiness. Individually recognized by Chief Engineer office through cash award.• Appointed as a core review board member of the Space Launch System Structural Analysis Review Panel. Core panel of ~9 members reviews and provides technical direction for top structural issues across entire Boeing SLS program. • Stress, Fatigue, Fracture and Vibration analysis on SLS flex joints on tanks pressurization system. Developed novel analysis methods. Supported development and qualification testing.• SLS LOX Tank Finite Element Analysis.• SLS analysis involved performing both implicit and explicit dynamic Finite Element Analysis along with analysis to NASA standards.• During SLS tenure, consulted across business units by BCA to be a SME for a 737 MAX tiger team.• Continue to work across business units for BCA Propulsion as a Lead Engineer on a Vibroacoustics Functional Excellence project and as a consultant on Structural Technology Development.• Currently mentoring 6 engineers from across the enterprise and geographies.

Education

• RMIT University

  Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (First Class Honors)

  2002 — 2006

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  Certificate in Additive Manufacturing for Innovative Design and Production

• RMIT University

  Bachelor of Applied Science, Avionics (Distinction)

  2002 — 2006