Indira Samarasekera
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Dr. Indira V. Samarasekera, OC, (born 1952) is currently President of the University of Alberta. She succeeded Roderick Fraser in this position. She was previously Vice-President Research at the University of British Columbia. She is the first female president of any university in Alberta.
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, of minority Sri Lankan Tamil descent, she received a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ceylon in 1974, a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Davis in 1976 and a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia in 1980. As of November 2006, she is serving as the 12th President of the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (since July 1, 2005). Prior to joining Alberta, she was a Professor in the Department of Metals and Materials Engineering at UBC. She has significant contribution in the field of steel technology - particularly continuous casting and hot rolling of steel. She also served as Vice President Research at UBC. In 2002, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. She immigrated to Canada in 1977.
