Lianyang Zhang, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, the Delbert R. Lewis Distinguished Professor and 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, has been named a Fellow by the ASCE Board of Direction.
Zhang’s specialty is geotechnical engineering and construction materials. His areas of expertise include enhanced rock characterization and modeling, innovative ground control, optimal design of pile foundations, waste recycling and utilization, sustainable construction materials and eco-friendly dust control. His research funding includes grants from Alpha Foundation, American Chemistry Society Petroleum Research Fund, Environmental Research and Education Foundation, European Union Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) Program, National Science Foundation, United States Geological Survey and various mine companies.
He has authored two books, “Engineering Properties of Rocks” (Elsevier 2005, 2017) and “Drilled Shafts in Rock – Analysis and Design” (Balkema 2004), edited three conference proceedings, and published more than 150 peer-reviewed technical papers, with a Web of Science H-Index of 31. He is an associate editor of ASCE’s Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering and a managing editor of Underground Space, and sits on the editorial board of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering and two other international journals.
Zhang is the chair of 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. He was co-chair of the 2014 GeoShanghai International Conference.
He holds a B.S. in naval architecture and ocean engineering from Shanghai JiaoTong University, an M.S. in geotechnical engineering from Tongji University, and an M.S. in civil and environmental engineering and a Ph.D. in geotechnical engineering from MIT. He is a licensed professional engineer in Massachusetts.
