Join Us
We are actively seeking enthusiastic graduates, undergraduates, postdocs and visiting scholars to join our team. If you are interested in our research, please feel free to reach out at yzhao52@unl.edu and share your CV along with a brief outline of your research interests or plans. While our work is primarily rooted in geotechnical engineering and granular matters, we warmly welcome individuals from diverse academic backgrounds—interdisciplinary collaboration is highly valued in our group.
Graduate Students:
To Graduate Research Assistant Applicants
Dear prospective applicants,
Thank you for your interest in joining our research group. I understand that many of you are awaiting feedback emails. Because I receive a large volume of emails, I review applications in batches over several days. Emails that clearly describe your research interests, academic background, and future goals are especially helpful in allowing me to identify strong candidates.
Thanks
We are currently seeking 1–2 PhD students to join in Summer or Fall 2026. Please see the details here.
If you are interested in earning a PhD degree in this research group, you are welcome to apply to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering through the Office of Graduate Studies at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
If you would like to conduct an independent study for academic credit as a master’s student, please contact Dr. Zhao via email or stop by at his office.
Graduate Program Application Resources:
https://graduate.unl.edu/admissions/
https://engineering.unl.edu/graduate-programs/admissions/
https://graduate.unl.edu/academics/programs/CIVE-MS/
https://graduate.unl.edu/academics/programs/CIVE-PHD/
Undergraduate Students:
We are actively seeking passionate undergraduates to join. Check undergraduate research opportunities UCARE program at https://uraf.unl.edu/undergraduate-research/ucare-undergraduate-research/ and a list of opening projects (including our group) at https://uraf.unl.edu/undergraduate-research/find-ucare-opportunity/
If you would like to conduct an independent study for academic credit, please contact Dr. Zhao via email or stop by at his office.
Other Undergraduate Research & Fellowships information: https://uraf.unl.edu/
