Mechanics of Soft Active Materials
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Overview
This course provides a comprehensive understanding of the mechanics of soft active materials, which are materials that can
undergo significant deformations in response to external stimuli such as electric fields, magnetic fields, temperature changes,
and chemical environments. The course covers the fundamental principles, modeling techniques, and applications of these
materials in various fields, including biomedical engineering, robotics, and smart materials. Students will explore the theoretical
and computational aspects of soft active materials and their emerging applications.
Soft Active Materials (SAMs) are used in various applications, such as adjustable actuators, vibration dampers, wave energy
generators, artificial muscles, and devices with tunable properties like lenses. However, modelling these complex materials, which
interact with multiple fields simultaneously, is a key challenge for their further development and industrial use.
This course will teach the mathematical, computational, and experimental techniques needed to understand and work with these
materials, grounded in the principles of Continuum Mechanics. It will cover how to create models that describe how these
materials behave under different forces and fields and how to use computational methods to solve the complex equations
involved. The course will also explore the challenges of manufacturing and testing these materials, which often require specialized
equipment and innovative e approaches.
Modules A: Introduction to Soft Active Materials: September 01, 2025 (Monday)
B: Mechanics and Modeling of Soft Materials : September 02, 2025 (Tuesday)
C: Stimuli-Responsive Materials and Applications: September 03, 2025 (Wednesday)
D. Experimental and Computational Techniques: September 04, 2025 (Thursday)
E. Advanced Topics and Case Studies in Soft Materials: September 05, 2025 (Friday)
Kindly refer to the attached brochure for the entire course details.
Number of participants for the course will be limited to fifty.
Who can attend ▪ Students at various academic levels, including undergraduate (BTech), master's (MSc, MTech),
and doctoral (PhD) programs, as well as faculty members from well-established and reputable
academic and technical institutions.
▪ The course is addressed to doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in mechanical, civil
and aerospace engineering, material science, applied physics and applied mathematics;
academic and industrial researchers, and practicing engineers.
Fees The participation fees for taking the course is as follows:
Participants from abroad: US $200
Industry/ Research Organizations: INR 30,000
Academic Institutions: INR 5,000
Students: INR 1,000
The above fee includes all instructional materials, computer use for tutorials and assignments,
laboratory equipment usage charges, 24 hr. free internet facility.
The participants will be provided with accommodation on payment basis.
Note: There is no central registration on the GIAN portal (gian.iith.ac.in); registration will be
managed directly by the hosting institute.
The Faculty
Prof. Prashant Saxena Prashant Saxena is a Senior
Lecturer in the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of
Glasgow. Prashant is interested in understanding the complex
behavior soft solids display due to deformation under extreme multi-
physics fields. Dr. Saxena has undergraduate degrees in Mechanical
Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and a PhD in
Applied Mathematics from the University of Glasgow. He has received
postdoctoral training from Universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg and
Lausanne. He has also worked as an Assistant Professor at the Indian
Institute of Technology Hyderabad before returning to Glasgow. Dr.
Saxena has received several awards for his work including the New
Investigator award from EPSRC, Ramanujan fellowship from SERB, and
a Gold Medal in the Indian national physics Olympiad.
Dr. Deepak Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the
Department of Mechanical Engineering at MANIT-Bhopal. Prior to
joining MANIT-Bhopal, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow with a
Course Co-ordinator
research group on bio-mechanics and soft machines at Applied
Mechanics Department of IIT-Delhi. His main areas of interest include Dr. Aman Khurana
Phone: +91-7800338585/7455881900
Soft Materials Mechanics, Electro-magneto-elasticity, Electro-
E-mail: amankhurana@iiti.ac.in
magneto-rheology. Dr. Kumar is a highly motivated dynamic scholar
and fully dedicated to the original research. He is the recipient of AMIE
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Fellow award 2018 from a premier organization namely the Institution
Registration link
of Engineers India incorporated by Royal Charter 1935. https://payu.in/web/EB3AF4CBC22FB4C90B5ABC9A52
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Detailed Course Schedule Brochure
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ukv0Qkybb1miqQT6
QZQmJTlErXzibYFV/view?usp=drive_link
Dr. Aman Khurana is an Assistant Professor in
Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of
Technology Indore. He also worked as a Post-doctoral Researcher in
Intelligent Materials Systems Lab, Saarland University, Saarbrucken,
Germany. Dr. khurana received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
(Specialized in Continuum Mechanics) from IIT-Roorkee in 2022. His
research interest includes; Soft materials mechanics, Dynamics of
minimum energy structures made up of electroactive polymers. He is
the recipient of DST Inspire Faculty Fellowship 2022 from Ministry of
Science and Technology, Government of India.
