"PREFACE AND DEDICATION This Special Volume of the American Concrete Institute is dedicated to Alexander C. Scordelis@ Professor Emeritus of the University of California at Berkeley@ prominent structural engineer and educator. The 18 papers are written to honor Alexander Scordelis for initiating@ developing@ and leading the field of finite element analysis of reinforced concrete structures@ a research field that has attracted eminent research scientists and engineers from all over the world. It all started in 1967 with the publication of a paper in the Journal of the American Concrete Institute entitled ""Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Beams."" At that time@ the finite element method had reached a certain degree of maturity at the University of California at Berkeley. Given Scordelis's interest in the analysis and design of concrete structures@ it was only natural that he would apply this new analytical tool to model the nonlinear crack and bond behavior of a reinforced concrete beam. Little did he know that this paper would become a classic and establish a new field of scientific inquiry. In May 1977@ Scordelis took the initiative to form the joint ACI-ASCE Task Committee on Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures@ FEARCS@ in the form of a letter addressed to persons known to be active in this field. The formation of this committee was approved in August 1977@ with Arthur Nilson as its first chairman.. In 1982@ this task committee published its first state-of-the-art report as a special publication of ASCE@ which became by far the most frequently quoted reference on the subject. In 1985@ the standing ACI-ASCE Committee 447 joined the JCI Research Committee on Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures of the Japan Concrete Institute in Tokyo to organize a joint seminar@ under chairmen Christian Meyer and Hajime Okamura. The proceedings contain 40 papers@ which were published in 1986 in the form of a special publication by ASCE. The same committees held a second joint seminar on the campus of Columbia University in New York City in 1991. The proceedings of this meeting were arranged in nine topical sections that update the original state-of-the-art report of 1982. They were edited and published in 1993 by chairman Dr. Jeremy Isenberg under the heading ""Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Structures II."" The present volume of AC1 features 18 papers that were presented during the AC1 Fall 2000 Convention in Toronto. The three-session mini-symposium was sponsored jointly by the ACI-ASCE Committee 447@ chaired by Kaspar Willam@ and the JCI Committee on Post-Peak Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Structures Subjected to Seismic Loads@ under chair Tada-aki Tanabe. It is the post-peak behavior of concrete and bond that has challenged the community of finite element analysts for a long time. Thereby@ the prediction of ductility demands in earthquake engineering constitutes a major obstacle within the research field@ which Professor Scordelis was so instrumental in creating 23 years earlier."