On March 13, Jiaqi Chang, a direct-entry Ph.D. student from the College of Civil Engineering of Tongji University, successfully defended his doctoral dissertation at Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB) in Germany. He has become the first joint Ph.D. graduate of the 2 institutions. Under the supervision of Prof. Hongwei Huang at Tongji and Prof. Markus Thewes at RUB, Chang conducted innovative research in tunnel engineering, leveraging the complementary strengths of both universities. His research focused on tunnel construction optimization and intelligent control, yielding breakthrough results published in top-tier international journals. Chang has also been invited to present at international academic conferences. This accomplishment marks a significant milestone in the partnership between the 2 institutions for cultivating high-level international talent. In addition to the collaborative success, Tongji and RUB, along with other partner institutions, established the Sino-DACH Research Center of Smart Civil Infrastructure in 2024.