Contributions from three Focused Sessions that were part of the 34th International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC), in Daytona Beach, FL, January 24-29, 2010 are presented in this volume. The broad range of topics is captured by the Focused Session titles, which are listed as follows: FS1 - Geopolymers and other Inorganic Polymers; FS3 - Computational Design, Modeling Simulation and Characterization of Ceramics and Composites; and FS4 - Nanolaminated Ternary Carbides and Nitrides (MAX Phases). The session on Geopolymers and other Inorganic Polymers continues to attract growing attention from international researchers (USA, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, and Viet Nam) and it is encouraging to see the variety of established and new applications being found for these novel and potentially useful materials. The session organizer gratefully acknowledges the support of the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) through Dr. Joan Fuller. The AFOSR has continuously supported these conferences since the first meeting in Nashville, TN in 2003.

Focused Session 3 was dedicated to design, modeling, simulation and characterization of ceramics and composites. 27 technical papers were presented on prediction of crystal structure and phase stability, characterization of interfaces and grain boundaries at atomic scale, optimization of electrical, optical and mechanical properties, modeling of defects and related properties, design of materials and components at different length scales, application of novel computational methods for processing. Four of these papers are included in this issue of CESP.

Focused Session 4 was dedicated to MAX phases - a class of ternary carbides and nitrides with nanolaminated structure and general formula Mn+1AXn (where M is an early transition metal, A is an A-group element from IIIA to VIA, X is either C or N, and n=1, 2, 3 …). The MAX phases have attracted recently a lot of attention because they possess unique combination of metallic- and ceramic-like properties. In all, 30 technical papers were presented during this session. Four of these papers are included in this issue.

Volume editor: Sanjay Mathur, Tatsuki Ohji