Dialog Box to Matrix

I have to write a programme where I ask the user for certain values and use that values to test whether it fails or not. I want to convert the user entries (which is a cell array) into a matrix. How do I do that? My code looks as follows:

%Message box to explain to user what to do
message = sprintf('Hello! \n\n You are about to test the failure of a material. \n\n Please take note of the following: \n\n1. When asked to enter properties of material, \ndo not write values in scientific notation. \n\n2. Use a comma for decimal values. \n\n3. For unknown values, enter 0. \n\nClick OK to continue.'); %notes to be printed by message box
uiwait(msgbox(message, 'TAKE NOTE!','warn', 'modal')); %block execution that waits for user to response to message box before continiuing with the rest of the code

%Dialog box to gather user input of all material properties
%Dialog box split into two boxes to fit all questions

mat_prop_1 = inputdlg({'1. Material name:','2. Stress in x-direction [MPa]:', '3. Stress in y-direction [MPa]:', '4. Shear stress [MPa]:', ...
    '5. Strain in x-direction [µm/m]:', '6. Strain in y-direction [µm/m]:', '7. Shear strain [µm/m]:', '8. Ply angle from positive x-direction [degrees]:', ...
    '9. Longitudinal elastic modulus [GPa]:', '10. Transverse elastic modulus [GPa]:'}, 'Material Properties'); %first part of properties to be entered by user by means of dialog box

mat_prop_2 = inputdlg({'11. Major Poisson ratio:', '12. Shear Modulus [GPa]:', '13. Ultimate longitudinal tensile strength [MPa]:', ...
    '14. Ultimate longitudinal compressive strength [MPa]:', '15. Ultimate transverse tensile strength [MPa]:', '16. Ultimate transverse compressive strength [MPa]:', ...
    '17. Ultimate in-plane shear strength [MPa]:', '18. Safety Factor:'}, 'Material Properties'); %second part of properties to be entered by user by means of dialog box

I had to make two dialog boxes since all the questions did not fit into one.

[Walter Roberson]

cellfun(@str2double, mat_prop_1(2:end))

And make sure you check whether you get any nan results -- if you do then what was entered is not valid numbers.