Shan Gao is a member of the Research Center of Metal and Composite Structures at the Harbin Institute of Technology. The research center was founded by Emeritus Professor Shan-tong Zhong and has been focusing on the performance of concrete-filled steel tubular structures for more than 60 years. Since 2008, the team has collaboratively started working on progressive collapse analysis of steel and composite structures through large experiments, multi-scale simulations, and theoretical prediction. More than 30 papers have been published on this topic with more than 400 citations. The research has generated a proliferation of highly cited papers and has also been included in a Chinese design standard against progressive collapse. Man Xu received a PhD in Structural Engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology in 2011 and has been teaching at Northeast Forestry University since. Her research focuses on steel-concrete composite structures and steel-wood composite structures as well as progressive collapse performance of steel and composite structures. She has recently won the first prize in one of China's Young Teachers' Contests.

She has presided over and completed one project for the National Natural Science Foundation of China, two projects for the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University, and two laboratory open-funded projects. Nan Guo received a PhD in Structural Engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology in 2009 and held teaching positions at Northeast Forestry University until 2023, when he joined Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. His research focuses on the theoretical aspects of modern bamboo and timber structures' construction. He has presided over one project for the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He is a member of the Wood Structures Committee of the Architectural Society of China, a member of the Wood and Composite Structures Committee of the Chinese Association for Engineering Construction Standardization, and a member of the China Wood Protection Industry Association.