The inaugural ceremony of the Deep Rock Mass Engineering Research Institute of USTB and the Academic Committee meeting were held in the conference room 306 of the office building. Prof. CHEN Xiangsheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, dean of the School of Civil and Transportation Engineering of Shenzhen University; Prof. LIU Zhiqiang, researcher of Beijing Mine Engineering Co., Ltd.; Prof. YANG Renshu, President of USTB; Prof. CAI Meifeng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Prof. YUE Qingrui, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Prof. ZHANG Weidong, Vice President of USTB; and Prof. WU Aixiang, former Vice President of USTB attended The ceremony.

At the ceremony, Prof. YANG Renshu announced the decision of establishing the Deep Rock Mass Engineering Research Institute and the leadership composition. Prof. WU Aixiang was appointed as the first dean of the Rock Mass Engineering Science Research Institute; Prof. JI Hongguang was appointed as the executive vice dean; Prof. QIAO Lan, Prof. MA Fei, and Prof. WANG Linbing were appointed as the vice deans.

According to the decision of the university, Prof. CAI Meifeng was appointed as the chairman of the Academic Committee of the Deep Rock Mass Engineering Science Research Institute; Prof. CHEN Xiangsheng and Prof. YUE Qingrui was appointed as the vice chairman of the Academic Committee; Prof. ZHANG Weidong, Prof. LIU Zhiqiang, Prof. LIU Yingshu, Prof. LI Changhong, Prof. LIU Juanhong, Prof. LIU Li, Prof. WU Aixiang, Prof. JI Hongguang , Prof. QIAO Lan, Prof. MA Fei, and Prof. WANG Linbing were the members of the Academic Committee.

Prof. YANG Renshu presented the letters of appointment to the members of Academic Committee.

At the meeting, Prof. JI Hongguang combined the national strategic needs and the major scientific issues faced by the deep rock engineering, and reported the overall construction plans of Deep Rock Mass Engineering Research Institute from the aspects of significance, construction goals, main research directions, platform settings, organizational structures, condition guarantees, etc.

Based on the domestic and foreign situation and national strategic development, Prof. CAI Meifeng recalled and summarized the traditional characteristics and evident strengths of USTB in this field. He emphasized the importance of deep rock engineering technology in resource development, national defense construction, scientific research, urban security, and other fields, and put forward hopes and requirements for the development of the Institute. Academician CHEN Xiangsheng and Academician YUE Qingrui fully affirmed the target positioning, research direction, and basic conditions of the Institute, and respectively discussed how to further integrate multi-disciplines, how to integrate with major national projects, and how to integrate traditional technology with digital twins, artificial intelligence, new functional materials, and other new technologies. Experts and leaders at the meeting had in-depth discussion on the orientation, research direction, social service, external cooperation, interdisciplinary integration and other aspects of the Institute.

On behalf of the USTB, Prof. YANG Renshu congratulated the establishment of the Institute and expressed his heartfelt thanks to all the experts for their strong support to the construction and development of the Institute.