Dr. Gaofeng Zhao, Professor at Tianjin University's School of Civil Engineering, is a leading expert in computational geomechanics. He earned his Ph.D. from EPFL, Switzerland, and was formerly a senior lecturer at The University of New South Wales, Australia. Dr. Zhao developed NumericalBox3D, a high-performance simulation software widely applied in rock engineering. His contributions to the Distinct Lattice Spring Model (DLSM) and Four-Dimensional Lattice Spring Model (4D-LSM) have advanced applications in underground engineering and material science. With over 100 SCI-indexed publications and an H-index of 33, he is recognized as a Stanford Top 2% Global Scientist. He serves as Associate Editor for the International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences (IJRMMS) and Intelligent Geoengineering (IGEO). Additionally, he is the President of the Commission on Discontinuous Deformation Analysis of the International Society for Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM) and the Deputy Director of the Artificial Intelligence Committee of the Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering (CSRME). Dr. Zhao has received numerous awards, including the Qian Qihu Award from CSRME, the First-Class Natural Science Award from China’s Ministry of Education, Australia’s Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), among others.