"Dr hab. Eng. Marek Kwasniewski is Professor of Rock Mechanics and Mining Geomechanics and Head of Rock Mechanics Research Group at the Faculty of Mining and Geology, the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Poland, a Guest-Professor at the China University of Mining and Technology in Beijing, and a Visiting Professor at Qingdao Technological University. He holds an M. Eng. degree in Mining Engineering and a Dr. techn. Sc. degree from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, Poland, and Dr. hab. techn. Sc. degree from the Silesian University of Technology. His primary research interests are: the behavior of rocks under general triaxial stress conditions and the precursors of brittle failure of rocks. His industry-related activities include leadership positions in numerous national and international R&D projects on various aspects of strata control in underground mines, including the stability of mine workings, rockburst hazard and ground subsidence problems. He is a member of several scientific and professional societies including the International Bureau of Strata Mechanics (he served as Secretary-General of the IBSM from 1973 to 1988), the International Society for Rock Mechanics (he presided over the ISRM Commission on Education from 1993 to 2002) and the American Geophysical Union. He co-founded the Polish Society of Rock Mechanics in 1993 and has been serving as the President of this Society since 2007. He has been the Editor-in-Chief of the ""Geomechanics Research"" Series from CRC PRess/Balkema - Francis & Taylor Group (formerly A. A. Balkema Publishers) since 1987 and a member of the editorial boards of Archives of Mining Sciences (since 1999) and Rock Mechanics & Rock Engineering (since 2009). He has lectured extensively at rock mechanics symposia and congresses all over the world and taught at many universities in China, France, Japan, Portugal and Sweden. He has published more than two hundred research papers and several monographs on rock mechanics and strata control in mines."