Steering flows and patterns in active fluids

Active matter, i.e., internally driven matter fueled by a sustained dissipation of free energy, is ubiquitous in the natural world. Examples range from bird flocks and human crowds to migrating cells and biopolymer gels, including synthetic systems like phoretic colloids and robots. While much is known about the emergent collective phenomena and complex dynamics that active matter exhibits, little is known about the inverse problem on how they can be controlled. I will discuss a few different vignettes on our recent efforts in controlling and steering flows, patterns, and excitations in active fluids, highlighting implications for the design of novel metamaterials and biomimetic constructs.