Alison Sweeney, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and of physics, focuses on the mechanisms by which novel materials arise in natural evolution, and the mechanisms by which evolution finds novel routes to self-assembly. Recent examples of this include work on self-assembly of gradient-index lenses in squids, and micron-scale surface textures in pollen. A recent Science Friday short film on their work provides a nice introduction to her program: https://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/a-squids-eye-view/