Prof. Dr. Youcai Zhao is a professor of environmental engineering at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University.  He obtained a bachelor's degree from the Department of Chemistry, Sichuan University, in 1984 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Chemical Metallurgy (now Institute of Process Engineering) from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, in 1990. He worked at the Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai, as a postdoctoral fellow from 1990 to 1991 before joining Tongji University in October 1991. In the meantime, he worked at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland at the Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering; the National University of Singapore, Singapore; the Department of Environmental Health Science, Tulane University, New Orleans, USA; and the Laboratory of General & Inorganic Chemical  Technology, the Department of  Chemistry, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece, as a Visiting Scientist, a Research Fellow, a Visiting Professor, and a Marie-Currie Research Fellow of EU, respectively, since 1995 for a total of 4 years. His research interests include the treatment of municipal solid wastes, sewage sludge, hazardous wastes, polluted construction wastes, and industrial wastes.