In her role as Provost of Science, Cheryl Hayashi leads the Museum’s scientific enterprise. She joined the Museum in 2017 and is a curator in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, the Leon Hess Director of Comparative Biology Research, and professor in the Richard Gilder Graduate School. Prior to her appointment as Provost in 2021, she was the Director of the Museum’s Institute of Comparative Genomics. Hayashi is one of the world’s top experts on spider silks, studying the characteristics of these unique fibers as well as the relationship between spider genomes and their ability to make silks. Hayashi also studies silks from other arthropods (such as caterpillars), non-fibrous proteins such as glues, and comparative analysis of spider silk biomechanics. Her findings, already advancing our understanding of silk and spider evolutionary innovations, also have the potential to influence the development of biomimetic material for a variety of applications, from tissue scaffolds and medical devices to lightweight vehicle parts. She received her B.S., M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University and was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her cross-disciplinary work studying the architecture, structure, and function of spider silks.