Professor Samarajeewa (Sam) Karunaratne a Senior Professor of Electrical Engineering retired from active service of the University on 9th October 2002. He served as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa for a period of almost three years from December 1996 till his resignation from that post in latter part of 1999. He is presently the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT).
An Electrical Engineer by profession, he took up to University teaching and was a lecturer in Electrical Engineering at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya before moving to Katubedda, Moratuwa as the Professor of Electrical Engineering in July 1969 and he held the chair since then until his retirement on 9th October 2002. He has been the teacher of over 500 Electrical Engineers who hold high positions in Sri Lanka and outside.
He has been in universities here and abroad since he joined the university as an undergraduate in 1956, except for a two year 'stint' with the State Engineering Corporation.
During his period at the State Engineering Corporation 1967-1968, he was in charge of the country's first major digital computer installation and he computerised the design of Civil Engineering Structures, including the Kalutara Cetiya, a thick shell design. He was responsible for the computerisation of the GCE Ordinary-Level and Advanced-Level examination processing with over 350,000 candidates in 1968.
He has served many institutions as a member of the Governing Board [National Engineering Research and Development Centre(NERD), Natural Resources, Energy and Science Authority of Sri Lanka (NARESA), Post-Graduate Institute of Management, Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL), University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka, the Arthur C Clarke Centre For Modern Technologies (ACCMT) and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC)]. He is the recipient of several scholarships and fellowships [Commonwealth Scholarship, Fullbright Scholarship, Commonwealth Fellowship, I.A.E.A Fellowship, Commonwealth Travelling Fellowship, UNESCO Fellowship].
Professor Karunaratne was the President of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka and was a member of the Board of Governors of the UN Centre for Space Science and Technology Education Asia-Pacific established in Dehradun, India. He was also the Director of the Arthur C Clarke Centre for Modern Technologies. His research is mainly on electrical power systems and he has published several papers on the subject. He is a chartered engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London (FIEE), Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (FIESL), and a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Karunaratne, who was formerly the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture is married to Professor Kusuma Karunaratne, Senior Professor, Department of Sinhala, University of Colombo. They have two sons, Savant and Passant, both electrical engineers specialising in Image Processing.