His research area is in Computation Mechanics with a recent focus on multiscale modeling and simulation of the multiphysical phenomena involved in structural failure subjected to extreme loading conditions. Before joining MU in 1995, he was a professional staff member at New Mexico Engineering Research Institute as well as in the Department for the Waste Isolation Pilot Project/Performance Analysis Code Development at Sandia National Laboratories.Among his honors and awards are the Fellow of ASME, the Fellow of the ICACM, the Yangtze visiting professor and Qianren-Plan visiting professor appointed by the Ministry of Education in China, the Faculty Research Award in the College of Engineering at MU, the Outstanding Youth Award (Oversea) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the NSF-CAREER Award. He received his Ph.D. in solid and computational mechanics from the University of New Mexico in 1989.