Assistant Professor Markus Buehler is executive editor of a new journal launched March 2009: The International Journal of Applied Mechanics (IJAM). IJAM focuses on innovative research in mechanics including solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics and material science, and in emerging areas such as biomechanics, electromechanics, and the mechanical behavior of advanced materials and nanomechanics. The inaugural issue of the quarterly journal contains an article co-written by Buehler and CEE graduate students Zhao Qin and Steven Cranford, and former visiting graduate student Theodor Ackbarow. “Our paper shows that by using hierarchical nanostructures found in biology, we can achieve unusual properties in synthetic materials, such as enabling them to combine strength with robustness,” said Buehler. “Most engineered materials cannot yet combine these opposing properties. Through our work, we hope to develop self-assembled bio-inspired materials capable of fulfilling multiple competing properties, while requiring less material and less energy to be created.” A figure from the article, “Robustness-Strength Performance of Hierarchical Alpha-Helical Protein Filaments,” depicting the structural hierarchies in a helical protein decorates the issue’s cover. IJAM is available through the MIT Libraries.