Areas of research in the smart structures & systems laboratory include but are not limited to structural health monitoring and sensing technologies. We have been working on the structural health monitoring research to develop various data interrogation and damage detection techniques based on a unique statistical pattern recognition approach. Other research interests include structural dynamics, system identification, smart materials & structures, modal analysis & vibration testing, active sensing, signal processing, data interrogation, probabilistic & statistical analysis, and statistical pattern recognition. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an integrated process of data acquisition, signal processing and statistical inference used to track and assure the safety and performance of a structure. SHM has immediate life-saving benefits and market potential. Using recent advances in sensing technologies, one would like to continuously or periodically monitor the conditions of such structures with minimal costs and maintenance. Western Europe's worst environmental disaster, caused by oil spill from the Prestige oil tanker, could also have been prevented if a reliable monitoring system had been installed to detect fatigue related cracks in the ship hull.