Prof. Low gained his B.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Engineering from Monash University prior to taking up lecturer positions first at Auckland University and then Curtin University. In 1986-1988, he conducted post-doctoral research with Prof. Y-W Mai on fracture and toughening micromechanics of epoxy systems at Sydney University. He was awarded a Visiting Professorship by the Japanese Ministry of Education to work with Prof. Nihari at Osaka University in 1995/1996. He is a Fellow of the Australian Ceramic Society and serves on the editorial boards of several materials-related journals. He is also the recipient of the prestigious 1996 Joint Australian Ceramic Society/Ceramic Society of Japan Ceramic Award for excellence in ceramics research. Prof. Low has authored or edited more than 10 books (4 of these with Elsevier) and is author of over 250 archival research papers. His research interests include polymer- and ceramic matrix composites, nanomaterials, toughening and failure micromechanics.