Extraordinary properties of biological materials are often related to interfacial phenomena, which are bound to the particular surface structure of these biological materials: superhydrophobic lotus leaves, drag reducing shark skin and the die and pigment-free, metallic blue coloration of the Morpho butterfly are just some examples. This course (i) investigates the factors that cause biological surfaces to have specific features; (ii) discusses concepts and analysis of thermodynamic and kinetic events occurring on material surfaces and interfaces (adsorption, wetting, crystallization, etc.); (iii) compares Nature’s solutions to environmental constraints with engineering synthetic approaches. Furthermore, the class will familiarize the students with lessons learnt from Nature and will encourage them to creatively apply bio-inspired strategies to develop new functional materials and solve engineering problems.