Rate My Professor Samuel Ariaratnam

Samuel Ariaratnam is the Sunstate Chair of Construction Management and Engineering and a professor of construction engineering in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University. He earned a B.A.Sc. in civil engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1989 and master's and doctoral degrees in construction engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Ariaratnam began his academic career with his first faculty position at the University of Alberta in 1996 before joining Arizona State University in 2001 as a professor of construction engineering and management in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. He serves as the undergraduate and graduate program chair for construction engineering in the Del E. Webb School of Construction and previously held the Beavers-Ames Chair in Heavy Construction. A registered professional engineer in Arizona and Ontario, Canada, Ariaratnam specializes in trenchless technology for underground utility installation and replacement, sustainable urban underground infrastructure systems, trenchless engineering and construction methods, underground asset management, and performance modeling.

Ariaratnam has co-authored influential industry guidelines, including the Horizontal Directional Drilling Good Practices Guidelines, Pipe Bursting Good Practices, and the Maricopa Association of Governments’ public works specifications for installing underground utilities in 2016. His key publications include Assessment of infrastructure inspection needs using logistic models (Journal of Infrastructure Systems, 2001). He has earned major honors such as Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (2022), Fellow of ASCE (2015), Fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (2022), induction into the Canadian Academy of Engineering (2018), and membership in the U.S. National Academy of Construction (2019). Ariaratnam has held leadership roles including president of the ASCE Utility Engineering and Surveying Institute, past chairman of the International Society for Trenchless Technology, chair of the ASCE Pipelines Division, and service on the North American Society for Trenchless Technology Board of Directors (2001-2006), the USDOT Pipeline Advisory Committee, and National Academies committees. His work advances safer underground construction practices, reducing disruptions and enhancing public safety.