Karu Priyathama Esselle, Distinguished Professor in Electromagnetic & Antenna Engineering at UTS, is a world leader in Telecommunications, Defence and Space technologies. He is the leader of the MetaSteerers Team, which won Australia’s national 2023 Department of Defence Eureka Prize for Outstanding Science in Safeguarding Australia. He is the Australia’s national Professional Engineer of the Year for 2022, leading to unique recognition in both engineering and science by becoming the only person to receive both a Eureka prize and Professional Engineer of the Year national title. In 2022 he was also awarded the most prestigious space award in Australia, the Excellence Award, at the 2022 Australian Space Awards, in addition to 2022 Academic of the Year Award. Karu was also the Engineers Australia 2022 Sydney Professional Engineer of the Year and received Bradfield Award at 2022 Engineers Australia Engineering Excellence Awards. In early 2023 he was awarded the UTS Chancellor’s Medal for Research Excellence for 2022, and in late 2023 he received the Researcher of the Year Award for 2023 from UTS FEIT, making it his 10th award in exactly 24 months, and 11th since 2011. In 2021 Karu received the Academic of the Year Award at the Australian Defence Industry Awards and also the most prestigious Defence Connect Excellence Award on the same stage. He is the only person to receive the “best of the winners” Excellence Awards in both Australian Space Awards and Australian Defence Industry Awards, and the only academic to win the Academic of the Year awards on both stages.
Karu received BSc degree in electronic and telecommunication engineering with First Class Honours from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and MASc and PhD degrees with near-perfect GPA in electrical engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada.
