Prof. ZHAO Jidong, Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been named a Chair Professor of the Changjiang Scholars Program for 2021-2024 by the Ministry of Education (MOE) of the People’s Republic of China. Established in 1998, the program is an important higher education development program in China and its award is one of the highest academic accolades given to individuals in the higher education sector by MOE.

He has also received a prestigious Natural Science Award (First Class) in MOE’s 2021 Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards (Science and Technology) for the project titled “Characteristics and Mathematical Description of Strength for Soils Subjected to Thermal-hydro-sedimental Environmental Loads” (熱─水─沉積環境下土的強度特性和數學描述), with his former PhD student GAO Zhiwei (class of 2012) and collaborators from Beihang University. These awards recognize his stellar career with distinguished research contributions and achievements.

Prof. Zhao received both his bachelor and PhD degrees from Tsinghua University. He was a lecturer at the University of Newcastle, Australia before he joined HKUST in 2008. His research focuses on theoretical and computational geomechanics, and multiscale and multiphysics modeling of granular media.

He plays an active role in the academic community. He is an editor/co-editor/associate editor of numerous top-tier academic journals, including Computers and Geotechnics (Elsevier), Granular Matter (Springer), and Journal of Engineering Mechanics (American Society of Civil Engineers). He also serves on the editorial boards for the International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics (Wiley), Acta Geotechnica (Springer), and Science Progress (SAGE).

Prof. Zhao is a grant assessor for a number of grant-giving bodies, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Australian Research Council, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, European Research Council, Poland’s National Science Center, Chile’s National Science and Technology Commission, and Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. Previously serving as Secretary for the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE)’s TC103 Numerical Methods in Geomechanics, he is now a core committee member of ISSMGE’s TC105 Micromechanics, as well as the Engineering Mechanics Institute’s Granular Materials Committee.

Throughout his career, Prof. Zhao has won numerous awards, which include the Excellent PhD Thesis award from Tsinghua University (2002), University of Newcastle (Australia) Research Fellowship Award (2007), Scott Sloan Best Paper Award (2018), Granular Matter’s Top 5 Cited Articles award (2018).