Prof. Jidong Zhao Delivers Keynote “State of the Art” Lecture at Geo-Congress 2022
Prof. Jidong Zhao, Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, was invited to deliver a “State of the Art” Lecture at Geo-Congress 2022 (https://www.geocongress.org), which took place during 20–23 March. (Geo-Congress 2022 was held in Charlotte, NC, United States. Unfortunately, COVID-related travel restrictions prevented Prof. Zhao from attending in person, so his lecture had had to be pre-recorded and played at the conference.)
Entitled “Micro Mechanics and Advances in DEM” (DEM is acronym for Discrete Element Method), Prof. Zhao’s keynote lecture gave an insightful account that highlighted the past decade’s developments and innovations in advanced computational tools used for modeling and studying granular media, particularly their multi-scale, multi-physics nature. Such tools are not only relevant to geotechnical engineering but also widely applicable to energy extraction and carbon sequestration, the pharmaceutical industry, as well as powder technology.
The Geo-Congress is organized annually by the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and each Geo-Congress features wide-ranging, knowledge-enhancing technical lectures, workshops and panel discussions. Geo-Congress 2022 was a particularly special event, not least because its keynote lectures were called “State of the Art” (SOA) and “State of the Practice” (SOP) lectures, given only once every 10 years: “State of the Art”, a play on words, hybridizes the phrases “state-of-the-art” (i.e., “at the forefront of innovation”) and “the state of (affairs)” (i.e., “the current situation”). The “State of the Art” lectures are therefore designated for relating cutting-edge research, and its spinoff “State of the Practice” lectures are dedicated to illuminating pioneering industry practice.
The aim of these prestigious lectures is to showcase the very best of the geotechnical profession; only highly-regarded leaders of the field are invited as lecturers to offer overviews on the latest research and practice and to relate the challenges and successes. As such, this is an utmost recognition for Prof. Zhao’s research excellence and tremendous contribution to his field. To put it in perspective: among the 16 invited SOA/P lecturers this year, Prof. Zhao alone was from outside the United States. He has also been the only Asian SOA/P lecturer thus far. CIVL is therefore very proud to salute Prof. Zhao for his continued outstanding endeavors and achievements.
