This book is the result of over ten (10) years of research and development in flexible robots and structures at Sandia National Laboratories. The authors de cided to collect this wealth of knowledge into a set of viewgraphs in order to teach a graduate class in Flexible Robot Dynamics and Controls within the Mechanical En gineering Department at the University of New Mexico (UNM). These viewgraphs, encouragement from several students, and many late nights have produced a book that should provide an upper-level undergraduate and graduate textbook and a reference for experienced professionals. The content of this book spans several disciplines including structural dynam ics, system identification, optimization, and linear, digital, and nonlinear control theory which are developed from several points of view including electrical, me chanical, and aerospace engineering as well as engineering mechanics. As a result, the authors believe that this book demonstrates the value of solid applied theory when developing hardware solutions to real world problems. The reader will find many real world applications in this book and will be shown the applicability of these techniques beyond flexible structures which, in turn, shows the value of mul tidisciplinary education and teaming.

Like millions of his peers, Clint leaves farm, family, budding career, and flies into World War II, a new pilot in a new arm of the Army Air Corps, known as TROOP CARRIER COMMAND. Over a nineteen month span, Clint's letters to his oldest brother chronicle elements of training, deployment, combat, hi-Jinks and outlandish experiences, all while doing his part to bring down the Nazi war machine. Limited by censorship and operational tempo, LETTERS TO DON follows Clint's path, annotated by the larger saga of events and places swirling around the tale, as he shared it, with his big brother. Hidden in his words are anecdotes of deployed life, the stuff of war, a romance, and the experiences that forged soldiers like him, and those who soldiered on the home front, into the Greatest Generation.