Zhihong Zhao is currently a tenured associate professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua University, China. His main research interest is coupled Thermal-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) processes in fractured rocks, , with principal applications in subsurface engineering projects such as geo-energy extraction, underground nuclear waste repository, and deep tunnel. He has published more than 80 SCI journal papers in International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, Renewable Energy etc., and won Huang Wenxi-Chen Zongji Youth Award in Rock and Soil Mechanics (2023), the Young Scholars Program of Ministry of Education (2020), the World's Top 2% Scientists (career and single-year impact), the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2015), and the Outstanding Talents Program of Beijing (2014). He serves as associate editor of International Journal of Geomechanics, editorial board members of Rock Mechanics and RockEngineering, Computers and Geotechnics, Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering and Geosystem Engineering, and commission members of International Society of Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering (ISRM) Commission on Coupled THMC Processes in Fractured Rock and Commission on Radioactive Waste Disposal.