Michael Stein graduated from MIT in 1980 with a B.S. in mathematics and received the M.S. and Ph.D. in statistics from Stanford in 1982 and 1984. After spending a year at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, he joined the faculty at the University of Chicago, where he is now the Ralph and Mary Otis Isham Professor of Statistics and the College. He was chairman of the department 1998-2001.

Most of Stein's research has been in the area of spatial statistics and its applications to environmental sciences and astrophysics. His current research focuses on statistical models and methods for natural processes in space-time.

Michael Stein is married to Laurie Butler, a professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago. They have one daughter, Ellyn, born in 1995. His outside interests include horseback riding and the guitar.