Dr. Temple Grandin has authored many books, most recently The Autistic Brain (with Richard Panek). Dr. Grandin has received numerous prestigious awards, and was honored in Time Magazines 2010 “The 100 Most Influential People in the World.” HBO premiered a movie about Temple’s early life and career with the livestock industry. The movie received seven Emmy awards. Dr. Grandin is a past member of the board of directors of the Autism Society of America. obtained her B.A. at Franklin Pierce College in 1970. In 1974 she was employed as Livestock Editor for the Arizona Farmer Ranchman and also worked for Corral Industries on equipment design. In 1975 she earned her M.S. in Animal Science at Arizona State University for her work on the behavior of cattle in different squeeze chutes. Dr. Grandin was awarded her Ph.D in Animal Science from the University of Illinois in 1989 and is currently a Professor at Colorado State University.
Temple’s achievements are remarkable because she was an autistic child. At age two she had no speech and all the signs of severe autism. Fortunately, her mother defied the advice of the doctors and kept her out of an institution. Many hours of speech therapy, and intensive teaching enabled Temple to learn speech. As a teenager, life was hard with constant teasing. Mentoring by her high school science teacher and her aunt on her ranch in Arizona motivated Temple to study and pursue a career as a scientist and livestock equipment designer.