Exploring the latest findings, new materials, and applications, this issue keeps readers current with some of the most important developments in strategic materials and the computational design of ceramics and composites. It features select contributions from one symposium and three focused sessions that took place in January 2012 during the 36th International Conference and Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC). This issue represents one of nine CESP issues published from the 36th ICACC meeting.

Waltraud M. Kriven is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Professor Kriven received her Ph.D. in 1976 in Solid State Chemistry from the University of Adelaide in South Auatralia and her B.Sc. (Honors) and Baccalaureate degrees in Physical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, and Biochemistry from the same institute. She is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of phase transformations in inorganic compounds and their applications in structural ceramic composites. She has authored or co-authored over 240 research publications, and fourteen books to date.