Moungi Bawendi was born in Paris, France, the son of Tunisian mathematician Mohammed Salah Baouendi. After periods living in France and Tunisia, Bawendi and his family migrated to the United States when he was a child. They lived in West Lafayette, Indiana, as Salah worked in the math department at Purdue University. Bawendi graduated from West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School in 1978.