Professor Samuel T. Ariaratnam from Arizona State University (ASU) present at the academic forum of IRSM on June 20. He is the past Chairman of The International Society for Trenchless Technology (ISTT), Chair of the Construction Engineering Program at Arizona State University. Dr. Ariaratnam delivers a speech with the title Infrastructure Development Using Trenchless Technology. Researcher WEI Changfu of SKLGME is present at the report meeting.

Dr. Ariaratnam cites figures of increasing urban population all over the world to illustrate the importance of  urban underground space utilization; he leads to the topic by analyzing the flexibility, sustainability and prospect of underground construction. Afterwards, he introduces the definition, developing history and application field of trenchless technology. With multiple underground construction cases in U.S.A, Canada and China, Dr. Samuel elaborates on the principle and application of horizontal directional drilling technology. At the end of his speech, Dr. Samuel puts forward pertinent suggestion to the underground building construction in China.

Dr. Samuel Ariaratnam, is a Professor and Chair of the Construction Engineering Program at Arizona State University. He received his B.A.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Waterloo (Canada) and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Sam has published over 175 technical papers and reports, co-authored two textbooks, and is a co-holder of three patents. \Dr. Ariaratnam has received numerous awards including the prestigious John O’ Bickel Award presented by the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 2003, he was presented with the Young Civil Engineer Achievement Award from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Ariaratnam received an award of recognition from Halliburton Energy Services for contributions to underground technology in 2004. The Phoenix Business Journal named him to the prestigious “Top Forty Under 40” list in 2006. In addition to his academic position, he has provided consulting services globally. Dr. Ariaratnam has lectured internationally in over a dozen countries and has delivered keynote addresses at various conferences.