Zoubeida Ounaies is a professor of mechanical engineering, director of the Convergence Center for Living Multifunctional Material Systems (LiMC2) and associate director of the Materials Research Institute at the Pennsylvania State University. Zoubeida is an ASME and an SPIE fellow. She joined Penn State in January 2011 as an associate professor with the Dorothy Quiggle Career Development Professorship in Mechanical Engineering. Her research focuses on the design and development of responsive polymer-based materials with unique combinations of mechanical, electrical, magnetic, and coupled properties. Broadly speaking, Zoubeida aims to develop responsive material systems that adapt to changes in the environment, are robust and resilient, survive adverse conditions, harvest energy from the environment, and consist of sustainable components. At Penn State, Zoubeida established the Electroactive Materials Characterization Laboratory (EMCLab) where she and her students focus on advancing the application of responsive materials in energy storage, energy conversion, and energy harvesting.