This book is dedicated to Professor Cristóvão Manuel Mota Soares, late Associate Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, deceased on July 3, 2025.

In this book, many of his colleagues and friends contributed their latest insights to analytical, numerical, and machine¿learning–based approaches for a better understanding of composite materials, laminated shells, functionally graded structures, and nanöreinforced beams. The book spans classical mechanics, higher¿order theories, meshless and finite¿element formulations, and emerging datädriven methods such as physics¿informed neural networks and extreme learning machines.

All of these impressive contributions underline the great impact that Cristóvão Manuel Mota Soares had on the development of mechanics.