publisher's note

Best wishes to you all for a great New Year!

Many of us wdl be at IMAC-XVIII in San Antonio, Texas, as this issue arrives at your door. This lgth annual meeting of the structural dynamics community kicks off a busy new year of activities for SEM. We’ll share the latest developments with you upon our return from Texas.

SEM Congress is Coming Up Look for an active and informative program at the upcoming SEM IX International Congress and Exposition on Experimen- tal Mechanics, June 5-8, 2000 in Orlando, Florida. The Tech- nical Planning Committee met recently and organized the 340+

papers into more than 90 sessions, includmg papers from all over the world. There are three technical conference tracks for the Congress: 1) Micromechanics: The Bridge Between Materials & Struc tures 2) Validation of Computational Models: Materials & Struc tures 3) Experimental a n d Applied Mechanics

There are two symposia held concurrently with the SEM Congress: 9

Patricia K. Deuschle

J u n e 74,2000: 4th Symposium o n ExperimentaUNumerical Mechanics i n Electronic Packaging, Cosponsored by the Electrical and Electronic Packaging Division of ASME J u n e 8,2000: Microscale Systems: Mechanics a n d Measurements Symposium

The advance program for the SEM IX International Congress & Exposition on Ex- perimental Mechanics is scheduled to mail in February 2000. Please watch the SEM website for updates and the full program, as they become available.

All of these are fantastic opportunities for you to learn more, share your knowledge or participate in, technically. None of which would be possible without the time and interest of the many inhviduals who develop these programs. The Society, and all members, sincerely appreciate their efforts.

On a sad note, we will all miss one such active SEM member, William F. Riley, who passed away in January of this year. Bdl Riley, an Honorary Member and signifi- cant contributor in the field of experimental mechanics, was very involved in the Society for more than 45 years. To pay h m proper creht, a full obituary will ap- pear in the next issue of ET and will be posted on our website, www.sem.org.

SEM’s MISSION STATEMENT The Society for Experimental Mechanics was formed in I943 with the mission to promote and encour- age the furtherance of knowledge pertaining to the education, research and application ofexperimen- to1 mechanics to the determination of materials and systems behavior.

The Society ascribes to that mission and adds to it the commitment to the development, opplication and general use of experimental methods to (a) better understand the physical phenomena that impede technological progress; and (b) complement analytical and computational approaches ta the search for engineering solutions.

SEM Executive Board lgor Emri, President University of Ljubljana. Slovenia Jonathan D. Rogers, President-Elect Sandia National Laboratories Michael A. Sutton, Vice President University of South Carolina Elizabeth A. Stelts, Treasurer Stelts Associates Patricia K. Deuschle, Secretary Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc. Charles E. Harris, Past President Langley Research Center

Ravinder Chona, Past President Texas A&M University Randall J. Allemang, Member University of Cincinnati Bradley R. Boyce, Member Stress Photonics, Inc. lbrahim Miskioglu, Member Michigan Technological University Eddie O’Brien, Member British Aerospace-Airbus Ltd.

Senior Technical Editor Henry R. Busby (2001) The Ohio State University Ernail: busby.2@osu.edu

Associate Technical Editors Susan K. Foss (2000) Deere & Co. Ernail: sf27050@deere.com

R. Mark French (2001) Robert Basch Corporation Ernail: mark.french@bosch-bakes.com

Kristin Zirnrnerrnan (2002) General Motors TechnicLl Center E-mail: lnustc I .vzz559@gmeds.corn

Feature Series Editors

Data Acquisition Al Wicks and Sean Fahey, Virginia Polytech

Structural Testing Carlos Ventura University of British Columbio

Advisory Group Lloyd Lazarus. Chair ( I 998-200 I ) AlliedSignal Corporation

Henry R. Busby ( 1998-200 I ) The Ohio Stote University

Samuel H. Smith (1999-2002) Baaelle Columbus Division

Stuart E. Swam ( 1998-2000) Kansas Stote University

Publisher and Managing Editor Patricia K. Deuschle, SEM Ernail: patasern I .corn

Advertising Manager Joni L.Virgilio, S E M Email: etexpos@sern I .corn

Editorial Assistant Teri L. Barton, S E M Ernail: abstact@sern I .corn

2 EXPERIMENTALTECHNIQUES January/February zoo0