Xiong Zhang is a professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T). He received his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University. Before he joined in the Missouri S&T, he worked in the University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Cincinnati for 10 years.

Dr. Zhang has been teaching and conducting research in the field of geotechnical engineering since 1992. His studies focus on development of advanced laboratory techniques to rapidly characterize geomaterials, constitutive modeling coupled hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils, numerical modeling of climate-soil-structure interaction, slope stability analysis, soil stabilization and ground improvement, and frozen ground engineering. He was one of the two speakers of ASCE GeoInstitute Unsaturated Soils Committee Webinar on “Introduction to Constitutive Modeling of Unsaturated Soils.” He received the 2016 International Innovation Award in Unsaturated Soil Mechanics within the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. He has been invited as a keynote speaker at multiple international and national conferences/meetings in his research areas.

Dr. Zhang is currently serving as editorial board member of Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Associate Editor for Geomechanics and Engineering, An international Journal. He is one of the two voting members who represent the North America and ASCE Geo-Institute in the TC106 Unsaturated Soils in the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. He also serves as a vice chair of ASCE GI Shallow Foundation Committee and committee member of several nationwide technical committees such as ASCE GI Committee on Design of Residential Structures on Expansive Soil Standards, ASCE GI Pavement Committee, TRB AFP60 Committee on Engineering Behavior of Unsaturated Soils, and TRB AFS20 Committee on Soil and Rock Instrumentation. He was secretary general for the 2014 GeoShanghai International Conference. He organized several sessions in some international conferences and was an editor of ASCE Geo-Institute Geotechnical Special Publications No.189, 202, and 236.