Prof. Hehua Zhu is a Distinguished Professor in Geotechnical Engineering at Tongji University. He is also a Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor, and the director of the Ministry of Education of China’s Engineering Research Center of Information Technology in Civil Engineering. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mining Engineering from Chongqing University in 1983 and 1986 respectively, and his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Tongji University in 1989. His research interests include the life-cycle design theory of tunnel and underground engineering, smart underground infrastructure construction, fire disaster prevention and reduction for underground spaces, rock failure mechanics and numerical methods in geo-engineering.He is a technical committee member of JTC2, the vice president of the Chinese Society of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, and committee member of the Tunnel and Underground Engineering of China Civil Engineering Society. He has published over250 journal papers and edited or co-edited 8 books, and holds 38 patents for inventions and utility models. He received the Humboldt Research Prize in 2015 and the T.H.H. Pian medal in 2013 in recognition of his seminal contributions to research on Geo-mechanics and Geo-Environmental Engineering.