Grandin is a worldwide leader in the fields of humane animal handling and autism advocacy.

Grandin, one of the very few livestock-handling equipment managers in the world, has also published numerous books, including the New York Times bestseller “Animals in Translation,” “The Autistic Brain,” and “Thinking in Pictures.”

Grandin has received many awards from organizations including the the Livestock Conservation Institute, the American Meat Institute and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. She is a former member of the Autism Society of America’s board of directors.

An HBO film about Grandin’s life first broadcast in 2010 won several Emmys and a Golden Globe award, and she was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” that year. Grandin was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016 and the Women’s Hall of Fame in 2017.

Grandin earned her B.A. from Franklin Pierce College in 1970. She went on to study animal science, earning her M.S. from Arizona State University in 1975 and her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1989.