Galen D. Stucky (McPherson, Kansas, 1936) graduated in Chemistry and Physics from McPherson College in 1957 and obtained his PhD in Physical Chemistry from Iowa State University in 1962. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1962-1963) and at the Institute of Quantum Chemistry, Gainesville (1963). He later worked at the University of Illinois (1964-1980), the Sandia National Laboratory (1979-1981) and at DuPont Central Research and Development (1981-1985). In 1985, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he is currently professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and in the Materials Department and member of the Interdepartmental Program in Biomolecular Science and Engineering.

Stucky's work is on the cutting edge of demonstrating how porous materials can be synthesized and selectively converted into desired morphologies for applications in optics, catalysis, energy storage and separation. He has also carried out in vivo studies on biomineralization, the concepts of which he is currently applying to the in vitro synthesis of complex composite materials.

The general aim of his current lines of research comprises the design and synthesis of new materials and the creation of 3-D multifunctional systems through cooperative molecular assembly. Biomaterials, nanostructured organic and inorganic polymers, molecular sieves, mesoporous, thermoelectric catalytic and electro-optical materials are being synthesized and studied by the Stucky group. Author of over 700 scientific articles, he is the holder of 28 patents.

He is a fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as honorary professor of Fudan University, Shanghai.

The distinctions he has received include the Humboldt Research Prize (2000), the American Chemical Society Award in Chemistry of Materials (2002) and the International Mesostructured Materials Association Award (2004). In 2008, he received the Advanced Technology Applications for Combat Casualty Care Award from the US Department of Defense for developing a clotting gauze that helped save the lives of severely injured soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2014.