Galen Stucky obtained his Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry from R. E. Rundle at Iowa State University in 1962, with a thesis on the synthesis, NMR, single-crystal growth, and structural characterization of the Grignard reagent. In 1962-63, he was a postdoctoral associate with Clifford G. Shull in the Department of Physics at MIT, studying the Schwinger effect by polarized neutron scattering from pyroelectric crystals. He received a National Science Foundation Fellowship to participate in a three-month workshop with Per Löwdin at the Florida Quantum Chemistry Institute, and then began his academic career in 1964 as an Assistant Professor in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where we has promoted to Full Professor in 1972. After a non-academic interlude at Sandia National Laboratory and DuPont Central Research and Development from 1980 to 1985, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is now Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry (College of Letters and Science), Professor in the Materials Department (College of Engineering), and a member of the Interdepartmental Program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He was appointed the E. Khashoggi Industries, LLC Professor in Letters and Science in 2006.

Dr. Stucky has been active in the American Chemical Society, serving as an Associate Editor of the Journal of Inorganic Chemistry and as Chairman of the Inorganic Division. In addition he has been a member of the Materials Research Society and SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineers, and has served on numerous editorial boards. He has published more than 600 papers, reviews, and communications, and has been a plenary, keynote, or named lecturer at more than 20 international symposia and institutions in the past six years. Dr. Stucky was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1994. Recent honors include the Humboldt Research Prize (2000), the American Chemical Society Award in Chemistry of Materials (2002), the IMMA (International Mesostructured Materials Association) Award (2004), and election to fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2005). He is an Honorary Professof of Fudan University in Shanghai and a Visiting Professor at Peking University in Beijing.

Dr. Stucky's research has included the development of optical materials for commercial applications, the elucidation of new synthesis paradigms for the creation of materials that have 3-D patterned pore structures, and the single-system synthesis and procession of hierarchically structured and patterned composite and porous materials on multiple length scales (10, 100, and 1000 nm) to optimize both space/flow velocity and active site access with molecular selectivity. His research has been at the forefront of demonstrating how porous materials can be selectively processed into desired morphologies for catalytic, separation, and optical applications. He has also carried out in vivo studies of biomineralization and is currently applying that knowledge to in vitro materials synthesis.

In Dr. Stucky's current research, the overall goal is the design and synthesis of new materials with an emphasis on understanding interface and nucleation chemistry and creating multifunctional 3-D systems by cooperative molecular assembly. Biomaterials, nanostructured organic polymer/inorganic materials, molecular sieves, mesoporous (15 - 500 Å), thermoelectric, catalytic and electro-optic materials are being synthesized and studied. Of particular interest are the single-system assembly of high-surface-area separation media, nanostructured composite packaging materials, chip patterned optical circuits, microlaser arrays, photocatalytic systems, low-dielectric coatings, and sensors, and in general the nucleation and crystal growth of biphase nanocomposite materials using the multiphase media and the cooperative assembly of inorganic molecular species with organic block co-polymers. Other specific goals include studies of chemistry in confined spaces, biotech applications of porous materials, the use of inclusion chemistry to control nonlinear optical properties, the self-assembly of molecular and semiconductor quantum arrays in porous crystalline hosts to form supramolecular lattices, and, in collaboration with Prof. J. Herbert Waite, the bioinspired synthesis of inorganic materials using polyelectrolytes and sequenced polypeptide substrates.

On August 11th, 2008 Galen Stucky was honored for his role in the development of a blood-clotting gauze that is helping save soldiers who suffer severe, life-threatening injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.