Bawendi received both an A.B. in 1982  and an A.M. in 1983 from Harvard University. He earned a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1988 from the University of Chicago, under the supervision of Karl Freed and Takeshi Oka. 
With Freed, Bawendi worked on theoretical polymer physics,  and with Oka, Bawendi worked on experiments on hot-bands of H, which played a role in deciphering the emission spectrum of Jupiter observed in 1989.
During his graduate studies, Oka recommended Bawendi to a summer program in Bell Labs, where Louis E. Brus introduced Bawendi to the research on quantum dots. Upon graduation, Bawendi went to work with Brus at Bell Labs as a postdoctoral researcher.
Bawendi joined Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1990 and became professor in 1996.