The Environmental and Energy Geotechnics (EMERGE) Group focuses on understanding the properties and behavior of geomaterials in the Earth’s subsurface, including minerals, soils, sediments, and sedimentary rocks. Our work investigates geomaterials across multiple length scales, from nanometers to kilometers, by integrating molecular simulations, multiphase flow modeling, and laboratory experiments. Through this multiscale approach, we seek to advance fundamental understanding of mineral microstructure, interfacial interactions, and solute transport, and how nanoscale processes govern the emergent macroscale behavior of geomaterials (e.g., mechanical and hydraulic properties).

This knowledge enables us to address challenges in environment, energy, and materials: (1) environmental challenges including municipal waste containment, contaminant sequestration, coastal protection, and underground engineering; (2) geo-energy applications such as carbon geological storage, radioactive waste isolation, and geothermal energy; and (3) the development of sustainable geomaterials including clay-based functional materials, geopolymers, and waste-derived materials, for resilient and sustainable engineering systems.

Latest News

• March 2026: On March 6, we launched the first group meeting at NTU Singapore. 

• March 2026: Linfeng Chen, a Ph.D. student from Donghua University, joined the group as a Visiting Scholar.

• February 2026: Dr. Wenjie Dai, who earned a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from Tongji University, joined the group as a Postdoctoral Researcher. 

• February 2026: Dr. Weiquan Zhan, who holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Science from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, joined the group as a Postdoctoral Researcher. 

• February 2026: Dr. Zheng was invited to deliver a colloquium talk in the Department of Geosciences at Stony Brook University in New York. The talk title is “Clay Across Scales in Geosciences and Geotechnics”. 

• January 2026: Lingkai Hu, a Ph.D. student from Zhejiang University of Technology, joined the group as a Visiting Scholar.

• January 2026: Dr. Ming Lu, who holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Sun Yat-sen University, joined the group as a Postdoctoral Researcher.

• January 2026: Jingjie Guo, a Ph.D. student from China University of Mining and Technology, joined the group as a Visiting Scholar.

• November 2025: Dr. Zheng started a new journey as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.