Professor and Dr. Yixin Zhao received his BA and PhD at China University of Mining and Technology, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) in 2001 and 2006. He is a Professor at China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) since 2014, Yueqi Distinguished Professor since 2017, and was a visiting professor at numerous universities, including Queen’s University (Canada), The Pennsylvania State University (USA), The University of New South Wales (Australia), The University of Queensland (Australia), The University of Western Australia(Australia), Technical University of Clausthal (Germany), Technical University of Freiberg (Germany), and University of Aberdeen (UK). Zhao has long-term experience in rock mechanics in energy development and mining engineering, including synchrotron Small Angle X-ray scattering and neutron radiography applications for geomaterials, rock failure, fluid flow in unsaturated rocks, coal burst, and numerical simulation. Zhao has authored 5 books and over 210 refereed journal papers. Professor and Dr. Shimin Liu is an Associate Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State University. He specializes in geomechanics and fluid dynamics and their applications in unconventional resources development, underground mining, carbon sequestration, and natural hazard prevention. His current research interests include flow of fluids in porous media (with application to gas flow in coal/shale, coalbed methane reservoir engineering, carbon sequestration in geologic media and abandoned coal mines), imaging (micro-X-ray computed tomography, synchrotron X-ray scattering, neutron scattering/diffracting, scanning/transmission electron microcopy) and analysis to study physical structure of rocks, flow-induced micro-structuring of rocks, geomechanical responses of unconventional reservoirs with depletion, mine ground control and mine ventilation. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Coal Science and Technology (IJCS&T). Dr. Yingfeng Sun is a Lecturer in the School of Civil and Resource Engineering at University of Science and Technology Beijing. Prior to joining University of Science and Technology Beijing in 2020, he was a post-doctor at China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) (2018-2020). He obtained his PhD (Safety Science and Engineering) from China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) in 2018. His research interests are in the microstructure characterization of geomaterials by synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering and synchrotron nano-CT, pore scale flow in geomaterials by CFD and LBM, and micromechanical properties of geomaterials. His research has been sponsored by National Natural Science Foundation of China and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.
