Advancement in synchrotron X-ray techniques, microscopy and spectroscopy has extended the characterization capability to study the structure, phonon, spin, and electromagnetic field of materials with improved temporal and spatial resolution. This symposium will cover recent advances of in situ imaging techniques and highlight progress in materials design, synthesis, and engineering in catalysts and devices aided by insights gained from the state-of-the-art real-time materials characterization. This program will bring together works with an emphasis on developing and applying new methods in X-ray or electron diffraction, scanning probe microscopy, and other techniques to in situ studies of the dynamics in materials, such as the structural and chemical evolution of energy materials and catalysts, and the electronic structure of semiconductor and functional oxides. Additionally, this symposium will focus on works in designing, synthesizing new materials and optimizing materials properties by utilizing the insights on mechanisms of materials processes at different length or time scales revealed by in situ techniques. Emerging big data analysis approaches and method development presenting opportunities to aid materials design are welcomed. Discussion on experimental strategies, data analysis, and conceptual works showcasing how new in situ tools can probe exotic and critical processes in materials, such as charge and heat transfer, bonding, transport of molecule and ions, are encouraged. The symposium will identify new directions of in situ research, facilitate the application of new techniques to in situ liquid and gas phase microscopy and spectroscopy, and bridge mechanistic study with practical synthesis and engineering for materials with a broad range of applications.