Kai Yao obtained his B.Sc. in Civil Engineering and M.Sc. in Highway and Railway Engineering from Shandong University in 2010 and 2013, respectively, and his Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2017. He was a post-doctoral researcher at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. He joined the School of Qilu Transportation at Shandong University as a full professor in 2020, with a Humboldt Fellowship in 2023. His core expertise is in urban underground space development, particularly in the areas of soft ground improvement, deep excavation and tunnelling. He received the ICTIM2017/GeoChina2021 Best Paper Award, as well as the Shandong Highway Society First Prize.
