Dr. Lianyang Zhang holds the Delbert R. Lewis Distinguished Professorship and is the Director of the SMART (Sustainable Materials and Recycling Technologies) Laboratory in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Arizona. His areas of expertise include rock characterization, ground control, deep foundations, waste recycling and utilization, sustainable and green construction materials, and eco-friendly dust control. Dr. Zhang has authored two books, co-edited three books, and published more than 200 peer-reviewed technical papers in international journals and conferences, and ranked in top 0.3% of scholars in the field of Geological & Geomatics Engineering based on career-long impact in 2021. He is an Associate Editor of the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, a Managing Editor of Underground Space, and sits on the Editorial Board of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering and two other international journals. He is an ASCE Fellow,  chairs the ASCE Rock Mechanics Committee, and serves on the ASCE Geoenvironmental Committee and the Board of the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics. Dr. Zhang holds a BS in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering from Shanghai JiaoTong University, an MS in Geotechnical Engineering from Tongji University, and an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from MIT.