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Rare earth elements (REEs) are essential for many important advanced technologies in electronics, manufacturing, medical science, and renewable energy. Extraction and separation of REEs is difficult, costly, and often harmful to the environment. There is an urgent need to identify effective, efficient, environmentally friendly separation methods that recycle REEs from waste streams to provide a steady domestic source of these elements. Our group has worked in collaboration with experts in membrane science and computational simulation to develop peptides capable of REE capture as a more efficient, economical, and green approach. Our approach is to utilize sequences found in the protein lanmodulin, known to bind to REEs with high affinity. We utilize traditional peptide characterization tools such as isothermal titration calorimetry and circular dichroism combined with unique surface analysis techniques such as quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring to provide detailed information about the binding behavior of the peptides and ions under various conditions. These techniques in combination with the expertise of our collaborators show that 1) surface-bound lanmodulin-derived peptides maintain high affinity for REEs, 2) peptide-functionalized membrane separators have high potential as a unit operation in REE recovery, and 3) strategic engineering of the peptide sequence gives rise to advanced separation and sensing capabilities. Generally, our results demonstrate that engineered peptides are promising tools for resource recovery and can help enable a sustainable future.