Trenchless technology expertise critical to country's future

Modernizing public infrastructure is among the major challenges facing municipalities throughout the United States. So it’s certain that a branch of construction engineering called trenchless technology is about to become a more active field.

The field involves advanced sustainable construction methods and technologies for installing, repairing or replacing underground infrastructure systems with far less disruption to roadways, businesses and homes than conventional underground construction techniques.

Arizona State University has one of the nation’s trenchless technology leaders in professor Samuel Ariaratnam, the chair of the construction engineering program in the Del E. Webb School of Construction Programs, which is part of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment.

Ariaratnam is the chair of the International Society for Trenchless Technology. He is also on the editorial boards of Trenchless Technology Magazine, Trenchless Engineering, and the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, as well as the Journal of Pipeline Engineering Systems and Practice.

Soon after coming to ASU a decade ago, Ariaratnam established a student chapter of the North American Society of Trenchless Technology (NASTT). In an interview published recently in the organization’s magazine, he talks about the importance of educating today’s students in this area of expertise that will be critical to the country’s future.