On March 8^th, 2024, Academician Liu Hanlong, a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Executive Vice President of Chongqing University, was invited to the university for academic exchange. Lai Yuanming, the President of Chongqing Jiaotong University and Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Huang Chengfeng, Vice President, and Zheng Xuhu, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, met with academician Liu Hanlong respectively on the Nan’an campus.

In the morning, the lecture “Academician’s Visit to Chongqing Jiaotong University” was held in 408 Lecture Hall of Mingde Building. Academician Liu Hanlong gave a thematic report on “Microbial Mineralization Mechanism and Geotechnical Solidification Theory and Application” to the students and teachers of the university. Academician Lai Yuanming expressed his warm welcome and thanks to Academician Liu Hanlong for his visit.

Academician Liu Hanlong pointed out in his lecture that microbial curing technology mainly utilizes the metabolic function of microorganisms that widely exist in nature to have a series of biochemical reactions with the soil and other substances in the environment to change the physical mechanics and engineering properties of the soil, to achieve the purpose of environmental purification, soil restoration, foundation reinforcement and so on.

Combining with his technological innovation exploration of recent years and based on the microbial soil research background, microbial mineralization basic concepts, action mechanism, and reinforcement methods, Academician Liu Hanlong elaborated on the microbial soil engineering mechanical properties, and introduced the wide use of microbial mineralization technology in foundation treatment, seepage control and reinforcement, fissure sealing, cultural relics restoration, dust control and sand fixation, and contaminated soil treatment, from the micro, unit and macro 3 scales, micrometer, millimeter, centimeter, meter and ultra-meter 5 scales. Microbial curing technology as a new branch in the field of geotechnical engineering is gradually becoming a popular research direction and will play an important role in the national green low-carbon strategy. On this basis, Academician Liu Hanlong additionally proposed the research idea of biological construction.

In the interactive session, Academician Liu Hanlong discussed and exchanged ideas with the teachers and students for the development and convergence of civil engineering disciplines, encouraging the students to develop new way forward as well as their own knowledge, and pay attention to cultivating the idea of discipline convergence and integration at the same time. Learning more about other disciplines, exploring the intersection of civil engineering with other disciplines, and utilizing the advantages of other disciplines to promote the development of civil engineering.

The presentation ended successfully with warm applause. Teachers and students said that through this report, they have a deeper understanding and knowledge of microbial mineralization mechanism and geotechnical curing theory and application, and their academic horizons have been opened up, which is very beneficial to their future study and scientific research.

After the lecture, Academician Liu Hanlong guided the scientific construction work of the School of Materials in the International Conference Room of the Mingde Building. Academician Liu Hanlong pointed out that it is necessary to further condense the characteristics of the discipline, closely rely on the advantages of the school's transportation industry, and conduct in-depth research in extreme environments and scenarios, meanwhile, he hoped that the School would further do a good job in attracting and cultivating young people, and give full play to the young people to provide a constant impetus for the development of disciplines of the School.

The university organizes academic activities of “Academician’s Visit to Chongqing Jiaotong University” is to provide face-to-face communication opportunities for teachers and students with academicians. To understand the research frontiers, expand academic horizons, enlighten research ideas, stimulate academic enthusiasm, enhance the innovation power, promote scientific and technological innovation, enhance academic exchanges, and cultivate more outstanding talents. This activity is the first phase, Academician He Chuan of Southwest Jiaotong University will visit the university on March 11^th to lead an exchange next time.