I am pleased to present this double-sized July issue, which includes a supplement edited by our Associate Editors, Dr. Constantinos Mavroidis and Dr. G. K. (Suresh) Ananthasuresh, on the “Mechanical Design of Micro, Nano, and Biologically Inspired Systems.” The color separator was designed by Dr. Ananthasuresh’s wife, Bharathi Gondi, to suggest a separate volume of the journal with illustrations taken from the enclosed articles.
This supplement shows how advances in molecular biology and microfabrication are fueling the expansion of mechanical design research into the analysis, design, manufacture, and control of remarkably innovative mechanical devices.
While I have always been impressed by microelectromechanical systems, I view with childlike amazement the success of our colleagues in biology, who have teased out the details of the structure and operation of chains of molecules consisting of tens of thousands of atoms to the point that mechanical engineers can envision assembling these chains into linkage systems to be actuated by nanomotors.
