BRUCE A. FINLAYSON is Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington. He is the author of three previous books, editor of the mathematics section for the seventh and eighth editions of Perry's ChemicalEngineer's Handbook, and has authored or coauthored over 100 papers, along with the mathematics chapter in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Dr. Finlayson serves on four editorial boards for technicaljournals. He has served as president and director of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and as chair of its Computing and Systems Technology (CAST) Division; and as former chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Washington.