Our group employs theoretical and numerical approaches to accelerate the wider acceptance of active materials in engineering applications by providing valuable insights into an overarching fundamental scientific understanding of functional coupling, dissipative mechanisms, and structural evolution. Active materials, i.e., solids capable of converting energy applied by a non-mechanical field to mechanical work and vice versa, are desirable in sensing, actuation, energy absorption, and vibration damping applications in the oil, aerospace, and medical industries.