Professor Granick received his B.A. cum laude from Princeton University in 1978 and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982. He joined the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1985 following postdoctoral research at the Collège de France with P.-G. de Gennes and at the University of Minnesota with Matthew Tirrell. At Illiniois, he is a professor in the departments of Chemistry, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Physics, and Materials Science and Engineering. He is also an affiliate faculty member in the Beckman Institute 3D Micro and Nanosystems group. His research interests are in the areas of single-molecule methods, polymers, complex fluids, and biomaterials.

Honors: Editorial board member: Journal of Physical Chemistry, Journal of Polymer Science B, Polymer, Tribology Letters; Associate, Center for Advanced Study, UIUC, 2005-2006; Vice-Chair, Division of Polymer Physics, American Physical Society, 2004-2005; Invited Foreign Professor, University of Bordeaux (France), 2003; Guest Professor of Polymer Chemistry, Peking University, 2002 to date; Chaire Paris-Science Lectures, 2002.