Prof. Kivelson is one of the leading figures in condensed matter theory and has made important contributions to many areas in quantum condensed matter physics. He is well recognized for his pioneering works in the field of strongly correlated systems and superconductivity, particularly high-temperature superconductivity. For example, he proposed early microscopic mechanisms of cuprate high-Tc superconductivity and phase separation effects, introduced the paradigm of electronic liquid crystalline phases in these and other strongly correlated systems such as the quantum Hall systems, and more recently emphasized the notion and significance of "intertwined orders" in these and other strongly correlated systems. He is also famous for early important works in quantum dimer models and resonating valence bond theory, for the first (bosonic) Chern-Simons field theory description of fractional quantum Hall effect, and quantum Hall dualities. He was awarded the Guggenheim fellowship in 1995 and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001, and to the National Academy of Sciences in 2010. In 2012, he was awarded the Bardeen prize (with Chandra Varma and James Sauls) instituted by the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.