Book excerpt: This book contains 71 papers presented at the symposium on “Recent Advances in Experimental Mechanics” which was organized in honor of Professor Isaac M. Daniel. The symposium took place at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University on th June 23-28, 2002, in conjunction with the 14 US National Congress of Applied Mechanics. The book is a tribute to Isaac Daniel, a pioneer of experimental mechanics and composite materials, in recognition of his continuous, original, diversified and outstanding contributions for half a century. The book consists of invited papers written by leading experts in the field. It contains original contributions concerning the latest developments in experimental mechanics. It covers a wide range of subjects, including optical methods of stress analysis (photoelasticity, moiré, etc.), composite materials, sandwich construction, fracture mechanics, fatigue and damage, nondestructive evaluation, dynamic problems, fiber optic sensors, speckle metrology, digital image processing, nanotechnology, neutron diffraction and synchrotron radiation methods. The papers are arranged in the following nine sections: Mechanical characterization of material behavior, composite materials, fracture and fatigue, optical methods, n- destructive evaluation, neutron diffraction and synchrotron radiation methods, hybrid methods, composite structures, and structural testing and analysis.