Dietmar Gross received his Engineering Diploma in Applied Mechanics and his Doctor of Engineering degree at the University of Rostock. He was Research Associate at the University of Stuttgart and since 1976 he is Professor of Mechanics at the University of Darmstadt. His research interests are mainly focused on modern solid mechanics on the macro and micro scale, including advanced materials, Jorg Schroder studied Civil Engineering, received his doctoral degree at the University of Hannover and habilitated at the University of Stuttgart. He was Professor of Mechanics at the University of Darmstadt and went to the University of Duisburg-Essen in 2001. His fields of research are theoretical and computer-oriented continuum mechanics, modeling of functional materials as well as the further development of the finite element method. Peter Wriggers was appointed as Full Professor at the Institute of Mechanics at TH Darmstadt in 1990. In 1998 he changed to the University of Hannover. He held the chair for Mechanics in Civil Engineering from 1990 to 2008. Since 2008 he is director of the Institute of Continuum Mechanics in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Leibniz Universitat Hannover. Wolfgang Ehlers studied Civil Engineering at the University of Hannover and received his doctoral and habilitation degrees at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He was Professor of Continuum Mechanics at the University of Darmstadt and went to the University of Stuttgart in 1995. His fields of research are computer-oriented continuum mechanics with specific emphasis on coupled problems and porous media. Ralf Muller received his Diploma in Mechanics and his Doctor of Engineering degree at the University of Technology. He was a Postdoc at the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France and a Juniorprofessor at the University of Darmstadt, where he also did his habilitation. Since 2009 he is a Professor for Applied Mechanics at the University of Kaiserslautern. His research interests are continuum mechanics, micro and configurational mechanics as well as numerical methods.