U of A’s Indira Samarasekera: Canada’s R&D lag costs us

The Globe and Mail

This piece is one of a series of high-profile Canadians commenting on the Canadian Chamber of Commerce's Top 10 reasons Canadian competitiveness is dropping.

Indira Samarasekera is a lady of steel, in more ways than one. In 1974, she became the first female mechanical engineer in her native Sri Lanka, then went on to do a master’s in materials engineering in California and a PhD at the University of British Columbia. Using mathematical models to find defects in steel led her to consulting gigs with steel makers around the globe and, in 2000, the role of vice-president of research at UBC. Five years later, the University of Alberta lured her to Edmonton. Since taking over as president, Dr. Samarasekera has focused relentlessly on research and development, raising $1.4-billion in funding for world-class research facilities like the National Institute for Nanotechnology and the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology, and enticing world-renowned researchers to Edmonton, a town better known for its massive mall than its elite academics. We talked to Dr. Samarasekera about how to spur research and innovation in her adopted country.