Yongqiang Zhang graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering of Nanjing University of Technology in July 1991 with a bachelor's degree. He then moved to the Zhejiang University and graduated from the School of Geotechnical Engineering in March 1994 with a master's degree. He graduated from the School of Architectural Engineering and Mechanics of Xi'an Jiaotong University in July 2000 with a doctorate degree in solid mechanics. From March 1994 to March 1996, he worked in Shenzhen construction group. From the beginning of 2001 to the end of 2005, postdoctoral research was conducted at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and the National University of Singapore-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Consortium. He joined Zhejiang University in March 2006 and was appointed as full professor in July of the same year. At the end of this year, He was named as a doctoral supervisor. In 2003, he won the first prize of science and technology (natural science) in Shaanxi Province. In the year of 2011, he won the second prize of National Natural Science. At the same year, he won the first prize of scientific and technological progress from the Ministry of Education. Prof. Zhang has hosted more than ten projects and has published more than 70 journal papers.