The Department of Road and Bridge Engineering was established in 1992, at the inception of the College of Transportation, Jilin University of Technology. Following the university merger in 2000, it was renamed the Department of Road and Bridge Engineering, School of Transportation, Jilin University, and that same year was granted the authority to confer doctoral and master's degrees. In 2020, the department was recognized as a First-Class Undergraduate Program Development Site of Jilin Province. Its Road and Bridge Engineering Laboratory was designated a Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Highway Engineering in 2008 and further recognized as a Provincial Demonstration Center for Experimental Teaching in 2011.
The department offers an undergraduate program in Road, Bridge, and River-Crossing Engineering, together with master's and doctoral programs under the second-level discipline of Road and Railway Engineering. Its research addresses the theory, design, and development of new materials for road and bridge infrastructure, structural disaster prevention and mitigation, and intelligent maintenance and monitoring technologies.
I. Faculty
The department currently comprises 24 faculty members, forming a well-balanced team of senior, mid-career, and early-career scholars, with mid-career and early-career faculty as the mainstay. Among them are one former member of the Discipline Review Panel for Transportation Engineering under the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council; one recipient of the State Council Special Government Allowance; one Leading Talent in Science and Technology Innovation under the transportation industry's Talent Advancement Program; one Young Science and Technology Talent recognized by the Ministry of Transport; two Experts with Outstanding Contributions to Jilin Province; and, under Jilin University's Tang Aoqing Scholars Program, one Leading Professor, two Distinguished Professors, and one Young Scholar.
Ninety-five percent of faculty members hold doctoral degrees, earned at leading institutions across China, including Tsinghua University, Beijing Jiaotong University, Chang'an University, and Harbin Institute of Technology. Their academic backgrounds span a broad range of fields—road and bridge engineering, structural engineering, mechanics, materials science, and mathematics—together constituting a high-level faculty team of academic leaders with wide influence at home and abroad, supported by a dynamic core of academic backbone members.
II. Curriculum
Core Courses: Theoretical Mechanics, Mechanics Of Materials, Structural Mechanics, Engineering Geology For Highway Engineering, Bridge And Culvert Hydrology, Surveying, Soil Science And Soil Mechanics, New Green And Intelligent Materials For Highway Engineering, Principles Of Structural Design, Highway Survey And Design, Subgrade And Pavement Engineering, Bridge Engineering, And Foundation Engineering.
Principal Practical Teaching Components: Road And Bridge Structure Comprehensive Experiments, Professional Recognition Internship For Transportation Infrastructure, Comprehensive Field Practice In Engineering Geology, Comprehensive Practice In Highway Surveying, Ultimate Limit State Design For Highway Bridge And Culvert Concrete Structures, Comprehensive Design Practice For Highway Subgrade And Pavement Engineering, Comprehensive Practice In Highway Survey And Design, Comprehensive Practice In Bridge Construction And Design, Comprehensive Design Practice For Highway Foundation Engineering, Open Innovation Experiments, And Graduation Design (Thesis) and etc.
Principal Professional Laboratory Courses: Road Construction Materials Laboratory, Soil Science and Soil Mechanics Laboratory, Subgrade and Pavement Laboratory, Surveying Laboratory, Bridge Inspection and Strengthening Laboratory, Bridge Engineering Laboratory, and Foundation Engineering Laboratory.
Featured Elective Courses: Intelligent Bridge Inspection And Strengthening, Road Engineering Maintenance And Repair Technology, Introduction To Bridge Disaster Prevention And Reduction Technology, Design Principles Of Steel-Concrete Composite Structures, Intelligent Bridge Seismic Resistance And Resilience Enhancement, Intelligent Simulation Analysis Of Bridge Structures, Intelligent Monitoring Of Bridge Structures, And BIM Practice For Transportation Infrastructure.
III. Program Objectives (Undergraduate)
The program cultivates high-caliber specialized talent equipped to meet the needs of socialist modernization and future societal and technological development—graduates who achieve well-rounded development in moral character, intellectual capacity, physical fitness, aesthetic sensibility, and the value of labor, integrated with a healthy and distinctive personality. Graduates are expected to demonstrate a strong sense of national and civic commitment, critical thinking, an innovative spirit, entrepreneurial awareness, practical competence, and a global outlook, together with sound communication and collaborative skills. Through this program, students master the fundamental principles and knowledge of road, bridge, and river-crossing engineering, receive essential engineering training, and develop the capacity to address complex, forward-looking engineering problems in roads, bridges, and related fields.
IV. Career Prospects
Graduates of the Road, Bridge, and River-Crossing Engineering program pursue advanced studies in related disciplines or enter careers in design, construction, research, planning, testing, inspection, maintenance, and management within road engineering, bridge engineering, and airport engineering. Within roughly five to ten years of graduation, they are expected to have acquired foundational capabilities in project planning, management, research, and development, together with a solid grounding in the humanities and social sciences—preparing them for key technical and managerial positions in design institutes, large enterprises, research institutions, and government agencies.
Since the program's founding, the department has graduated more than 3,000 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students. Most graduates have gone on to serve within China's national transportation administration system—its ministries and bureaus—as well as in universities, prestigious research institutes, large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises in the transportation sector, foreign-affiliated enterprises, and major corporate groups. Many have achieved distinguished records in their fields, rising to become department heads and technical leaders, and have contributed to landmark projects of national and international acclaim, including the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge, the Pingnan Third Bridge, Beijing's Chang'an Avenue, the expressway serving Beijing's new airport, and the complete reconstruction of Beijing's Sanyuan Bridge. These achievements have earned the program broad recognition within the industry and produced a substantial number of graduates who now serve as industry leaders, renowned scholars, and entrepreneurs.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's transportation sector has entered a new stage of high-quality development, accelerating the construction of a Transportation Power and pursuing modernization ahead of schedule. With emphasis on advancing the modernization of infrastructure construction, management, and maintenance—and on achieving breakthroughs in fundamental theory, key common technologies, and forward-looking technologies—the sector aims to support a safer, more durable, and more intelligent integrated multimodal transportation network. This national and industry priority is, in turn, a source of substantial opportunity for the continued development of this program.
V. Program Highlights (Research Competencies & Areas)
The department holds the authority to confer master's and doctoral degrees under the second-level discipline of Road and Railway Engineering and is authorized to host postdoctoral researchers under the first-level discipline of Transportation Engineering.
Taking complex environmental conditions into account and drawing on advanced theories and methods for analyzing road and bridge structures, the department's Road and Railway Engineering discipline seeks solutions to major challenges in the field. It has established particular strengths in intelligent inspection and monitoring technologies for transportation infrastructure and corresponding scientific maintenance methods, in freeze–thaw stability control techniques for subgrades, and in the modification mechanisms and performance analysis of high-performance road construction materials.
Primary research areas for Master's and Ph.D. students include:
(1) Intelligent Inspection, Monitoring, and Scientific Maintenance of Transportation Infrastructure: Focusing on roads, bridges, tunnels, and related infrastructure, this area integrates the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and big-data technologies to develop intelligent inspection and monitoring systems capable of defect identification and dynamic condition sensing. Data mining and performance prediction inform science-based maintenance decision models that improve the precision and efficiency of upkeep, ensuring the safe and durable operation of infrastructure.
(2) Disaster Prevention, Mitigation, and Resilience Enhancement of Transportation Infrastructure: This area investigates the response mechanisms and failure modes of transportation infrastructure under earthquakes, floods, landslides, and other hazards. By integrating monitoring and early-warning systems, intelligent sensing, and resilience assessment, the research develops disaster-resistant design methods and resilience-enhancement strategies, establishing a full-cycle system of pre-disaster prevention, emergency response, and post-disaster recovery that strengthens both the disaster resistance and the systemic resilience of infrastructure.
(3) Structural Analysis and Optimization of Transportation Infrastructure: This area examines the mechanical behavior and performance evolution of infrastructure structures under complex loading and environmental conditions. Using numerical simulation, intelligent algorithms, and multi-objective optimization, the research advances structural design optimization and performance enhancement, improving structural safety, durability, and resource efficiency in support of green, low-carbon, and sustainable infrastructure development.
(4) Development and Application of New Materials for Transportation Infrastructure: This area encompasses the optimized design and multi-scale characterization of asphalt-based materials; the performance evolution of asphalt pavements alongside intelligent inspection and maintenance methods; the preservation and enhancement of reinforced-concrete durability; and the development of functional road and bridge materials incorporating solid waste. Research into the mechanical properties, durability, and intelligent response mechanisms of these materials supports their large-scale application in roads, bridges, and tunnels, extending the service life and overall performance of infrastructure.
The department maintains comprehensive testing facilities and advanced laboratory equipment. Its Road and Bridge Engineering Laboratory was designated a Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Highway Engineering in 2008 and recognized as a Provincial Demonstration Center for Experimental Teaching in 2011. In recent years, the department has undertaken 2 projects under the National High-Tech Research and Development Program (863 Program), 1 project under the National Key Research and Development Program, 13 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and more than 100 projects funded by provincial departments of science and technology, education, and transportation, with cumulative vertical research funding of RMB 40 million. Centered in Northeast China and extending its services to North, East, Northwest, and Southwest China, the department has also carried out extensive technical consulting and collaborative work, with cumulative horizontal research funding of RMB 35 million. It has received 13 research awards at the provincial or ministerial level and above—3 first-class, 5 second-class, and 5 third-class—has been granted more than 100 national invention patents, and has authored more than ten textbooks and academic monographs. The department has achieved notable results in disaster prevention and mitigation for road and bridge engineering, bridge inspection and strengthening, and structural and material design for roads and bridges in seasonally frozen regions, earning it considerable standing within the industry.
The department maintains active collaboration and exchange with universities and research institutions in China and abroad. In recent years, more than ten faculty members have undertaken overseas visiting scholarships, advanced training, and academic exchanges. The department has established cooperative relationships with a number of distinguished institutions and enterprises, including the University of Kansas, Texas State University, Virginia Tech, the University of Colorado Denver, and Michigan Technological University in the United States; Chiba University in Japan; and, within China, Tongji University, Southeast University, the Guangxi Transportation Research Institute, and JSTI Group.
VI. Faculty
Doctoral Supervisors: Liu Hanbing, Cheng Yongchun, Wei Haibin, Gong Yafeng, Tan Guojin, Liang Chunyu, Zheng Chuanfeng, Wu Chunli, Wang Fuyu, Wang Wensheng
Professors: Liu Hanbing, Cheng Yongchun, Wei Haibin, Gong Yafeng, Tan Guojin, Liang Chunyu, Zheng Chuanfeng, Wang Fuyu, Wu Chunli
Associate Professors: Jin Weidong, Qin Xuxi, Zhang Yuwei, Zhou Peilei, Wang Wensheng, He Xin, Gu Zhengwei
Lecturers: Tian Lihua, He Feng, Ai Yongming, Song Jiaxiang
Senior Engineers: Bi Haipeng, Li Yanling, Ma Guirong, Wang Shurong
