S.T. Mau, PhD, PE, is a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics at California State University, Northridge. He was formerly Dean of Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology and California State University, Northridge, and department chair at National Taiwan University and University of Houston. He is also the co-author of a previous textbook, Elementary Theory of Structures, Fourth Edition (1995), and a recipient of the Moisseiff Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers.