Ariaratnam

Sam Ariaratnam is professor and programs chair, construction engineering, at the Del Webb School of Construction in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University (ASU). He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada) and master’s and PhD degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

He taught at the U.S. Air Force Academy and the University of Alberta prior to his professorship at ASU. Sam performs education and research activities in the area of sustainable urban underground infrastructure systems. His focus is on using optimization techniques and performance models to evaluate and develop improved construction strategies and methods for installing, assessing, rehabilitating, and repairing underground infrastructure systems including water, wastewater, telecommunications, electrical, and energy pipelines. A particular focus is in trenchless engineering applications of horizontal directional drilling and trenchless pipe replacement.

He is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and was recently elected to the Canadian Academy of Engineering. He has been honored and recognized many times. He is the recipient of the ASCE Arthur M. Wellington Prize and in 2012 was named the Trenchless Technology Person of the Year.