A collection of 23 papers from The American Ceramic Society's 40th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, held in Daytona Beach, Florida, January 24-29, 2016. This issue includes papers presented in Symposium 1 - Mechanical Behavior and Performance of Ceramics and Composites.

Jonathan Salem is the author of seven business books, a former regular contributor to Forbes, Advertising Age, and marketing category expert at Answers.com, and a frequently quoted SME for the media on breaking business news. He previously wrote about the intersection of brands & technology for Information Week. He's a Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, and a Disruptor Foundation Fellow.