Professor Yossef H. Hatzor is currently Lemkin Chair Professor of Rock Mechanics, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, the director of the engineering geology program and of the rock mechanics laboratory at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. His research focuses on the development, verification, validation, and application of Block Theory, the numerical Discontinuous Deformation Analysis, and the Numerical Manifold Method, by developing analytical solutions that can be used as a basis for code verification, conducting laboratory experiments that can be used for code validation, and monitoring rock mass deformation in the field for addressing key rock mechanics issues. Professor Hatzor is involved in major geotechnical engineering projects in Israel, including dynamic stability analysis and reinforcement design of the Masada world heritage site.
Professor Hatzor is the founding president of Israel Rock Mechanics Association, an ISRM national group, and served as IRMA president between 2003 and 2014. In 2007 Professor Hatzor was appointed as Chair Professor in Rock Mechanics by BGU Senate. In 2011 Professor Hatzor won the competitive visiting professorship appointment for senior international scientists by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and he holds this position at the Rock and Soil Mechanics Institute of the CAS in Wuhan, where he collaborates with colleagues from the National Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering on projects involving deep tunnels in various geological conditions in China. Professor Hatzor is co-chair of the ISRM DDA Commission. He is the recipient of several national and international research awards and is a member of the editorial boards of both the International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, and Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering.
Professor Guowei Ma currently works at the University of Western Australia (UWA)/Australia. His research interests include rock dynamics, analysis of discontinuous deformation, dynamic constitutive models of materials and protective structures. He chaired two research programs, i.e. the Underground Technology and Rock Engineering (UTRE) research program and the Jurong Rock Cavern project in NTU.
Professor Ma is currently the Associate Editor of International Journal of Protective Structures, and an Editorial Board Member of 6 other international journals. He co-authored 2 books published by Springer, edited 2 conference proceedings and 3 special issues of international journals. He also authored over 150 international journal papers and 100 international conference papers. From November 2011, Professor Ma has been the co-president of the inaugural Discontinuous Deformation Analysis (DDA) Commission of the International Society of Rock Mechanics. Professor Ma is also an adjunct professor in the School of Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology.
Dr. Genhua Shi, acknowledged as a professional consultant in rock and structure engineering, is the chairman of the DDA Company in California, USA, and the chief scientist of the Discontinuous Deformation Analysis Laboratory, Yangtze River Scientific Research Institute. He put forward the Key Block theory and Discontinuous Deformation Analysis method, which are now widely studied and applied in rock mechanics and rock engineering fields. He is also the inventor of the Numerical Manifold Method, which is a novel method for the analysis of both continuous and discontinuous material behaviors. He has been actively involved in many worldly famous projects related to rock mechanics in-situ test, nuclear waste storage, blasting design of rock engineering, stability analysis of rock slopes and rock foundations, underground excavation support design and construction, and dam design and dam foundation analysis, etc. He also received the China Natural Science Award and a number of other international awards.
