Hunan University
China
Prof. Shi is a Chair Professor in the College of Civil Engineering at Hunan University and has served as Co-Chairman of the Asian Concrete Federation (ACF) since 2023. In 2025, he was elected as the Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering. From 2024 to 2026, he ranked as No. 1 globally in the field of Building & Construction on Stanford University's World's Top 2% Scientists list. Professor Shi has long dedicated his research to green, high-performance cement and concrete materials, as well as carbon-mineralized, low-carbon, and carbon-negative construction materials. He has published over 750 high-impact academic papers, authored or co-authored 16 books in Chinese and English, co-edited 11 international conference proceedings, and holds more than 50 granted patents in the United States and China. He is also the founding Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Journal of Sustainable Cement-Based Materials.
University of Kentucky
USA
Dr. Issam Elias Harik is the Raymond-Blythe Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY. His research interests are in the areas of fiber reinforced polymer composite components and structures, structural evaluation and retrofit of bridges, and hazard management of highway structures. Since joining the University of Kentucky in August 1982, he has directed or co-directed the research of 125 funded projects, authored or co-authored more than 110 refereed Journal articles and 160 refereed conference articles, and more than 100 other technical publications including chapters in books. He has directed or is currently directing the research of more than 55 Post Docs, visiting professors, and scholars, 160 graduate students, 60 undergraduate students, and 25 high school students. He currently serves as a member of 9 societies. He has organized, co-organized, and chaired national and international conferences and workshops.
Northeast Forestry University
China
Dr. Yongcheng Ji holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado (USA) and is a Full Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Northeast Forestry University (China). His research aligns closely with the three core themes of the proposed project: (i) solid-waste resource utilization and low-carbon cementitious materials; (ii) the durability of FRP-strengthened concrete under coupled environmental and mechanical actions in cold regions; and (iii) intelligent technologies for transportation infrastructure. Dr. Ji has established a strong and internationally recognized research profile, with 99 peer-reviewed publications, 1,086 citations, an h-index of 19, and an i10-index of 34 (Google Scholar, May 2026). His long-standing collaborations with industrial partners in both China and the United States, together with his service on national expert committees, including the China Construction Solid Waste Treatment Industry Expert Committee, provide a well-defined pathway for translating research outcomes into engineering practice. His extensive experience in research supervision and higher education further demonstrates his capacity to both benefit from and contribute to an advanced research and training environment. With more than seven years of university teaching experience, he has successfully supervised 20 Master's students to completion and currently supervises six Ph.D. candidates. His achievements have been recognized through his appointment as a High-Level Talent of Heilongjiang Province and his receipt of a national-level invention award (first-ranked recipient). Taken together, Dr. Ji's academic achievements, technical expertise, leadership in research and industry collaboration, and international perspective make him exceptionally well qualified to undertake the proposed fellowship and to maximize its scientific and societal impact.
University of Delaware
USA
Harry Tripp Shenton, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware. He previously served as Chair of UD's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education in the College of Engineering at UD. Shenton's area of research expertise is in structural health monitoring, condition assessment, and preservation of civil infrastructure, with particular emphasis on bridges. He has received external funding from NSF, FHWA, NIST, NCHRP, DOE, the Delaware Department of Transportation, and industry. He has lead the effort to develop and implement permanent health monitoring systems on new and existing bridges. His research in bridge preservation has focused on maintenance and repair of small movement bridge joints, the long-term performance of unpainted weathering steel, sealants, and load rating bridges without plans. He is a member of ASCE and ISHMII. He is the Academic Director of the Northeast Bridge Preservation Partnership, a member of the FHWA Bridge Preservation Expert Task Group, and past-Chair of the ASCE/SEI Technical Activities Division Executive Committee.
Southeast University
China
Dr. Hao Wang is a Chair Professor at Southeast University. He earned his BSc in Civil Engineering (2001) and MSc in Bridge Engineering (2004) from Central South University, and his Ph.D. in Engineering Disaster Prevention and Mitigation from Southeast University in 2007. Elevated to Full Professor in 2015, he became a Distinguished Professor of the Changjiang Scholars Program in 2020. Currently, he serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Southeast University and director of the Wind-Induced Vibration and Control Committee of the Chinese Society for Vibration Engineering. His research focuses on bridge aerodynamics, structural health monitoring, and structural vibration control. As principal investigator, he has led a number of research projects, including key projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the National Key Research and Development Program. He has published over 150 academic papers (100+ SCIE-indexed). Notably, his research outcomes have been successfully implemented in several kilometer-level cable-supported bridges spanning the Yangtze River, such as the Sutong Yangze River Bridge, Zhangjinggao Yangze River Bridge, and Wufengshan Yangze River Bridge. His achievements have won two Second-Class National Science and Technology Progress Awards of China, three First-Class Jiangsu Science and Technology Progress Awards, and the IAWE Junior Award.
AECOM
USA
Dr. Ed Zhou is Associate Vice President and Bridge Instrumentation & Evaluation Lead in North America of AECOM. He has over 30 years of experience in multiple aspects throughout the bridge life cycle including analysis, design, inspection, load rating, problem diagnosis, fatigue and fracture assessment, structural testing/monitoring, as well as retrofit, rehabilitation, and replacement design. He earned his B.S. from Northern/Beijing Jiaotong University and M.S. and Ph.D. from Lehigh University, all in civil engineering. Dr. Zhou served as a past Chairman of ASCE Fatigue & Fracture Committee and a member of Committee 'Bridge and Structures Management' and Committee 'Testing and Evaluation of Transportation Structures' of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. He played a key role in development of multiple national standards and guidelines: a TRB task force member for updating Section 8: Load Testing of AASHTO's The Manual for Bridge Evaluation in 2023; co-author of TRB Circular E-C257 'Primer for Bridge Load Testing'; expert panel member of NCHRP Synthesis 571 'Load Rating of Bridges and Culverts with Missing or Incomplete As-Built Information'; and co-PI of NCHRP Report 721 'Fatigue Evaluation of Steel Bridges', which updated Section 7 of AASHTO's The Manual for Bridge Evaluation in 2015. As an adjunct faculty of Johns Hopkins University during 2000-2015, Dr. Zhou taught graduate-level courses 'Bridge Design Project', 'Fatigue and Fracture in Steel Bridges', and 'Bridge Design and Evaluation'.
Central South University
China
Dr. Pengru Deng is a full professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, and a recipient of the National Young Talent Program. He earned his Ph.D. in Bridge Engineering and Fracture Mechanics from Hokkaido University in 2017, where he developed an efficient fatigue analysis method for reinforced concrete (RC) bridge decks based on fracture mechanics. He then worked at Hokkaido University as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Academic Researcher, Assistant Professor, Lecturer, and Researcher from 2017 to 2022, before joining Central South University in November 2022. His research interests cover traditional areas such as fatigue and durability of RCs and fracture mechanics of advanced composites, including high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC). He also engages in interdisciplinary research, including structural defect detection using computer vision and artificial intelligence. He has led research projects funded by the National Key R&D Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. He has authored over 60 high-impact journal articles and conference papers in the fields of structural engineering and computational mechanics.
Central South University
China
Prof. Biao Wei graduated from Tongji University, and now is a professor at the School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, China. He is the Deputy Director of the Department of Bridge Engineering, and was supported by the Outstanding Youth Project of Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation, and the National Key R&D Program, and the guiding teacher of the National Bridge Design Competition Special Prize. His research interests include bridge seismic isolation, dynamic friction theory under earthquakes, seismic testing technology, seismic vulnerability and risk assessment of train-track-bridge systems with artificial intelligence. He published over 200 academic papers, 7 textbooks and monographs, authorized over 30 patents, and received over 10 provincial and ministerial level awards. He is listed as the top 2% scientists in the world jointly announced by Stanford University and Elsevier.
Southwest Jiaotong University
China
Dr. Mingshui Li is a professor in the School of Civil Engineering at Southwest Jiaotong University. He holds a Ph.D. from Southwest Jiaotong University. He previously served as a research professor or consultant engineer at China Aerodynamics R&D Centre, COWI AS and Danish Maritime Institute. His area of research expertise is in wind resistance performance of long-span bridges, wind loads on buildings, bluff body aerodynamics, turbulence. He has published more than 150 journal papers. He has undertaken a large amount of wind engineering research and consulting projects related to long-span bridges, buildings and structures, photovoltaic structure, low-altitude economy. He has led 6 National Basic Research Programs (863 and 973 Programs), 1 National Key R&D Program, 10 National Natural Science Foundation projects, and 1 Danish Science Foundation project. His research outcomes have been incorporated into 6 industry standards, including the Standard for Wind Tunnel Test Methods of Building Engineering and the Design Specification for Photovoltaic Flexible Support Systems. In recent years, his interest has mainly focused on the theories and wind tunnel test technologies related to the unsteady aerodynamic loads of airfoil and bluff bodies in turbulent flow, flutter instability in turbulence. He served as the Chairman of Asia-pacific conference on wind engineering and past execute member of IAWE, is members of several Chinese societies related wind action.
Shijiazhuang Tiedao University
China
Dr. Qingkuan Liu is a professor and Director of both the Wind Engineering Research Center and the Hebei Provincial Engineering Innovation Center for Wind Engineering and Wind Energy Utilization. He received his Ph.D. from Kyoto University and holds prestigious honors including National Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Talent, State Council Special Allowance Expert, and New Century Excellent Talent of the Ministry of Education. His research focuses on wind loads and wind-induced vibrations of long-span bridges, super-tall buildings, and large-span spatial structures. He has published over 200 papers, been granted more than 50 invention patents, and conducted wind-resistant studies for over 350 engineering projects worldwide. He has received three First Prizes of the Hebei Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, and his team was honored as an Advanced Collective for contributions to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. In 2026, he was awarded the National May Day Labor Medal.
Hubei Communications Planning and Design Institute
China
Mr. Wangxing Ding, the Chief Engineer of Hubei Communications Planning and Design Institute. Over the years, he has participated in or being in charge of the study, design, and technical review of more than ten long-span bridge over Yangtze River, including the Yichang Bridge(suspension bridge, main span 960m), the Wuhan Yangluo Bridge(suspension bridge, main span 1280m), the Jingyue Bridge(cable-stayed bridge, main span 816m), the E'dong Bridge(cable-stayed bridge, main span 936m), the Shishou Bridge (cable-stayed bridge, main span 820m), the Danjiangkou Reservoir Grand Bridge(cable-stayed bridge, main span 760m ),and the backstay-free curved cable-stayed bridge at Xiaonan Interchange, as well as the Myanmar-Laos Friendship Bridge in Myanmar. His research focuses on long-span bridges, composite structure and bridge using UHPC, with recognized numerous national-level and provincial-level achievements and honors on bridge engineering, including but not limited to: 2 First-class Prizes of Hubei Provincial Science and Technology Progress, 3 First-class Prizes of the Science and Technology Award of China Highway and Transportation Society, 2 Silver Awards of National Excellent Engineering Design Award, and 5 First-class Prizes of Provincial and Ministerial Excellent Engineering Design Award. He has received the Golden Bridge Award of the Ministry of Transportation of China, and has also been honored as Young and Middle-aged Expert with Outstanding Contributions in Hubei Province, Hubei Provincial Model Workers, Outstanding Workers in National Highway Science and Technology, outstanding Highway Survey and Designer.
Changsha University of Science and Technology
China
Dr. Yan Han is a professor at Changsha University of Science and Technology. She serves as the Dean of the College of Excellence Engineers, and the Deputy Director of the State Key Laboratory of Power Grid Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. She is the Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor with support by National Outstanding Youth Science Funding, and got the China Youth Science and Technology Award. She was also supported by the Hunan Provincial Outstanding Youth Science Funding, and honored by the Hunan Provincial Leading Talent in Science and Technology Innovation. Prof. Han has led 7 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and over 30 industry-funded R&D projects. She has published more than 200 papers and authored for many invention patents and software copyrights. She received the Second Prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award (ranked 2nd) and 6 provincial/ministerial science and technology awards. Her main research interests include bridge wind-induced vibration and intelligent control, wind-vehicle-bridge coupled vibration, and intelligent infrastructure operation and maintenance. Prof. Han also serves on several professional committees in China, including the Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics Committee of the Chinese Society of Aerodynamics.
Second Harbor Engineering
China
Mr. Wei Zeng, is the Chief Engineer of the Contract building the main span of the Shiziyang Link, carried out by the CCC Second Harbor Engineering Company, Ltd. With over 20 years of experience in long-span bridge construction and management, he has dedicated to advancing bridge construction technology to world level. The Shiziyang Link, with a main span of 2,180 m, is currently the world's longest-span double-deck suspension bridge, setting five world records in main span length, number of traffic lanes, tower height, anchorage foundation and main cable dimension. He has also worked in several major bridge construction in China, including the Sutong Yangtze River Bridge (cable-stayed bridge, main span 1088m), the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong Yangtze River Bridge (cable-stayed bridge, main span 1092m), the Longtan Yangtze River Crossing (suspension bridge, main span 1560m), and the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link(suspension bridge, main span 1666m). His innovations have addressed some technical challenges in large-span bridge construction, with received numerous awards, including Special and First-Class Prizes for Scientific and Technological Progress from China Communications Construction Group, and a Special Prize and a Third-Class Prize from the China Highway Construction Industry Association, as well as First-Class Prizes from the China Highway and Transportation Society and the China Institute of Navigation.