1. Academician: Chen Zongji

Chen Zongji, whose ancestral home is in Anxi, Fujian Province, was born in Indonesia, an expert in rock mechanics, rheology and geodynamics. He started to study at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands in 1946, and successfully obtained a Ph.D. in excellent technical sciences from Delft Institute of Mechanics in 1954, and returned to China in 1955.

The rheology of soil was found by him in the early 1950s as a new approach to research the rock mechanics. In 1954, the theory of clay structural mechanics was first proposed by him at an international conference to clarify the rheological and failure behavior of soil. And later, he put forward the three-way consolidation rheology theory of soil and discovered three deformation stages and three yield values of clay and rock. Especially the third yield value, which has important significance for the long-term stability of engineering. Based on rock mechanics, he proposed also the theory of rock deformation and rheology, as well as the theory of stress wave propagation in rock mass.

In applied rock mechanics, he had solved many rock mechanics problems for Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and Gezhouba Project, and developed twenty-two kinds of experimental apparatus.

He has served successively as a researcher and director of the Institute of Rock Mechanics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, a researcher and deputy director of the Institute of Geophysics, the third and fourth vice chairman of National Federation of Overseas Chinese, a member of Technical Science Department of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a founder and chairman of Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, a foreign honorary member of Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, a deputy to the Second to Fifth National People's Congresses, a member of the Sixth and Seventh National People's Congresses Standing Committee, and deputy chairman of the Overseas Chinese Committee of National People's Congress.

2. Academician: Song Zhenqi

Song Zhenqi was born in 1935, a native of Hanyang, Hubei Province, currently an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as an expert in ground pressure and strata control. He was the fifth deputy chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRME), a member of China National Team in the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM), a member of the 8th and 9th CPPCC National Committee. In August 1957, he graduated from Beijing Institute of Mining with a major in coal mining - underground mining. Currently, he has served as the director of the Strategic Development Committee of Shandong University of Science and Technology, the honorary dean of the College of National Resources and Environmental Engineering, and an adjunct professor has taught at Northeastern University and China University of Mining and Technology.

Over the more than 40 years he has insisted on the combination of teaching, scientific research and production practice, often goes to the front-line of coal production to carry out the basic research on the theory of "ground pressure and strata control". All the results he achieved are of great significance to the establishment and development of the ground pressure theory which is suitable for China's practices and can be used to guide on-site production, especially greatly reduce major accidents such as fall of roof, and improve the economic benefits of mining. The first institute of ground pressure in Chinese universities was established under his leadership, he presided over and completed more than 20 national key research projects. More than 10 awards he won including the first prize of coal science and technology progress award and the second prize of national science and technology progress award. He has received many honorary titles, such as Shandong Province Excellent Teacher, Shandong Province Science and Technology Top Talent, National Coal Industry Model Worker, National University Excellent Science and Technology Worker, National May 1st Labor Medal Winner, National Young and Middle-aged Expert with Outstanding Contribution.

3. Academician: Sun Jun

Sun Jun was born in Suzhou in 1926, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering from Shanghai National Jiaotong University in May 1949. From 1954 to 1956, he completed the course as prescribed for vice-doctorate. From 1980 to 1981, he went to study in the United States and served as a visiting professor at North Carolina State University.

Professor Sun specializes in structural engineering and engineering mechanics. He has always worked hard in the field of geotechnical mechanics, geotechnical engineering, tunneling and underground engineering structure, and well known as a scholar and expert in underground structural disciplines at home and abroad. He has profound academic attainments in sub-disciplines such as geotechnical rheology, theory of elasticity, plasticity and viscoelasticity, and anti-knock dynamics of protective engineering. In recent years, he has also pioneered the scientific research on the application of environmental geotechnics and soft science theories and methods in geotechnical mechanics and engineering. He was the main founder of the various subdisciplines of "Underground Structural Engineering and Mechanics" (1962).

The 3rd Vice Chairman of the International Society for Rock Mechanics and the Chairman of Chinese National Team, a member of National Committee of China Association for Science and Technology, the chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, vice chairman of China Civil Engineering Society, a member of Expert Group of National "Postdoctoral" Management Committee, a judge of China Natural Science Award. Currently, he serves as a member of the administrative affairs committee, and a member of the academic committee of Tongji University, honorary director of the Department of Underground Structure Engineering and professor of the Institute of Geotechnical Engineering.

He has completed nearly 40 projects related to engineering design, research and survey, and a total of more than 160 academic papers and 8 monographs. 3 projects he completed has won the second or third prize of national science and technology progress award, 8 projects won the first, second or third prize of ministerial award, 1 project won the first prize of fund awarded by foreign celebrity, and more than 20 other awards.

4. Academician: Pan Jiazheng

An academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also a well-known expert in hydropower engineering. He specializes in the theory of mechanics, especially in hydraulic structure analysis. He is devoted to the research of applying new theories and methods of mechanics to solve practical problems, trying to link the theoretical science and the practical design. In many research topics on complex structure, he has creatively used special functions and the theory of elastic mechanics, structural mechanics, plate and shell mechanics and fluid mechanics to propose a series of reasonable and novel solutions, which have been widely used in the hydropower industry. After the founding of the PRC, he participated in the design and construction of many major water conservancy projects.

He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1980. In 1984, he was awarded a national expert certificate for his outstanding contributions. In 1989, he was awarded the title of National Design Master. In 1994, he was elected as one of the first academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and served as deputy dean of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He also served as a member of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, the honorary chairman of Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, the chairman of Chinese National Committee on Large Dams, a vice chairman of China Water Engineering Association, China Society for Hydropower Engineering and China Energy Research Society, the director of the technical committee of China Three Gorges Development Corporation. Besides, he was also a professor of Tsinghua University.

5. Academician: Qian Qihu

He was born in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province in 1937, one of the first academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, an expert in protection engineering and underground engineering. In 1990, he was appraised as a young and middle-aged expert for his outstanding contributions. In 1993 and 1998, he was selected as a member of the eighth and ninth National Committee of the CPPCC. Now he serves as a member of the editorial board for "Explosion and Shock Waves", "Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering", "Journal of Civil Engineering", "Journal of Geotechnical Engineering". He once served as the fifth and sixth chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, and vice-chairman of the International Society for Rock Mechanics. In 2019, he won the highest prize of the National Science and Technology Award.

Academician Qian Qihu has been engaged in the teaching and research of protection engineering design and calculation theory for nearly 40 years. He has put forward many new design and calculation methods and opinions related to the protection engineering calculation theory and protection system engineering theory, and made important contributions to the development of China's protection engineering disciplines and construction.

Academician Qian Qihu wrote and edited 4 academic books, published more than 80 papers, and supervised many doctoral students. He was awarded the second or third prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award many times for his teaching and scientific achievements.

6. Academician: Ge Xiurun

He was born in Shanghai in 1934, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, also an expert in rock mechanics. In 1959, he graduated from Odessa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture (Soviet Union) with a major in water conservancy. He has been working in Wuhan Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences after returning to China. From 1981 to 1982, he won a research scholarship from Humboldt Foundation (Germany)，worded together with Professor L. Müller, the founder of the International Society for Rock Mechanics, at the Institute of Soil and Rock Mechanics, University of Karlsruhe, Germany. Currently, he works as a professor at the School of Architectural Engineering and Mechanics, Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Professor Ge Xiurun has been engaged in scientific research work on rock mechanics and major geotechnical engineering, and is one of the academic leaders in research of rock slope in China. In the early 1960s, he participated as a major researcher in large-scale in-situ experimental research on the south embankment slope of Daye Iron Mine. In 1966, he independently presided over writing the slope-stability analysis report and rock mass mechanical test summary related to this slope research, so that Daye south embankment slope research was successfully completed. In recent years, he has presided over large mine slope projects such as Tonglvshan Copper Mine, Yongping Copper Mine, Hainan Iron Mine, and tailings dam slope stability assessment and treatment for erosion control such as Yinshan Lead-Zinc Mine and Wushan Copper Mine, there are significant social and economic benefits have been achieved.

Professor Ge Xiurun was one of the earliest scholars to introduce the finite element method into rock mass engineering in China, and successively won the National Science and Technology Progress Award (1990) and the first prize of Hubei Province Science and Technology Progress Award (1994). Currently, he is a member of special expert committee of high slope of ship lock of China Three Gorges Project. He presided over the completion of the three-dimensional elasticity, plasticity and viscoelasticity analysis of high slope of ship lock of the Three Gorges Project.

7. Academician: Wang Mengshu

Mr. Wang Mengshu (1938-2018), a native of Wenxian, Henan Province, an expert in tunneling and underground engineering, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In 1961, he graduated from the Bridge and Tunnel Department of Tangshan Railway College (now Southwest Jiaotong University) with a major in tunneling and underground engineering. In 1964, he completed his master degree program and graduated from the Bridge and Tunnel Department of Tangshan Railway College with a major in tunnel engineering, his tutor is the famous tunnel expert Professor Gao Quqing. In his career, he served as the former research director of the Scientific Research Institute of Tunnel Engineering Bureau of the Ministry of Railways, Chief Engineer, Deputy Commander of Beijing Metro Headquarters, Deputy Chief Engineer of Tunnel Engineering Bureau of the Ministry of Railways, Director of the Institute of Tunnel and Geotechnical Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Chief of Tunneling and Underground Engineering Test and Research Center, Beijing Jiaotong University, distinguished Professor of School of Civil and Water Conservancy, Hefei University of Technology.

He has made outstanding contributions to the theoretical research, scientific experiments, development of new technologies, new methods, new processes of tunneling and underground engineering, and guiding design and construction. He obtained fruitful results and played an important role in promoting the development of tunnel construction technology.

He has once won the grand prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award, the second prize twice, and the third prize twice; the grand prize of Ministry of Railways Science and Technology Progress Award 1 time, the second prize 5 times; the first prize of Beijing Science and Technology Progress Award 1 time, the second prize 1 time; the first prize of Guangzhou Science and Technology Progress Award 1 time. He has also won various honorary titles such as "National Excellent Science and Technology Worker" and "Expert with outstanding contributions". In 1999, he won the "Fourth Zhan Tianyou Award" and the first-class merit of "Outstanding Professional and Technical Talent" (the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the PRC). He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1995, a deputy to the Ninth and Tenth National People's Congress and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

8. Academician: Wang Sijing

He was born in Shanghai in 1934, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, an expert in engineering geology, environmental geology and rock mechanics. He studied in the Soviet Union from 1954 to1963, and graduated from the Department of Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology, Moscow Geological Institute in 1959. In 1963, he obtained the associate doctorate of the Geological and Mineral Sciences. He has worked at the Institute of Geology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1963 and was the director of this Institute. He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1995, and as director of the Department of Energy and Mining Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2000.

Academician Wang is committed to the study of the combination of geology and mechanics, geology and engineering, and has made great contributions to the development of rock mass structure theory and the establishment of engineering geomechanics. Based on the study of the deformation and failure mechanism of engineering rock mass, he developed the principles and methods of rock engineering stability analysis. Since 1983, Academician Wang has cultivated about 40 doctoral students and has supervised certain postdoctoral students.

He has served in many academic organizations at home and abroad. He was the chairman of the Association of Geoscientists for International Development (AGID), the chairman of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG), the director of Geotechnical Committee of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), and the chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRME), the director of the Engineering Geology Committee of the Geological Society of China, the director of the Academic Committee of the State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soil Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the director of the Academic Committee of the Key Laboratory of Engineering Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, a member of International Senior Expert Group on Slope Safety, Department of Civil Engineering, Hong Kong, a distinguished scholar and honorary professor of the University of Hong Kong.

9. Academician: Liu Baochen

He was born in 1932, a native of Kaiyuan City, Liaoning Province, an expert in mining engineering. He graduated with a doctorate degree from the Institute of Rock Mechanics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1962. Currently, he is a senior engineer of Changsha Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, professor and doctoral supervisor of Central South University.

He is the founder of the theory of stochastic medium and the pioneer of its application in China. He established and developed the theory of space-time unified stochastic medium and apply it to mining surface protection projects under buildings, rivers and railways. In this way, coal mines in Benxi, Fushun, Fuxin and other mining areas can safely produce more than 10 million tons of coal under buildings, rivers and railways. Millions of tons of coal were produced by breaking the restricted zone of security coal pillars under the Taizi River prescribed by Soviet experts. It is also used in mining iron, gold and phosphate under buildings, rivers and railways, which solves the problem of the pre-drainage surface settlement in Beijing subway construction, and has obtained huge economic benefits.

He published 5 monographs and more than 100 papers, cultivated 7 master students and 37 doctoral students. He won the National Science Conference Award in 1978, and the first prize of Liaoning Province Science and Technology Progress Award in 1992. He was elected as a foreign academician of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1994, and a national model worker in 2000, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1997. An honorary director of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering.

10. Academician: Ma Jin

Ma Jin (1934-2018), researcher, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He graduated with an associate doctorate degree from the Institute of Geophysics of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1962, majoring in tectonophysics. He was the former director of the Academic Committee of the State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics.

The tectonophysics was the main discipline researched by him. Over more than thirty years, the physical mechanism of tectonic deformation and the practical problems related to it have been studied through field investigation, experimental simulation and theoretical analysis, including physical simulation and application of fold formation mechanism and stress field; research on the deformation of the seam (block) system and seismicity, including the relationship among tectonic type, seismic migration, focal mechanism, seismic sequence and precursor type, conjugate fault rotation and alternating activity, acoustic emission and evolution of other physical fields and the precursor of instability during tectonic deformation; the relationship among fault material composition, deformation mechanism and fault mechanical properties, and its response to various environmental factors. He presided over the completion of many important topics of the National Seismological Bureau, published more than 100 articles at home and abroad, won 10 science and technology awards above the ministerial level, and cultivated more than 20 doctoral and master students. He has undertaken major national basic research project "Continental Strong Earthquake Mechanism and Prediction" and major program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

11. Academician: Zhou Fengjun

He was born in 1938, a native of Huang County, Shandong Province, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, an expert in protection engineering. He graduated from Tsinghua University in 1962. He was the executive director of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, the director of the Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, the director of the China Civil Engineering Society, and the director of the Protection Engineering Society.

Mr. Zhou Fengjun has been engaged in and presided over the protection engineering research work, successfully completed a series of technical research topics and scientific research tasks, and made important contributions to the development of protection engineering technology theory in China. He actively explores and studies new technologies and new processes in geotechnical engineering and structural engineering of railways and highway systems. He mainly focuses on the research direction formed by the intersection of geotechnical mechanics, engineering mechanics and material science.

12. Academician: Gu Jincai

He was born in Lulong County, Hebei Province in 1939, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert in geomechanical model test research in geotechnical engineering and protection engineering. In 1992, he was approved to become a national-level young and middle-aged expert with outstanding contributions and enjoyed special government allowance. He served as the dean of the School of Mechanics and Construction Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, the honorary dean of the School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, and the vice president of the 5th and 6th Council of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering.

Academician Gu Jincai systematically conducted experimental research on the anti-explosion performance and static property of tunnel shotcrete-bolting support, which laid the foundation for the first time to propose the design method of anti-dynamic load for tunnel shotcrete-bolting support; established an advanced geomechanical model laboratory, and took the lead in putting forward the plane strain test conditions of tunnel model and the test method of "loading first, holing later" in China, and developed many sets of advanced model test equipment and corresponding model test technology, which promoted the development of the geomechanical model test technology in China.; systematically researched the reinforcement mechanism of prestressed anchor cable and its design calculation method, proposed elastic support point theory and shear stress uneven distribution design method, improved the theoretical level and design level of prestressed anchor cable reinforcement technology in China; conducted model test for underground powerhouses and many large-scale hydropower projects (such as Baishan, Ertan, Xiaolangdi, Dachaoshan, and Lijiaxia), which provided an important basis for engineering design.

He won the first prize and the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award one time, and the third prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award three times. He won also the title of "Young and middle-aged experts with outstanding contributions at the national level (1992)", obtained special government allowance from the State Council, won the second prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of the Ministry of Electric Power, and the first prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of the General Institute of Hydropower Planning and Design.

13. Academician: Xie Heping

Mr. Xie Heping was born in Shuangfeng County, Hunan Province in 1956, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and an expert in mechanics. In 1978, he started to study at China University of Mining and Technology for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in mechanics, and successively obtained master and doctoral degrees. He had worked as the President of China University of Mining and Technology, the President and the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Beijing Campus of China University of Mining and Technology, also the former president of Sichuan University.

Academician Xie Heping is a member of the Disciplinary Review Group of the State Council, an academic leader of the national key discipline "Mine Engineering Mechanics", and a doctoral tutor. He had served as a director of the Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, a vice chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, a member of the China Association for Science and Technology, a vice chairman of the China Coal Society, and the vice chairman of the China National Coal Association. He also served as the editor-in-chief or editorial board member of more than 10 scientific journals such as Chinese Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering.

Academician Xie Heping has been devoted to the research and practice of mine rock mechanics and engineering. In the early 1980s, he first established the macro-damage mechanical model of mine fractured rock mass in China to study its natural properties and the mechanism and process leading to the occurrence of catastrophic accidents, and opened up a new field of research on damage mechanics of fractured rock masses in mines. Since 1985, he creatively introduced fractal methods to study discontinuous deformation, strength and failure properties of fractured rock masses, which formed a new direction of fractal research on discontinuous behavior of fractured rock masses, and combined with damage mechanics. it has been successfully applied in important mine engineering applications such as rockburst, surface subsidence, and top coal fragmentation control.

He published 6 monographs in Chinese and English, and 190 papers. In 1995, he won the Third Prize of National Natural Science Award, the Third Prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award in 1999, the Second Prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2000, 6 second prizes or above at the provincial and ministerial level from the Ministry of Coal, the Ministry of Education (as first awardee), the second prize of National Natural Science Award In 2007. He has successively received 5 second prizes or above at the provincial and ministerial level from the Ministry of Coal, the Ministry of Education (as first awardee).

14. Academician: Zheng Yingren

He was born in 1933, a native of Zhenhai, Zhejiang Province, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He graduated from Beijing Petroleum Institute with a major in petroleum storage and transportation in September 1956. He has been engaged in research on tunnel mechanics, plasticity and geomechanics, underground engineering, slope engineering and zonal soil. He was the former executive director of the Tunnel and Underground Engineering Branch and Protection Engineering Branch of the Chinese Civil Engineering Society, the executive director of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, the deputy director of the Professional Committee of Rock and Soil Mechanics of the Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, the vice chairman of the Chongqing Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, the honorary chairman of the Chongqing Civil Engineering Society.

Professor Zheng Yingren is a well-known expert in geotechnical and engineering mechanics in China, and has made significant contributions to the development of underground engineering wall rock mechanics and geotechnical plastic mechanics theory and the solution of key geotechnical engineering technologies. He revised the famous Fenner formula. In early 1979, the analytical formulas of surrounding rock elastoplastic displacement, viscoelastic plastic displacement and surrounding rock pressure were proposed by him, which improved the surrounding rock pressure theory for underground engineering; he developed the geotechnical plastic mechanics and its constitutive model, in particular, great progress has been made in the theory of strain space plasticity, multiple yield surface theory, and the establishment of generalized plastic mechanics; in the fields of military underground engineering, urban geotechnical engineering, and zonal soil, including the design of plane hole, excavated plane hole, cave storehouse, oil depot, rock building slope, construction of high-rise buildings on shallow buried caverns, minimum rock partition between two caves, dynamic compaction of soft clay foundation, compaction of subgrade for airport runway which fill of loess.

He has published more than 280 papers and 6 academic monographs. He has edited or participated in the compilation of national and local standards many times. He once won the second and third prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, the National Science and Technology Congress Award, the second prize of military and ministerial level Science and Technology Progress Award 5 times, and the First Prize of the Science and Technology Book established by Ministry of Water Resources. In 1978, he was appraised as an advanced individual at the National Science Conference. In 2000, he was nominated for the Mao Yisheng Award.

15. Academician: Zhang Chaoran

He was born in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province in 1940, an expert in Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering, graduated from Tsinghua University in 1966. He had worked as the chief engineer of China Three Gorges Project Development Corporation and the fifth vice chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering. During his tenure as the chief engineer of the Chengdu Survey, Design and Research Institute of the Ministry of Electric Power, he presided over or participated in the survey and design of the largest hydropower station in China - Ertan Hydropower Station and the large and medium-sized hydropower stations such as Xiluodu Hydropower Station, Sichuan Guandi Hydropower Station, Tongzilin Hydropower Station, Shapai Hydropower Station, Lengzhuguan Hydropower Station. He has significant achievements in the research and application of key technologies such as design calculation methods and criteria for high concrete arch dams, flood discharge and energy dissipation for high arch dams, and high-strength mass concrete. Since 1996, he has served as the chief engineer of the Three Gorges Corporation, and devoted himself to the research and decision-making on major technical issues in the Three Gorges Project, coordinated and resolved technical difficulties and quality issues arising from on-site construction, and made important contributions to the construction of the Three Gorges Project.

16. Academician: Zhang Tiegang

He was born in 1945, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, served as the Chief Engineer of Pingdingshan Coal Industry Group. He was once a professor of Jiaozuo Institute of Technology, a part-time professor of China University of Mining and Technology and Liaoning Technical University. He has been engaged in coal mine production and scientific research, and strived to make technological breakthrough in complex coal mining and safety engineering, and has achieved significant results. He presided over the renovation of two aging mines, and the design and construction of two modern mines - No. 13 Mine and Shoushan No. 1 Mine. The book "Mining of Complex and Difficult Coal Seams" co-authored by him has important guiding significance for the mining and gas control of similar coal seams. He participated in the key project of the national "Ninth Five-Year Plan" - "Mine Gas Control Demonstration Project Supporting Technology Research". His book "Comprehensive Treatment Technology for Mine Gas Control" provided systematic theories, methods and technologies for mine gas control in China, and has achieved remarkable results in the implementation of the Pingdingshan coal mine area, and has important value in promotion and application. He creatively solved key technical problems in mine accident rescue, and produce greater economic and social benefits.

In August 1998, he was awarded a doctorate degree by the Skochinsky Institute of the Russian National Energy Center. He served as the Chief Engineer of Pingdingshan Coal Industry Group. In 2002, he was hired by the State Council as a member of the National Safety Production Expert Group (Vice Leader of the Mining Group). He won 2 second prizes of National Science and Technology Progress Award, 4 first prizes of Provincial or Ministerial Science and Technology Progress Award, and won the Sun Yueqi Energy Award.

17. Academician: Chen Zuyu

Mr. Chen Zuyu is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a professor-level senior engineer of China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, also an expert in civil engineering, water conservancy and hydropower. From 1979 to 1981, he studied at the Civil Engineering Department of Alberta University in Canada, under the guidance of Professor Morgstern, an internationally well-known scholar in the field of geotechnical engineering. In 1991, he graduated with a doctorate degree from Tsinghua University. Since 1981, he has worked in the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research. He had served as the director of the China Civil Engineering Society, the vice chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering; the chairman of the Chinese Institute of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering - China Civil Engineering Society; a member of the Engineering Science and Technology Committee of the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; a visiting professor of Monash University (Australia); the chairman of the Organizing Committee of the 10th International Symposium on Landslides and Engineered Slopes (2008).

He has been engaged in the research on slope stability theory and numerical analysis. He developed and improved the theory of slope stability analysis based on limit equilibrium; obtained the differential equations and corresponding analytical solutions by using the upper limit of slope stability analysis; extended the relevant theories and methods to the solution of three-dimensional problems so that the three-dimensional slope stability analysis became practical and feasible; successively put forward and solved the landslide hazards of large-scale projects such as Xiaowan, Tianshengqiao, Manwan, Ertan, and Tianhuangping, which were successfully implemented, and prepared the slope stability analysis software STAB.

He has published more than 100 papers in academic journals and conferences at home and abroad, and he won the second and third prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award for his research achievements, and some highest honors such as the Mao Yisheng Award in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, and Writer of Huang Wenxi Lecture.

Academician Chen is the first Chinese scholar to hold a core leadership position in the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. From 2009 to 2013, he served as the Vice Chairman of this Society (Chairman of Asia).

18. Academician: Yuan Liang

Mr. Yuan Liang, born in 1960, a native of Jinzhai, Anhui Province, is an expert in coal mining and gas control. He graduated from the Department of Mining Engineering, Huainan Mining Institute (current name: Anhui University of Science and Technology) in 1982. He serves as the director of the China Coal Mining Engineering Technology Research Institute, the director of the National Engineering Research Center for Coal Mine Gas Control, and the director of the State Key Laboratory "Deep Coal Mining and Environmental Protection". He was the former vice chairman of China Coal Society and the former vice chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering.

Academician Yuan Liang has been engaged in the research on coal mining and mine gas prevention and control. He worked as the chief engineer of Huainan Mining Group (formerly Huainan Mining Bureau) for 15 years. He was one of the main founders of the theory of coal and gas simultaneous extraction. He put forwards creatively the technical principle of de-stressed mining for mine gas extraction, no pillar simultaneous extraction of coal and gas, developed a complete set of mining technology with independent intellectual property rights, successfully solved the technical problems for mining of high gas low permeability coal seams, and firstly made a breakthrough in simultaneous extraction of coal and gas in Huainan mining area. He established the first national engineering research center for coal mine gas control in China.

He presided over many national science and technology key projects such as "973", "863", national sci-tech support plan, major special project, has successively won 6 second prizes of the national science and technology progress award (in which ranked first 3 times), the winner of "Outstanding Youth Science and Technology Award" awarded by Sun Yueqi Science and Technology Education Fund, China Science and Technology Development Foundation, "Energy Award", "Anhui Province Major Science and Technology Achievement Award", "National Excellent Science and Technology Worker", "World Mining Conference Outstanding Contribution Award", "China Patent Gold Award". He has been granted 27 national patents, including 16 patents for invention, published 5 academic works, and more than 60 academic papers.

19. Academician: Gong Xiaonan

He was born in October 1944, a native of Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. In 1967, he graduated from Tsinghua University with a major in industrial and civil architecture. He obtained a master's degree in geotechnical engineering from Zhejiang University in 1981 and a doctorate degree in September 1984. He is the first Ph. D in the geotechnical engineering industry of Zhejiang Province, China. At the end of 1986, he was awarded a Humboldt Research Fellowship for postdoctoral researchers and went to Germany to pursue research at Karlsruhe University. He returned to China in the spring of 1988 and was promoted to professor in the same year. He was hired as a doctoral tutor in 1992.

Professor Gong Xiaonan's main research fields are soft clay engineering, soil plastic mechanics, foundation treatment technology and composite foundation theory, deep foundation pit engineering and geotechnical computer analysis. In 1992, he published the first monograph on composite foundation "Composite Foundation" at home and abroad, and proposed the generalized composite foundation theoretical framework for the first time. He has made outstanding contributions to the theory and engineering practice of composite foundation and foundation treatment, as well as the popularization and promotion of foundation treatment technology, foundation pit support design, environmental effects and countermeasures of foundation construction.

His main academic positions are the director of the China Civil Engineering Society, the vice chairman of the Institute of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, the director of the Foundation Treatment Academic Committee, the editor of "Foundation Treatment". He has published 18 books, edited 16 academic papers, and published 249 papers. He has cultivated 26 master students and 30 doctoral students.

In 2002, he won the Mao Yisheng Award in Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.

20. Academician: He Manchao

He Manchao was born in 1956, a native of Lingbao City, Henan Province, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has been mainly engaged in deep rock mechanics and engineering disaster control research, and has established the soft rock engineering rock mechanics theory and support technology method with soft rock deformation mechanics as the core. He graduated from Changchun College of Geology in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in engineering geology, and obtained a master's degree in 1985. He graduated from the Engineering Mechanics Major of China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) in 1989 with a doctorate degree. He serves as currently a professor at China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), director of the State Key Laboratory of Deep Rock Mechanics and Underground Engineering. He is also vice chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRME), and director of the Soft Rock Engineering and Deep Disaster Control Branch. He won the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, was awarded young and middle-aged experts with outstanding contributions at the national level, and candidates from the first and second levels of the National "Ten Million Talents Project".

The national-level award (5 items): the second prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award 2001, the second prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress Award 2003, the Second Prize of National Award for Technological Invention 2006, the Second Prize of National Award for Technological Invention 2010, the Second Prize of State-Level  "Outstanding Achievements in Education" 2005. The first prize of provincial and ministerial level award (4 items): the First Prize of Tianjin Science and Technology Progress Award 2002; the First Prize of Science and Technology Progress Award - Ministry of Education 2000; the First Prize of Science and Technology Progress Award - Ministry of Coal Industry 1998; The first prize of Science and Technology Progress Award- Ministry of Emergency Management of the People's Republic of China 2004. The second and third prize of Provincial and ministerial level award (4 items): the Second Prize of Science and Technology Progress Award - National Education Commission 1993; the Third Prize of Science and Technology Progress Award- Ministry of Education1999; the Third Prize of Science and Technology Progress Award- Ministry of Coal Industry 1997; the Third prize for scientific and technological progress Award - National Education Commission 1991.

His paper "Research on Rock Mechanics in Deep Mining" won the 100 most influential domestic academic papers in China in 2007 and 2008. On June 2, 2016, he won the "National Outstanding Science and Technology Talent" award. In May 2017, he won the National Innovation Award.

21. Academician: Kang Hongpu

Kang Hongpu was born in 1965, a native of Wutai, Shanxi Province, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and an expert in the theory and technology of coal gateway support. He serves as currently the chief scientist of China Coal Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd., the researcher of the Mining Research Branch of the China Coal Research Institute (CCRI), and the deputy general manager of the Mining Design Division of Tiandi Technology Co., Ltd.

He is devoted to the research of coal mine gateway efficient and safe support technology-roof support theory and set of technologies, and has achieved many innovative results, forming a set of gateway support technology system. These researches provide the preferred, safe and efficient gateway support technology for coal mines. In the testing theory and technology of coal-rock mass geomechanics, he obtained multiple patents, proposed new testing methods, developed the first set of geomechanics rapid testing systems in coal mines in China, achieved obvious and innovative results, and provided a powerful technical guarantee for the efficient and safe production of coal mines

Academician Kang presided over and participated in the completion of more than 50 projects including national 973 projects, national natural science fund projects, national key projects and key projects in the coal industry. More than 20 achievements won national and provincial science and technology progress awards. He published 2 monographs, more than 100 papers, and won 10 national patents. He was awarded the "China Youth Science and Technology Award" and the title of "National Outstanding Professional Talents". He was also the representative of the 16th, 18th and 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

22. Academician: Feng Xiating

Feng Xiating was born in 1964, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He has been mainly engaged in research of deep engineering rock mechanics and safety. He won the National Outstanding Youth Fund, and Feng Xiating is also the head of the innovative research group of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC), the leading talent of ten million talent project in the National Ten Thousand Talents Plan, a distinguished professor of the Yangtze River Scholars of the Ministry of Education, and a candidate of the "Hundred Talent Plan" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He served as chairman of the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM), director of the Wuhan Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and director of the State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (SKLGME). He was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2019. He is currently the vice president of Northeastern University and the head of the Innovation Intelligence Base for deep engineering rock mechanics and safety courses. At present, he acts as the chairman of the Federation of International Geoengineering Societies (FedIGS), the chairman of the Rock Engineering Design Method Committee of International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM), the director-general of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRM), and the chief editor of the "Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering".

Academician Feng has presided over more than 20 scientific research projects that are major, key and ministerial level, such as national 973, 863, National Natural Science Foundation international cooperation. He published more than 180 papers included in SCI, published 5 monographs in Chinese and English, and got more than 70 invention patents. He won 4 second prizes of National Science and Technology Progress Award (3 of which are ranking 1st) and has the honor to win the member of the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM), the Outstanding Contribution Award of International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG), the first National Innovation Competition Award, etc.

23. Academician: Li Shucai

Li Shucai was born in 1965, a native of Laishui County, Hebei Province, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and an expert in disaster prevention and control of tunnels and underground engineering. He graduated with a doctorate degree from the Wuhan Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1996. He is currently the Vice President of Shandong University and the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering.

Academician Li Shucai has been engaged in the research of disaster prediction and treatment of water gushing and mud gushing in tunnels and underground projects. He constructed and innovated the theory and method of advanced geological forecasting for unfavorable geology during tunnel construction, revealed the mechanism of water gushing and mud gushing disasters, developed the advanced geological forecasting system of unfavorable geology of tunnel rock TBM and key technologies for high-pressure dynamic water blocking in underground engineering. The results are widely used in railways, highways and water conservancy projects and so on, and have made important contributions to the prevention and control of tunnel and underground engineering disasters. He won 4 second prizes of National Science and Technology Progress Award, 5 first prizes of Provincial and Ministerial Levels, and won the highest award of Shandong Science and Technology and Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award. He won the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and was selected as a distinguished professor of "Yangtze River Scholars".

24. Academician: Yang Chunhe

A researcher of Wuhan Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and also a professor of Chongqing University. He has been mainly engaged in the research of interdisciplinary fields such as rock mechanics, engineering geology, and computational mechanics in deep energy reserves. In terms of salt rock engineering mechanics experiments and theoretical studies, mathematical mechanics and calculation analysis models that effectively reflect the rheological characteristics of deep salt-gypsum rocks are established, and corresponding peristaltic pressure maps and drilling fluid density maps are obtained. His research results are widely used. At the same time, He put forward the proposal of implement underground oil and gas reserves by using China's layered salt rock, combined with the major needs of national strategic energy reserve research, this proposal received a positive response from the relevant state departments. The research results have been applied to the construction of the first salt cave gas storage in China and played an important role in the smooth implementation of the salt cave gas storage in China.

Acting as assistant director of Wuhan Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Rock and Soil Mechanics, director of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, director of the Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, vice chairman of the Deep Rock Mechanics Professional Committee - the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, vice chairman of the Waste Disposal Professional Committee - the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, associate editor of "Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering", editorial board member of "Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering" and "Rock and Soil Mechanics". In 2000, he was awarded a special allowance from the State Council. In 2006, he was selected as a national-level person in the " National Hundred, Thousand and Ten-Thousand Talent Project". He was awarded the 2006 Hubei Province Young and Middle-aged Experts with Outstanding Contributions, and the 2007 Hubei Labor Day Medal.

25. Academician: Zhao Yangsheng

Zhao Yangsheng was born in December 1955, a native of Yangqu, Shanxi Province, currently an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the National Outstanding Youth Fund and the National May 1st Labor Medal, and the Changjiang Scholar of the Ministry of Education. At present, he is the vice chairman of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRME) and the president of the Shanxi Province of Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering. In 2010, he created the key laboratory of the Ministry of Education - In-situ modification mining, and cooperated with Sinopec to create a national oil shale recovery R & D center in 2018.

Academician Zhao Yangsheng has been engaged in scientific and technological research on the exploitation of renewable resources such as coal seam gas, salt mines, oil shale and hot dry rock geotherm and so on, and also is a pioneer in the theory and practice of in-situ modification mining by fluidization. He discovered the evolvement rule of porosity and fluidization of the solid ore deposits with physicochemical modification, created the theory of in-situ modification mining by fluidization, and corresponding technical systems with rupture, dissolution, and pyrolysis as the main body. These discoveries and technologies have been applied in many coal mines and salt mines in the country, and will soon be applied to the industrial development of oil shale and dry and hot rocks, making systematic and creative contributions to the next generation of resource and energy extraction.

Over the years, Academician Zhao Yangsheng has won two National Awards for Technological Invention (ranking first) and five provincial and ministerial natural science and technology invention first prizes (ranking first), published 6 monographs and 436 papers; He got 44 invention patents, made 32 invited reports at international academic conferences, and trained 66 doctors and post doctors.