diff --git a/src/JuliaFEM.jl b/src/JuliaFEM.jl
index 8033acc..76e5816 100644
--- a/src/JuliaFEM.jl
+++ b/src/JuliaFEM.jl
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ module Preprocess
 include("preprocess.jl")
 export create_elements, Mesh, add_node!, add_nodes!, add_element!,
        add_elements!, add_element_to_element_set!, add_node_to_node_set!,
-       find_nearest_nodes, reorder_element_connectivity!
+       find_nearest_nodes, reorder_element_connectivity!, create_node_set_from_element_set!
 include("preprocess_abaqus_reader.jl")
 export parse_abaqus, parse_section, parse_element_section,
        abaqus_read_mesh, abaqus_read_model
diff --git a/src/preprocess.jl b/src/preprocess.jl
index 0a8ef78..773f127 100644
--- a/src/preprocess.jl
+++ b/src/preprocess.jl
@@ -50,12 +50,16 @@ function add_node_to_node_set!(mesh::Mesh, set_name, nids...)
 end
 
 """ Create a new node set from nodes in element set. """
-function create_node_set_from_element_set!(mesh::Mesh, set_name)
-    node_ids = Set{Int}()
-    for elid in mesh.element_sets[set_name]
-        push!(node_ids, mesh.elements[elid]...)
+function create_node_set_from_element_set!(mesh::Mesh, set_names::String...)
+    for set_name in set_names
+        set_name = Symbol(set_name)
+        info("Creating node set $set_name from element set")
+        node_ids = Set{Int}()
+        for elid in mesh.element_sets[set_name]
+            push!(node_ids, mesh.elements[elid]...)
+        end
+        mesh.node_sets[set_name] = node_ids
     end
-    mesh.node_sets[set_name] = node_ids
     return
 end
 
@@ -145,14 +149,20 @@ end
 
 
 """ find npts nearest nodes from mesh and return id numbers as list. """
-function find_nearest_nodes(mesh::Mesh, coords::Vector, npts=1)
+function find_nearest_nodes(mesh::Mesh, coords::Vector{Float64}, npts::Int=1; node_set=nothing)
     dist = Dict{Int, Float64}()
     for (nid, c) in mesh.nodes
+        if node_set != nothing && !(nid in mesh.node_sets[Symbol(node_set)])
+            continue
+        end
         dist[nid] = norm(coords-c)
     end
     s = sort(collect(dist), by=x->x[2])
     nd = s[1:npts] # [(id1, dist1), (id2, dist2), ..., (id_npts, dist_npts)]
     node_ids = [n[1] for n in nd]
+    if length(node_ids) == 1
+        return first(node_ids)
+    end
     return node_ids
 end
 
diff --git a/test/test_preprocess.jl b/test/test_preprocess.jl
index f760f33..e9b8e9a 100644
--- a/test/test_preprocess.jl
+++ b/test/test_preprocess.jl
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ using JuliaFEM.Preprocess
 using JuliaFEM.Postprocess
 using JuliaFEM.Testing
 
+datadir = first(splitext(basename(@__FILE__)))
+
 @testset "renumber element nodes" begin
     mesh = Mesh()
     add_element!(mesh, 1, :Tet10, [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10])
@@ -31,3 +33,14 @@ end
     @test mesh.elements[1] == vec
     @test mesh.elements[11] == vec
 end
+
+@testset "find nearest nodes from mesh" begin
+    meshfile = joinpath(datadir, "block_2d.med")
+    mesh = aster_read_mesh(meshfile)
+    create_node_set_from_element_set!(mesh, "LOWER_LEFT", "UPPER_BOTTOM")
+    # nid 1 coords = (0.0, 0.5), nid 13 coords = (0.0, 0.5)
+    nid = find_nearest_nodes(mesh, [0.0, 0.5]; node_set="LOWER_LEFT")
+    @test first(nid) == 1
+    nid = find_nearest_nodes(mesh, [0.0, 0.5]; node_set="UPPER_BOTTOM")
+    @test first(nid) == 13
+end