[3] Until 2020, Skinner was the Crown Family Professor of Molecular Engineering, professor of chemistry,[4] director of the Water Research Initiative and deputy dean for faculty affairs of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago.

[5] Skinner is recognized for his contributions to the fields of theoretical chemistry, nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, linear and nonlinear spectroscopy of liquids, amorphous and crystalline solids, surfaces, proteins, and supercritical fluids.

[7] He received a Ph.D. in chemical physics from Harvard University in 1979 where he was a recipient of an NSF Graduate Fellowship and studied under the guidance of Peter G. Wolynes.

The following year Skinner spent as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, where he worked with Hans Andersen and Michael Fayer.

Skinner resigned his position as the director of the Theoretical Chemistry Institute and retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in December 2016, where he currently holds the title of Joseph O. and Elizabeth S. Hirschfelder Professor Emeritus.

[9] He also served as the director of the Water Research Initiative and deputy dean for faculty affairs at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.

Since 2015, Skinner served as a deputy editor of The Journal of Chemical Physics, retiring from his editorial service in 2019.