Brian A Wandell graduated from the University of Michigan in 1973 with a B.S. in mathematics and psychology. In 1977, he earned a Ph.D. in social science from the University of California at Irvine. After a year as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, he joined the faculty of Stanford University in 1979, becoming a full professor in 1988.

Wandell was elected a Fellow of OSA in 1990. He has received many awards, including the Edridge Green Medal in Ophthalmology, the Macbeth Prize, the Edgar D. Tillyer Award, the Oberdorfer Award, and the George A. miller Prize. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2003.