Indira Samarasekera
| Indira Samarasekera | |
|---|---|
Indira V. Samarasekera at the World Economic Forum, Annual Meeting of the New Champions, 2009.
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| President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Alberta | |
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In office 1 July 2005 – 30 June 2015 |
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| Preceded by | Roderick D. Fraser |
| Succeeded by | David Turpin |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 11, 1952 Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Spouse(s) | Sam Samarasekera |
| Alma mater |
University of Sri Lanka University of California, Davis University of British Columbia |
Indira Vasanti Samarasekera,O.C. (née Arulpragasam; April 11, 1952), was the 12th president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta.
Indira Samarasekera was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, and was married to a Sinhalese, Sam Samarasekera.
Samarasekera received her B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sri Lanka in 1974 and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Davis as a Fulbright Scholar in 1976. In 1977, she immigrated to Canada, where she received her PhD in Metallurgical Engineering at the University of British Columbia in 1980. That year, she began working in the Department of Metals and Materials Engineering at UBC with a focus on the continuous casting and hot rolling of steel. She was only the second woman appointed to the University of British Columbia's Faculty of Engineering.
In 2000, she was appointed UBC's vice-president of research. During her time in that role, the university's research funding from government, private donors and industry more than doubled, from $149 million to $377 million.
She succeeded Roderick Fraser as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta on July 1, 2005, and served two terms, ending June 30, 2015. She was the first female president of any university in Alberta.
As of July 1, 2015, she was succeeded by David Turpin as president of the University of Alberta
In 1991, Samarasekera was awarded NSERC's the E.W.R. Steacie Fellowship, an award that recognizes promising young Canadian researchers. In 2002, Samarasekera was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2012, she received Canada's Public Policy Forum Peter Lougheed award for leadership in public policy, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2014, she was named a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Engineering.
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