Introduction to the College of Civil Engineering and Mechanics of Lanzhou University
In accordance with the university’s philosophy of “Building Top Universities and Disciplines in China” and on the basis of the integration of mechanics, civil engineering and geological engineering resources, the College of Civil Engineering and Mechanics of Lanzhou University was founded in June of 2005. Now the college has three undergraduate majors, two master's degree programs of first-level, two doctor's degree programs of first-level and two centers for post-doctoral studies.
The college sets up the Department of Mechanics and Engineering Science, the Department of Civil Engineering, the Department of Geological Engineering and the Engineering Experiment Center, builds six engineering research institutes, including solid mechanics, engineering mechanics, geological engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, and disaster prevention and mitigation engineering, and establishes the academic committee and teaching guiding committee.
At present, the college has 88 faculty members, including 68 full-time teachers (25 professors and 26 associate professors), 2 distinguished professors of Cheung Kong Scholar of the “Development Program for Cheung Kong Scholar and Innovation Team” of the Ministry of Education, 2 winners of “The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars”, 1 winner of “The National Fund for Outstanding Young Scholars”, 1 winner of “Award for Outstanding Teachers in Institutions of Higher Education”, 8 selected members of the "Trans-century (New Century) Excellent Talents Supporting Program of the Ministry of Education", 1 winner of One Hundred Excellent Doctoral Theses in China, 2 winners of Nomination Award for National Excellent Doctoral Thesis, and 5 leading talents in Gansu province. There are also a batch of qualified teachers with National 1stClass Registered Structural Engineer, National Registration Supervision Engineer, National Registered Geotechnical Engineer, National Registered Consulting Engineer (Investment) and National Metrological Certification/Examination Accreditation Assessor. Now the college has 718 undergraduate students, 265 postgraduate students and 114 doctoral students.
The College hasthree undergraduate majors (Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Civil Engineering, and Geological Engineering) and two doctor's degree programs of first-level in Mechanics as well as Geological Resources and Geological Engineering.Among them, thedoctor's degree program of first-level inCivil Engineering was approved in 2017 after the integration ofmaster's degree program of first-level in Civil Engineeringand thedoctor's degree program of second-level in Geological Engineering. The Solid Mechanics is the first batch of discipline approved by the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council to award master's and doctoral degrees. In 1999, the Ministry of Education allowed the Solid Mechanics to set the position of distinguished professors of Cheung Kong Scholar of the “Development Program for Cheung Kong Scholar and Innovation Team”. In 2007, the Solid Mechanics was authorized as a national key discipline by the Ministry of Education. The undergraduate major ofTheoretical and Applied Mechanicsis the “base for basic scientific research and teaching talents cultivation in Gansu Province”. The first-level disciplines of mechanics and geological engineering have been listed as key disciplines in Gansu Province, and the first-level discipline of civil engineering has applied the key discipline in Gansu Province in 2018. Relying on our college, the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education of Western Disaster and Environmental Mechanics was approved to set up in 2005 with a multifunctional environmental wind tunnel and a high-performance parallel computer cluster whose computation speed of floating point peak can reach 110 billion times per second. In 2007, with the approval of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the College established “Lanzhou Geophysical National Field Observation and Research Station” together with Lanzhou Earthquake Research Institute. In 2009, as the second construction unit, the college jointly established the “Research Center for National Ancient Mural Protection Engineering Technology” with the Dunhuang Research Institute.
With the training mode of “thick foundation, broad development space, higher attention to practice, and full potential”, the undergraduate education of the college not only highlights the training of basic theory, but also attaches great importance to practical teaching and focuses on the cultivation of students' innovative spirit and innovative ability. All professors and associate professors are supposed to give lectures to undergraduates. Teachers with doctoral and master's degrees are selected as class teachers. The college also formulates and implements the “Student Research Training and Innovation Program”.
Closely focusing on the major issues of economic and social development in the west, the college has carried out a series of theoretical and engineering application research in the fields of wind and sand environmental mechanics, electromagnetic solid mechanics, structural nonlinear mechanics, engineering geology, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, disaster prevention and mitigation engineering and cultural relics protection. Since 2005, the college has undertaken 724 research projects, gained research funds of 172 million yuan, and published 27 academic works and technical standards as well as 1618 papers, including 637 papers in SCI and 282 papers in EI. In 2007, the scientific research project of “Desertification Process and Controlling in North of China”, which Professor Zheng Xiaojing acted as the second accomplished person and Professor Zhou Youhe as the seventh accomplished person won the second prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award. In 2008, the scientific research project of “Theoretical Study of Multi-field Coupled Nonlinear Mechanical Behavior of Electromagnetic Material Structure” completed by Professor Zheng Xiaojing and Professor Zhou Youhe won the second prize of National Natural Science. The research project of “The Key Technology and Application of the New Assembly Integral Floor System” accomplished by Professor Zhou Xuhong won the second prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award. In 2017, the scientific research project of “Research and Application of Key Technologies for Protecting Earth Ruins in Arid Environments” participated in and completed by Professor Chen Wenwu, Professor Zhang Huyuan and Associate Professor Zhang Jingke was awarded the second prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award. Completed by Lanzhou University as the independent unit, and presided by Professor Zhou Youhe, Professor Zheng Xiaojing and Professor Huang Ning, the research project of “Mechanical Research on Multi-field Coupling Characteristics and Law of Wind and Sand Movement” was awarded the second prize of National Natural Science and the Natural Science of the Ministry of Education.
On the basis of mechanics and geological engineering, with the civil engineering as the main line, and aiming at engineering science and engineering practice, the development goal of the College of Civil Engineering and Mechanics of Lanzhou University is to build the college into a first-class research institute integrating applied basic research, engineering scientific research, engineering design and engineering management.
----January of 2019