Drs. George Z. Voyiadjis and Peter I. Kattan, of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering were awarded the 2005 Dean’s Book Award for two books they co-authored titled Mechanics of Composite Materials with MATLAB and Damage Mechanics, both of which have been published by Springer-Verlag.

Mechanics of Composite Materials with MATLAB makes use of the popular computer program MATLAB as the major computer tool to study mechanics of composite materials. It is written specifically for students in engineering and materials science examining step-by-step solutions of composite material mechanics problems using MATLAB. Each of the 12 chapters includes a summary of the basic equations, MATLAB functions used in the chapter, solved examples, and practice problems. The main emphasis of the textbook is on learning the composite material mechanics computations and on understanding the underlying concepts. It includes an appendix with solutions to most of the problems, an accompanying CD-ROM with a set of 44 MATLAB functions, and a detailed solutions manual.

Their other book, Damage Mechanics, was developed and tested during the past four years at LSU. The book is presented in a consistent manner and developed around a well-supported theory, limited to metals and homogenous materials, complete with the necessary mathematical preliminaries. It also includes reviews of the theories of elasticity and plasticity, making the book extremely self-sufficient.

The book award and $1,000 check, sponsored by the College of Engineering, is presented to the author while he or she is a current member of the College of Engineering; however, the award stipend is prorated if the book has multiple authors who are members of the LSU College of Engineering. While book chapters and edited books are not eligible, new editions may be entered, as long as each book only qualifies once. Highlighting the importance of these honored books, one autographed copy is retained for the College’s collection.

I am excited about the publication of these books, in that their systematic approach allows the latest research to be presented in an interactive manner, in which the books become self-sufficient,” said Voyiadjis.